Stories from the Field

“It is like a celebration of being accepted, being taken care of and being supported,” commented one of the Iraqi refugees in Zarqa, Jordan, who was receiving medical equipments provided by HCI. She is one of many Iraqis benefited from HCI long-time project helping Iraqi refugees, particularly those with special needs, with relief supplies, medical equipments and supplies and nutrition support.

Here in Jordan, the villas and fine cars of well off Iraqis in suburban west Amman belie the circumstances of less advantaged Iraqi “guests,” who settled into congested, relatively anonymous urban neighborhoods alongside low-income Jordanians. Without residency permits and unable to work legally, Iraqis are often fearful of seeking out official forms of assistance. They largely confine themselves to their homes because of economic constraints, disabilities and concerns about their legal status. Access to educational and health services remain limited. Their situation becomes ever more precarious, as meager resources dwindle and their future remains uncertain. They are struggling to hold their families together with very little means. They don’t know what is going to happen to them. Their current situation is grim, but they say there is no way they can go home. Home is where they saw the killing and kidnapping of loved ones, the destruction of their communities and the constant threat of violence, torture and extortion. Growing numbers are living at or below the poverty line. The resources of many families have dwindled to almost nothing and this creates concern about the simplest things, like how they will feed their children each night.

It is estimated that Jordan is hosting more than 500,000 Iraqi refugees, while the city of Zarqa is hosting large number of them; high number of them are known to be physically, psychologically and/or economically vulnerable. About two thirds of Iraqi refugees in Jordan are children and youth below the age of 24.

The project intends to serve 1000 vulnerable Iraqi refugees in the first year, including 200 refugees with mental or physical impairment and 200 children and youth below the age of 24. In its first phase, the project is working to enhance the standard of living of vulnerable Iraqi refugees, particularly persons with mental and physical impairment, female-headed households, elderly and children. The project is also working to build the capacity of local CBOs and social workers to provide at-home individualized support and individualized relief aid for vulnerable Iraqi refugees, particularly persons with mental and physical impairment.

During the holy month of Ramadan, HCI provided individualized relief aid for vulnerable Iraqis refugees with disability which include:

• Essential medical equipments for people with disability,
• Basic home maintenance/appliances that contribute to accessibility and mobility as well as capacity for independent living, and
• Food and nutritional aid.

This was preceded by capacity building activities for local CBOs and local social workers to provide at-home individualized support and individualized relief aid for people with disability using combination of theoretical training and field application. 10 women social workers developed systems and gained skills to provide at-home needs assessment and profiling. Over one week, social workers visited every beneficiary and assessed their needs on the ground.

Items distributed include: wheelchairs, crutches, bath seats, elevated chairs, toilet aid accessories, ramps, hearing aid accessories, medical mattresses, and other essential medical and accessibility supplies for people with disability.

HCI has been working with local partners, particularly HCI local partner New Development (NDEV), to assist Iraqi refugees in Jordan since 2005. HCI has extensive experience assisting refugees and displaces persons and promoting social cohesion in the region.

The project aims at improving the social and economic well-being of vulnerable Iraqi refugees in Zarqa, Jordan, particularly persons with mental and physical impairment, female-headed households, elderly and children.

Physical and psychological disability among Iraqi refugees in Jordan is known to be very high, with higher rates among children and youth. About two thirds of disabled Iraqis are children and youth below the age of 24.

Layla, age six years, is the daughter of an Iraqi family who fled the conflicts in Bghdad in the mid nineties and took refuge in Zarqa, Jordan’s second largest city, which struggles with poor physical infrastructure, congestion, industrial pollution, and limited community support capacity, as reflected in high rates of poverty, child labor and crime.

Layla has Down Syndrome which resulted in impairment of her cognitive ability, moderate learning disability, and noticeable slow physical growth as well as facial appearance.

“Although she is six years old, but her slow physical growth makes her look like a one year old baby,” said her mother when I visited them with my HCI colleagues yesterday. “She can’t talk, can’t walk and eat very slowly like a newborn baby,” her mother added.

Layla lives with her three brothers and sister and her two parents in a small apartment on the outskirt of Zarqa. Her father Jalal is a house-painter working irregularly in the informal market because he lacks work permit. His average monthly income of $200 can barely cover the $100 monthly house rent and the $100 monthly tuition for Layla’s special school for people with learning disability.

“I tried to look for a job to support the family income since my husband’s work is very irregular, and at best what he earns is not enough to cover our basic needs. But I can’t leave my five kids alone especially Layla who needs constant care and assistance to do her daily activities,” her mother commented. “We don’t have relatives here in Jordan to support us and we have no access to our relatives in Iraq, but we survive on occasional little assistance from our neighbors as well as from aid programs such your appreciated program,” she concluded.

Although Layla’s physical limitations cannot be overcome, education and proper care improve her quality of life. Early childhood interventions, screening for common problems, and vocational training, in addition to conducive family environment would improve the overall development of Layla.

“Since we enrolled Layla last year in this special school, we noticed significant improvement in Layla’s receptiveness,” said Layla’s mother. “Now, she always smiles and we noticed improvement in her weight and more willingness to eat,” she added.

I asked Layla’s mother what the family most in need of. “Despite our terrible economic condition, I will do all I can to give Layla the opportunity to improve her overall development and her quality of life. She deserves to be given this opportunity. I will do all I can to keep her in this special school and provide her with the best environment at home which is vital to improve her overall development,” Layla’s mother responded. “Her monthly school tuition is $100 which covers the transportation since the school is not in Zarqa but in Amman. She also requires baby napkins, powdered milk, easy to swallow food, and I want to bring for her a clip-on chair,” she concluded.

My colleagues continued the formal at-home needs assessment with Layla’s mother and the prioritization of their needs, while I sat with Layla playing with her and her ten-years-old sister Mariam who help her mother taking care of Layla, and her seven-years-old brother Yousef who was busy eating some the sweets we brought with us. HCI will provide individualized relief aid for those vulnerable Iraqi refugees with disability such as food and nutritional aid, basic home maintenance/appliances that contribute to accessibility and mobility as well as capacity for independent living, and essential medical equipments for people with disability.

I concluded my visit more convinced that HCI’s individualized support is a necessity. The need for at-home support and other one-to-one type of assistance by experienced social workers combined with individualized relief aid for Iraqi refugees with disability, particularly children and youth, is essential.

Rahma Kouzah, age twenty months, has a severely deformed skull and her eyes bulge out. She lives with her mother Samia and her brother Ahmed age 6 years in Zarqa, Jordan’s second largest city, in small rented but untenable house lacking basic amenities. Her parents, from Palestinian origins, fled the conflicts in Baghdad in 2006 to Jordan. However, her father, who used to work as electrician in Iraq, has been deported from Jordan because he lacks legal residency and is now unemployed and living in the West Bank unable to unite with his family. Her mother, Samia, is neither Jordanian, nor technically an Iraqi. So she has no access to public or government services and her son Ahmed can’t attend public schools.