Wandering Amman on Holy Friday

Mohammed my new friend offered to drive me around Amman, and try finally to get my bearings. He took me to his neighborhood where thousands of Palestinians have lived since their diaspora.

Driving past another Palestinian refugee camp near the center of Amman, Jordan.

The amount of construction going on in Amman amazed me. I have been staying in the old city so a drive into the rich area made me question whether the real estate business in Jordan has benefited by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees.

This is the construction site of the new super mall financed by the brother of Queen Noor.

Friday is the Holy and holiday in all Muslim countries. Many though not all stores are closed, government offices are closed, it’s the weekend. So today I thought I would drive around Amman with a friend of mine, Mohammed who is a Palestinian born in Qatar but is not allowed citizenship, instead he holds a Jordanian passport. He was in Qatar during the 1st Gulf War and told me how for a year most residents were not able to leave their homes. The Iraqi soldiers were brutal, they stole, they imprisoned and they terrorized the people of Qatar. He told me of how to make ends meet he would drive over 1000 km to Baghdad to buy cigarettes. On one of these trips he was stopped by Iraqi soldiers who made him give them 3 of the 10 boxes of cigarettes, it was that or come back empty handed. Finally, his family moved to Amman, Jordan where he got a job as a taxi driver and later as a bus driver for the tourism board of Jordan. He now lives alone in Qatar managing 3 restaurants, his family lives in Jordan because Qatar is too expensive.

While driving around the “new city of Amman” I noticed the amazing amount of building that is going on. It reminded me of Dubai. I asked Mohammed about this, he says that many investors do come of the Emirates.

I started thinking that it may have more to do with the influx of Iraqi refugees, the amount of money the UNHCR and other organizations have invested in the government structures such as schools, hospitals and yes housing. The amount of Iraqis renting homes fuels the real estate market here. Though yes the rent the Iraqis pay is cheap, it fuel the economy because all cheap housing is full! I will start asking around about this.

July 22, 2008 Artry

Artry (my friend and translator) an Armenian Iraqi refugee receiving physiotherapy at a private clinic in Amman.

Artrys therapist congratulating her on her quick response to treatment.

It was now time to take Artry to her physiotherapy. At the clinic I met the good Dr. a very dedicated and generous person extremely concerned with the situation of the refugees and locals who cannot afford treatment. The medicine is very expensive and often pays for patients out of his own pocket. As he went on to explain he cannot do it alone, he needs help and asked me if I know of any organizations that can assist.

Artrys therapist told me how well Artry is doing. In only 7 sessions she has gained balance and feels with the correct therapy Artry has a good chance of a full recovery. Artry suffered her form of cerebral palsy when she was born. Artry was a breach birth, the doctors pulled her out feet first and in the process damaged her hip and did not have enough oxygen. I asked Artrys parents what happened. They told me she was born in a private hospital in Iraq but the doctors didn’t do the right procedure. Until she was 12 years old Artry was paralyzed. Her father heard of a visting doctor from France who was performing the surgery Artry needed to be able to walk. The cost was too much for the family, so he went door to door begging. The surgery was a success. She can now walk, and function as any other person, though at great effort. Artry says, “see how much my father loves me.”

July 22, 2008 Interviews with Iraqi Refugees

Julan Ahmed Na’if and his wife from Fallujah now living in an apartment in Amman, Jordan

We left M and Z and I visited are Julan Ahmed Na’if and his wife from Fallujah. It is said that this couple are considering converting to Christianity but I seriously doubt it.
Julan was a reporter for the Falluja Tribes Shiek Council. Before being a journalist he worked as an electrician. But his dream was to be a journalist, so in 2005 he took a 6 month journalist course in Baghdad. Julan was almost killed by a bomb, which exploded in the next room of his office. Ibrahim Senat and Hadi Mora both directors of the news outlet were killed. Julan was kidnapped for 3 days. He was bound and gagged and placed in the trunk of a car. The American soldiers heard him banging on the car opened the trunk and after questioning him let him go home. When they saw his journalist card, the soldiers advised him to leave as soon as possible.

It was after this ordeal that Julan and his wife escaped to Syria by car and later came to Amman.

“I saw people who starved to death in Fallujah because we were not allowed to leave our houses for one year,” says Julans wife. “There was no medical treatment so a lot of old people or anyone who was sick, just stayed home and died. When the Americans left the Iraqi army came and they were much worse. They would take the pretty girls and keep them as sex slaves. They took our neighbors 19-year-old daughter, and kept her for a year, then they sent her home. Her family killed her, it was an honor killing.”

July 22, 2008 interviews with Iraqi Refugees

"M" going to his one room apartment in a poor neighborhood of Amman.

