By CaritasDana Shahin
Jordan hosts 1.4 million Syrians, 500,000 Iraqis, and 500,000 Palestinians, in addition to 35,000 Yemeni. Caritas Jordan provides food, shelter, medical care, counselling, education and other aid. The numbers in need are overwhelming, but every refugee helped is a victory.
Fight for life
Jassam lived well in the Iraqi city of Mosul. He’d gone into the family import business after studying economics and accounting at university. He travelled regularly to China, Turkey and Dubai. He was successful. He was married and had children.
In June 2014, extremists of the so-called ‘Islamic State’ or Daech took control of Mosul. They committed atrocities and forced thousands of Christian and other religious minorities to flee or convert to Islam. Jassam, a Christian, sent his family to Kurdistan for safety. He however returned to Mosul to check on his house and business. On 9 July, there was a knock on the door. He was told an ‘N’ had been painted on it. It stood for Nazarene – a Christian. It meant the house now belonged to the Daech.
Jassam fled, leaving everything behind in Mosul. He went first to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan and then to Jordan. By August 2014, he was living in the Saint Charbel Church, supported by Caritas Jordan. His family grew – as his wife had a new baby. His dream was to join his father, who now lives in the USA. He refused to give up hope.
Then recently, his 4 year old daughter Tania fell ill with a severe fever. The family thought it was just a childhood illness. But it was Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. The family were grief-struck. The young girl was once active and a great talker, but no longer speaks and is listless. The other children have gone to live with a relative so the parents can look after their sick child.
Tania needs urgent treatment to stop the illness spreading to her spinal column. Jassam now has only to think of his daughter’s recovery. He is doing all he can to look for support to send her to the US for treatment. The costs of her treatment might reach 37,000 euros or more and until then Tania’s life is in an imminent danger if her medical treatment is not secured as soon as possible.
To help Tania directly, please contact Caritas Jordan
We were the happiest family in the world
Payman is a 40, a widow who fled to Jordan in October after the Islamic State took Mosul in Iraq. She has four children: Ayoob, thirteen years old, Sarah, ten years, and the twin Afram and Aram seven years.
“We were the happiest family in the world until my village was taken over by ISIS and my husband died in an incident,” she said.
The loss followed by being uprooted from their home land and forced to leave without a thing caused a double trauma for Payman. She started feeling helpless, losing interest in daily activities and feeling down.
“I fear being at home after midnight because the commercial building is empty,” she said. She lives in Hashimi – Amman in a commercial area inside a shopping centre in a small room which isn’t safe for children.
She was diagnosed with depression, but has benefited from Caritas counselling unit services. The field visit team underlined her urgent need to be in a secure home to help her to construct a sense of security and be provided with an appropriate environment to her children.
She received basic food commodities with modest supplemental cash assistance, transferring her to another better prepaid rented house. All that helped her to reduce stress and anxiety, providing her with a secure environment for additional assistance.
Now she is waiting to travel to another country, but in a better condition as she secured the basic needs to maintain a normal life.
Fight for life
Jassam lived well in the Iraqi city of Mosul. He’d gone into the family import business after studying economics and accounting at university. He travelled regularly to China, Turkey and Dubai. He was successful. He was married and had children.
In June 2014, extremists of the so-called ‘Islamic State’ or Daech took control of Mosul. They committed atrocities and forced thousands of Christian and other religious minorities to flee or convert to Islam. Jassam, a Christian, sent his family to Kurdistan for safety. He however returned to Mosul to check on his house and business. On 9 July, there was a knock on the door. He was told an ‘N’ had been painted on it. It stood for Nazarene – a Christian. It meant the house now belonged to the Daech.
Jassam fled, leaving everything behind in Mosul. He went first to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan and then to Jordan. By August 2014, he was living in the Saint Charbel Church, supported by Caritas Jordan. His family grew – as his wife had a new baby. His dream was to join his father, who now lives in the USA. He refused to give up hope.
Then recently, his 4 year old daughter Tania fell ill with a severe fever. The family thought it was just a childhood illness. But it was Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. The family were grief-struck. The young girl was once active and a great talker, but no longer speaks and is listless. The other children have gone to live with a relative so the parents can look after their sick child.
Tania needs urgent treatment to stop the illness spreading to her spinal column. Jassam now has only to think of his daughter’s recovery. He is doing all he can to look for support to send her to the US for treatment. The costs of her treatment might reach 37,000 euros or more and until then Tania’s life is in an imminent danger if her medical treatment is not secured as soon as possible.
To help Tania directly, please contact Caritas Jordan
We were the happiest family in the world
Payman is a 40, a widow who fled to Jordan in October after the Islamic State took Mosul in Iraq. She has four children: Ayoob, thirteen years old, Sarah, ten years, and the twin Afram and Aram seven years.
“We were the happiest family in the world until my village was taken over by ISIS and my husband died in an incident,” she said.
The loss followed by being uprooted from their home land and forced to leave without a thing caused a double trauma for Payman. She started feeling helpless, losing interest in daily activities and feeling down.
“I fear being at home after midnight because the commercial building is empty,” she said. She lives in Hashimi – Amman in a commercial area inside a shopping centre in a small room which isn’t safe for children.
She was diagnosed with depression, but has benefited from Caritas counselling unit services. The field visit team underlined her urgent need to be in a secure home to help her to construct a sense of security and be provided with an appropriate environment to her children.
She received basic food commodities with modest supplemental cash assistance, transferring her to another better prepaid rented house. All that helped her to reduce stress and anxiety, providing her with a secure environment for additional assistance.
Now she is waiting to travel to another country, but in a better condition as she secured the basic needs to maintain a normal life.