It’s been a very hectic and emotional couple of days for the
team here in Jordan. Some of us visited a Syrian refugee camp on the border and
that led right into the first day of surgery. That means 12 to 14 hour days, leaving
little time for updating all of you on our progress. So now I’m back and I
would like to provide you all with the updates of the last several days.
June 29:
Zaatari Syrian Refugee Camp
After much red tape and months of back and forth, we finally
got approval and drove about an hour north towards the Jordanian-Syrian border
to visit the Zaatari refugee camp for Syrians coming into Jordan. All Syrians who are fleeing the Syrian civil
war and going to Jordan go through the camp. The camp is 12 kilometers from the
border, and estimates range from about 500-1000 refugees a day entering Zaatari. It is very close to the war. Although there are a lot of registered
people, today realistically, there are around 120,000 refugees there. When we arrived, we were escorted in and met
with the Senior Field Coordinator, Kilian Kleinschmidt. He and his staff gave our Operation Smile
team a detailed briefing on the camp and it’s evolution. Next we got to our primary objective of the
trip with an extended discussion on health care. At that point Kathy Magee, the
co-founder of Operation Smile took the lead and discussed ways that OS could
work with the camp to assist them with their massive and overwhelming health
care needs.
Post briefing, members of the UNHCF took us through the
camp. I will try to briefly describe what
that experience was like, but honestly for me I’m not sure how to express my
thoughts eloquently enough to vividly portray the impact of seeing firsthand
how life in the camp was unfolding but I’ll try.
First we were taken to a trailer where we met up with the
families who came to the screening day.
It was so wonderful to see all of the beautiful faces of the children we
had just seen the day before. My boy
Mohammed was there with his parents looking as sweet as ever. We also saw baby Mais, a severely
malnourished 6 month old baby girl with a cleft (she is only 5 pounds). Thank God she was brought to screening day so
that she was identified, and now can be properly fed with the necessary bottles
and formula. Had she not arrived that
day, I honestly believe that baby would not have survived.
Kathy Magee discussing feeding techniques
 |
| Baby Mais |
 |
| Burn victim from war |
 |
| More burns |
 |
| Moroccan Military Doctors |
We left the secure compound of the UNHCF and toured the Moroccan
field hospital. It’s completely staffed and run by the Moroccan military
providing everything from basic care to emergency services. We met with the
doctors and discussed how we could collaborate. I think we made some great
headway.
As for the camp itself, I expected a field of
tents, simple, rudimentary items and people in need of basic everyday items.
However, the camp was very different from what I envisioned. It is a city that sprung
from the desert with all the good and bad a typical city possesses, along with
some unique problems and challenges. I will follow up in more detail in the
coming days but for now I will let our photos tell the story.
 |
| Rows of "stores" have popped up |
 |
| Portable units in parts of the camp |
 |
| Syrians innovate using any materials they can obtain |
 |
| UNHCR provided tents |
 |
| Water distribution is via large water towers |
 |
| Some of the children from the camp |
No comments:
Post a Comment