"M" and "Z" and their child, their faces are hidden as they fear reprisals from everyone!

Next Artry and I visited M and Z who live in a decrepit one room apartment for which the pay 15 JD a month. He worked as a “journalist” for the American forces. He endangered his life, the life of his wife and child as they posed as an innocent family traveling to visit family. They went to extremely dangerous areas, M with a hidden camera clipped on his shirt. M would film the fighters, pinpointing their location and well I will not get into details as its very very unsafe to speak of this. They are also converts to Christianity, a double price on their heads. Z’s brother converted in Iraq and fled years ago to Sweden.

Z told me of the bodies she saw who had been tortured. “ Everyone knows when it is Shia work, because they torture using cigarettes and then strangle people with wires. Sunnis would simply shoot them. My neighbor was visited in the night by the “DEATH ARMY” that’s the name we give to the Mehdi army, the Death Army! They came to my neighbor and said you must tell everyone we are good, we are better than good. My neighbor refused he said no, you are not good, you have no honor. They told him if you don’t say what we tell you we will take your wife. My neighbor said okay I will tell everyone you are good. No they said, you must tell them we are the best. My neighbor refused, saying he can not lie like that. They raped his wife in front of him and then threw their 3-month-old child against the wall. My neighbors’ wife died of shock. See what has happened to Iraq it’s the Iranians these Shia are animals they have no soul, they still hate us because of the war, they hate us and now they want to control Iraq.”

M told me in a cool and controlled manner that the Iranians are definitely in Iraq and are in the Death Army the Mehdi Army. The fighters speak fluent Arabic but when they are alone and think no one is around they switch to Farsi.

M seriously risked his life and saved hundreds of American soldiers due to his work. He has all the papers, which I have read, and which shocked me. He was allowed to carry weapons, had training etc etc and when he went to the American Embassy here they shut the door in his face! They are registered with the UNHCR and like all others are waiting, terrified that someone will find them and kill them.

“I am not afraid to die, they can even kill my husband. We did what we did and will suffer the consequences. But don’t kill my daughter, its not her fault. If they kill us okay, the church will look after our daughter, and she can live her life as a Christian, I will be happy if they just kill us but please please God don’t let them kill my beautiful daughter,” said Z as she held me, tears falling on my shoulders.

July 22, 2008 Interviews with Iraqi Refugees

Randa shows her UNHCR registration certificate in her apartment in Al Hussein, Amman, Jordan

Randas son looks out the window from his home in Al Hussein, Amman, Jordan. traumatized by the war in Iraq, this 5 year old boy will not go out of his home alone. He also suffers from constipation because he will not -go to the toilet.

Randa

Today I met up with Artry a 20-year-old Armenia refugee who has been in Amman for 5 years waiting to immigrate. She wants desperately to go to California and go shopping. She wants to be a teenager a real teenager, free to shop, to go to Starbucks, and most importantly to fully recover from cerebral palsy, which is a congenital birth defect. Artry is amazing, she is strong, and has learned excellent English. She has offered to be my interpreter. at

The first family we visited was Randa Haumis Paulus a Chalaean Christian who worked for CARITAS in Baghdad. “During the war we would go to victims of bombing, terror and try to stop the bleeding on the site, to prepare them for the ambulances,” says Randa of her service work. “I also visited victims, we gave money to Christian, Muslim it didn’t matter the organization we helped everyone. Then we started getting death threats for working for an international organization. I still don’t understand, we helped Muslims, everyone, why did they want to kill us for helping people? In our apartment building the Music store was bombed, there were rockets flying across the sky. The areas were so unsafe.” She went on to say, “we were rich, we had enough money, now it’s all gone, we spent it all coming here.”

Randa is married and has a 6-year-old son. “My son is traumatized from the war and suffers from severe constipation because he will not go to the toilet. He will not go out of the house without his me,” says Randa of her sons condition. “As far as government schools go, I will not send my son, I know that the Iraqi kids are called names, beaten up and this would only traumatize my son more.” Randa began crying when as she went on to say, “my son wants to play, he wants toys, he cries because he wants to have a normal life, he just wants to be a kid.”

The day we visited Randa had just received a refrigerator from a family who was able to immigrate. A few days ago he got a cupboard to put her clothes in and a bike for her son. The Iraqi refugees who do migrate give away their meager possessions to those left behind.

Randas family is also registered with the UNHCR but have no residency or guest visa. Randa is terrified because she works as a waitress in a club that caters to marriages. She earns 5JD a day and works from 4pm to 1am. She complains that the customers treat her badly, call her bitch and are very rude. She is tired and desperate and finds it difficult to sleep due to the stress and worry she faces everyday.