Here is another post by Emilie Whitman who was on our November mission and also spent several months in Jordan volunteering at the Malk-SCM Children’s Center.

We were in Rehab, Al-Mafraq, a small town with no consistent medical services. A chilly wind slapped our faces as we stepped out of the vans. It seemed to sweep straight through the cement-block building in which we would work for the day, reminding me that November in the Middle East is still November. Inside, a teenage boy handed us paper cups of hot liquid, more sugar than tea. The doctors and dentists set up shop downstairs, with the gynecologist and humanitarian and psych teams in the rooms above them. Our psych team was four — Syrian psychiatrist, American psychologist (my dad), Swiss psychoanalyst and sand-tray therapy specialist, translator, me. We poured dusty sand into a small tray and arranged the figures (trees, tiny gnomes, animals, soldiers, fences, shells) on a table.

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Below is an excerpt from a post written by one of our mission participants. She is a landscape architecture design student at the University of Washington and wrote her master’s thesis on providing a safe and nurturing physical environment for the children of Zaatari Camp in Jordan. Please click the link at the bottom to read the complete post, which a summary of the project, with links to further information about the project.

Healing and Empowering Syrian Children in the Za’atari Refugee Camp

In the midst of refugee camps and suffering from difficult journeys necessitated by war, Syrian children suffer from traumas, uncertainty and unhealthy environments for their growth. Early adversarial exposures can change the development of the brain and can lead to subsequent psychological problems that make it harder for children to effectively immerse themselves in the education process as they grow. A close look at most refugee camps around the world reveals constraints in physical environments that impose and limit the natural development of children.

This post is a summary of a thesis project titled “Oasis of Resilience.” This thesis examined the Al-Za’atari refugee camp in northern Jordan, which is home to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees, and proposed a design to better the environment for children in general.
Within this camp, children constitute over half of the population, yet there are few designated places to escape the camp’s stressful life and to provide safety. Safety and respite from harsh conditions are essential to childhood development. However, in order to support children to overcome their trauma and empower them to move forward, design thinking should be integrated to enrich the few opportunities they have.

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Last week we received a request for assistance from another organization in Jordan that is helping refugees, and we are only to happy to help them out. The organization is called El Mafraq Organization for Charities and sent the following letter to our office in Amman. We had them go to our warehouse to pick of the items they needed.

Mr. Basel Sawalha
Regional Manager of SCM
After what we heard and witnessed of your organization we hereby request a helping hand to our organization that sponsors many Jordanian families, widowers, orphans, seniors and Syrian refugees.
There are about 800 Jordanian families and 500 Syrian families that need help.
We would appreciate and hope for any help you can provide us.

El Mafraq picking up supplies for the Syrian refugees and Jordanians in need.

 

Here is another reflection piece by one of our November mission team members, Nushin Alloo. Thank you Nushin for sharing!

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Returning from Jordan has been a difficult experience. Trying to make sense of the sights, sounds, smells, voices, stories…all of it has blurred together in a surreal experience. How does one adjust back to the “real world” after such a journey?  Unlike the many medical professionals I served with, I have come back to a corporate job where, let’s be honest, I don’t necessarily change anyone’s life for the better on a day to day basis…minus a few corporate shareholders.

So many faces and stories touched our lives, not only of the displaced refugees we met, but of those incredible people that volunteered their time, money, and spirits to help strangers in need in a far off land. For the first time in months, a part of my faith in humanity was restored – seeing such integrity, selflessness, and desire to make a difference. There is “good” left in this world – that is what I discovered on this latest journey to the border towns Jordan. Amidst the bloodshed, pointless wars, sectarian violence, disregard for humanity…there is still some goodness. Kind acts of charity may not make headlines, but they do exist and continue to touch people’s lives.

What motivates volunteers to leave their comfort zones and venture abroad to help those in dire need? Often, it’s some type of calling. Several members of the volunteer delegation recounted stories of a vision, a dream… some type of cosmic pull from the universe outlining their path to the Syrian refugees in Jordan.

One may wonder – how much benefit can a one week medical mission have? Those children and adults that no longer have aching cavities or infectious illnesses that are quite satisfied, I’m certain. Hundreds of patients treated in one week – many who would not afford medical care or would have waited many months receive treatment. Yet beyond that, it seemed that we brought with our foreign accents and sometimes strange mannerisms a sense of hope to those who feel they may be forgotten…a  newness in the prison-like camps where time stands still waiting for a war to end.

And while the discussions between doctors and refugee Syrian patients focused largely around illnesses, each patient had a story they told with their eyes, their mannerisms, their clothing. Riches to rags. Peace to War. Cleanliness to muddy, sandy desert life. Life to death. Hopeful to depressed. Single to married. Married to widowed. Citizen to refugee.

 

The World Food Program recently posted the following update on their website, noting that they had received pledges to cover the food program into January, but that is it. We still need to do more.

ROME – Following an unprecedented social media campaign, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today the tally of contributions by government donors towards the reinstatement of food assistance to nearly 1.7 million Syrian refugees.

Thanks to substantial support from government partners in donor countries, a total of US$88.4 million has been raised to date.  As this exceeds the goal of US$64 million required to fund the refugee programme in December, it allows WFP to cover some of the refugees’ food needs in January.

This is the latest from the World Food Program. Over recent days, the following (in alphabetical order) have announced contributions: 

Belgium (US$138,000)

European Union (US$6.2 million)

Germany (US$5.4 million)

Ireland (US$1.1 million)

Netherlands (US$7.5 million)

Norway (US$10.2 million)

Qatar (US$2 million)

Saudi Arabia (US$52 million)

Switzerland (US$2.1 million).

The total also includes US$1.8 million from individuals and private sector donors.

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This is just a reminder what your $31 contribution to SCM can buy for a family for a month:

• Rice – 5kg
• Sugar – 5 kg
• Vermicelli – 4 packages
• Macaroni – 4 packages
• Vegetable oil 1.8 L
• Cheese wedges – 48 pieces
• Cheddar Cheese 400 gram
• Tomato Paste 1 can
• Crushed lentil – 1kg
• Beans/foul – 2 cans
• Tea bags – 100
• Chicken (whole, frozen) 2 birds

The World Food Program is still trying to collect enough money to make up for the pledges they didn’t get, which resulted in a cessation of their food voucher program. They have collected enough money to continue through the middle of January, but more is needed. Please donate today – the need is dire. Thank you!