A very good friend of mine, has been sent by the UNHCR to Amman, Jordan.
His work as part of the UN refugee agency coordinates efforts to protect people uprooted from their home countries, by war. In this case, the majority of the people he is working with are from Syria.
I was lucky enough to fly out and visit him at the end of last year.
In his short time working in Amman and visiting refugee camps near the Syrian border, he has seen first-hand the suffering and poverty inflicted by war upon the refugees pouring out of Syria while rebel groups, carrying arms purchased from arms dealers in nearby middle-eastern countries, fight to overthrow Bashar Al Assad's regime. The UNHCR website suggests that roughly 350'000 people have fled Syria, with another 1.5 million people displaced internally.
According to my friend, the abject refusal of local police forces to patrol one refugee camp in particular, Za'atari, has led to a mafia-type rule, in which the more entrepreneurial among the population pay protection money to a ruling class in order to trade from within the camp. The main artery running through the camp has been dubbed the "Champs Elysées", by UN workers.
He tells me that apart from the hard work of aid-workers and the United Nations, the ingenuity of the people living in the desperate conditions of Za'atari has shone in this (rapidly less) temporary civilisation. They tap into local electricity supplies, set up sweet stalls and shisha bars, and trade resources where possible.
For the most part Za'atari is set up and supported by humanitarian organisations, the French, Moroccan and Italian military; UNICEF have provided education, and also vaccinations to people at higher risk of measles, Gynecologie Sans Frontières attend to mothers in labour, and distribute contraception.
I imagine that the aim is to help keep the people as safe and healthy as possible until it is safe to return to their home countries. Even under the most hopeless of circumstances, the ability to survive, and to establish some sort of order within the chaos is still present among the displaced populations who have made it to Jordan.
Though he is still finding his feet in his new middle-eastern surroundings, my friend is incensed by his mission, I look forward to hearing more. I'm encouraging him to write, and "vlog" about his experiences working out there, as I am sure most other people would be interested in hearing about his adventures.
Opinions of the county vary among the aid workers I met there. One joked that the only difference between Jordan and a glass of milk is that, given time, the milk will develop a culture.
As for me, my impression of the country was a calm, moderate mixture of all the cultures surrounding it - Iraqi, Palestinian, Kurdish and Syrian influences abound, with plenty to see once you leave the capital.
We hired a vehicle and took in the Dead sea; the city of Madeba, which Moses once took with his army; the lost city of Petra; the desert and bedouin 'villages' of Wadi Rum. It was quite a tour!
I was ill only once, following a little sit-down snack with a bedouin chap and a bowl of desert temperature babaghanoush, hoummous and bread. I was the only one who ate with him, and the only one who couldn't leave the toilet alone later that evening.
I would recommend this country if for nothing else but to get a brief glimpse of middle-eastern life, islamic culture, and to visit the lost city of Petra. It's £50 well spent and is truly a wonder of the world.
Back to running chat now.
