Responding to the Syrian crisis: Aid workers provide emergency relief for Syrian refugees

In Jordan, I visited our health clinics in Ramtha and Mafraq, cities close to the Syrian border, and met with three Syrian women who fled to Jordan after their husbands were killed and their dwellings outside of Homs destroyed. As I sat with them listening to their stories of hopelessness and their cries of outrage at the lack of international response to the crisis in their homeland, I felt inadequate. I took their hands and told them how sorry I was about the injustice of their situation, about the inhumane suffering they cope with every day. Again, it felt so inadequate. What do you say to someone who has lost everything, including all hope for a better future?

 

One of the women showed me her healing bullet wounds, the reason she sought treatment at the clinic. All three were thankful for the health care the IRC is offering. We have a terrific group of Jordanian doctors who work in the clinic on their days off from their regular jobs. Some have come out of retirement to serve these Syrian refugees. I was comforted to learn how welcoming the Jordanian people have been to their neighbors. It is excruciating to have to flee your home and country, but if there’s solace to be had in such circumstances, it lies in the compassion and support offered so generously by these brave Jordanians. The IRC is doing its best to support their efforts.

 

In Iraq, I met with our teams working with returning refugees, internally displaced people and Kurds from Turkey. Our teams in Erbil and Baghdad are using cutting-edge technology like SMS text messaging to communicate directly with people in need, surveying them about the issues they face in real time, and alerting them to important events. This technology has been a boon to the IRC as well, allowing our legal staff to respond quickly to unlawful evictions of internally displaced people, to cite one example.

 

See our Crisis Watch: Syria special report.>>    Get IRC news.>>