I Was Tortured all over the Body – Syrian Refugee Recalls; PIN Provides Psychosocial Assistance to Refugees in Jordan

The refugees, a total of 140 thousand according to the Jordanian government, often recount shocking stories they have experienced in their homeland. In fear of their life and the life of their relatives in Syria they feel uneasy about revealing their names, place of origin, or showing their face. A 25-year-old man had spent a week in Syrian prison before he managed to escape to Jordan. This Syrian, who slipped across the border having suffered several gunshot exit wounds of his arm and scars on his entire body, is telling his story: “I went on protests, the soldiers were combing the houses and some of my friends and neighbours were abducted by the army. Then it was my turn. They locked me up, questioned me and tortured all over the body.”

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Jordanian doctors operating under the Red Cross removed the bullets from the inflamed wounds, but what still persists is the trauma: “I do not know what I will do – whether I will ever return to Syria, or I will manage to start a new life here. I have nothing to live on, I cannot see a way out of this,” the man, who cannot sleep because of terrible nightmares and according to his physicians keeps asking about his relatives, is emphasizing.

Another refugee, an 82-year-old Syrian woman, is blind. Since her escape she keeps thanking the Jordanians for giving refuge to her and her son’s family. “Our house was bombed out by the Syrian army, so we had to live on the street for a while,” the woman says. Like thousands of other civilians she was able to take only the bare essentials and set out on a journey from her homeland, where the fighting has been raging on already for 16 months.

“The majority of the Syrian refugees are poor people with no education. They usually cross the borders at night, illegally. Most of them have never even owned the passport. They are coming empty-handed, fearing their future and the safety of those who have decided to stay in Syria. The Syrian regime is taking revenge, a brutal one - the vast majority of refugees was tortured or witnessed a torture of their family members. The concern for their relatives is one of the reasons why only so few get officially registered in Jordan,” Jitka Škovránková, Desk Officer for Syria, explains.

There are 35,000 officially registered refugees in the country. Up to one third of the Syrian refugees in Jordan are heading for Amman. There are 25 trained psychologists from our partner organization the Noor Al Hussein Foundation. Potential clients, who would be in need of the assistance, are selected by 20 volunteers from the group of refugees.

 “We are cooperating with the Syrians because they are the closest to the community, thus people are not afraid to share their problems with the fellow countrymen. Moreover, it enables them to earn some money,” Jitka Škovránková says and adds that the Syrians are not allowed to work in Jordan legally: “The economic situation of the refugees is critical, most of them are selling up their personal belongings, they are getting into debts and become dependent on the aid of non-governmental organizations,” she conludes.

Trained employees of the Noor Al Hussein Foundation visit these families and explain the refugees what rights they have in Jordan in terms of care and services. The troubles they are suffering from are identified on the basis of interviews and completion of a simple questionnaire. The psychological problems are attempted to be resolved during regular therapy sessions. Provided the mental trauma is more severe, the people are assisted in finding a psychiatrist and arranging for a hospital visit.

So far, 107 families in the cities of Amman and Zarqa have been helped. Psychological assistance provided by People in Need and its partner organizations is very popular. There are about 120 refugee families on the waiting list at the moment.

Refugees seeking freedom

As a consequence of escalating violence in Syria, the refugee waves set to grow. “While in the spring 300 to 400 people crossed the Jordan border every day, in July these are usually at least one or two thousand people a day crossing the border,” Jitka Škovránková says. The journey of refugees, out of which 75 % are women and children, is not easy.

The newcomers are heading for a transit camp in Ar-Ramtha in the north of the country. Temporary shelter is provided in one of the four collective centres. The refugees can be bailed out of the centres only by the Jordanians who have to provide the bank with a guarantee for each of them as well as to ensure sufficient supply of drinking water and sign a bail bond. Wealthy Jordanian families offer this help to the Syrians for free, others want the refugees to repay the amount in instalments later on. There is no other way out of these heavily guarded camps packed with refugees. However, it is just the beginning of their life in Jordan. The people have often experienced trauma, they have no income and their future is uncertain.

Even though the Syrian children in Jordan are granted access to education, additional expenses the families cannot cover do not allow them to attend the school. Similarly, Jordan has guaranteed free health care for the refugees, but the fact remains that the great demand is making it inaccessible. “All these things are only deepening the refugees’ poverty and it also has a bad influence on their post-traumatic mental state. Here in Jordan, cases of child labour, prostitution, begging and usury have emerged as people are increasingly driven to despair,” says Jitka Škovránková while describing the alarming situation.

People in Need is also lending assistance to the Syrian refugees who have fled to Iraq. With the financial support of the Czech and Slovak Embassies in Iraq, PIN is going to build a water reservoir in order to supply Domiz Refugee Camp in the north of the country with drinking water. The refugees themselves will lend a helping hand with the construction, so that they will get an opportunity to earn some money.

People in Need has been operating in the Middle East region for a long time while drawing on its experience gained in Jordan, Iraq or Lebanon. “In the future, we would like to focus primarily on psychosocial and medical assistance and at the same time place an emphasis on engaging the Syrians themselves,” Jitka Škovránková explains the future plans of the People in Need Organization in Syria.

PIN’s help in Syria:

People in Need has been helping directly in Syria since January this year. It has allocated one million Czech crowns from the Club of Friends to support the clandestine network of Syrian doctors from the Doctors Coordinate of Damascus. It has supplied the physicians with 30 field-hospital kits, each including a small surgical set. It has also equipped two operating theatres of field hospitals. Furthermore, in mid-April People in Need launched a fundraising campaign called ‘SOS Syria’.

For further information please contact:

Jitka Škovránková, Desk Officer for Syria, +420 777 787 934, Jitka.Skovrankova@clovekvtisni.cz