As the war continues in Iraq, foreigners
are in flight across the borders into neighboring countries. World Relief
is currently among those in Jordan lending support at a border camp established
for fleeing third country nationals (TCNs).
Those In Need
In recent years, Iraq has been host to a large number of foreign nationals for both skilled and unskilled labor. Since the Jordanian government will not allow these foreign nationals to move freely through Jordan with a refugee status, many will stay at the border camp while arrangements are made to transport them to their home countries for repatriation.
The camp's TCN population has ranged from roughly 200-400 so far. Most of them are originally from Africa-from countries including Sudan, Somalia and Morocco. Many had to flee with just a few personal things in plastic bags or small suitcases, and some with only the clothes on their backs.
Despite these circumstances and language barriers, World Relief staff member, Brandon Pustejovsky, who is on the ground in Jordan, describes the subtle communication from the camp residents: there is "a sense of patience, serenity, civility, and hopeful anticipation. They seem neither bitter nor defeated."
A Place of Refuge
The TCN camp has been set up just inside the Jordanian border in a very remote, stark piece of desert, 300 km from Amman, Jordan's capital. The weather changes rapidly. Rough tents have been erected on a flat field of flints and boulders the size of skulls. One stormy day, camp residents had to stand at their tents to keep them in place.
In a memorandum of understanding, the Jordanian Evangelical Community for Relief and Development (JECRaD) has been identified as the sole provider of food for the TCN camp. The JECRaD committee, organized with assistance from World Relief, is composed of numerous leaders from local Jordanian churches acting with support from various relief agencies from around the world.
The JECRaD committee is providing three meals each day to all TCN camp residents. JECRaD's strength lies in being a local network of churches with a tremendous pool of manpower from which to draw. Volunteer labor has been utilized in transportation and warehouse activities in Amman (there is a good, paved road between Amman and the TCN camp).
There is no source of fuel for cooking (fire wood) naturally found at this site. Due to this physical constraint and the transitory nature of the camp (TCNs are not expected to remain for a long period), it has been deemed more cost effective and appropriate to distribute wet rations (prepared meals) rather than dry rations (uncooked food).
Meals have included hot tea, bread, olives, hardboiled eggs and hummus for breakfast and a hearty, lentil-based soup with potatoes, onions, carrots and cabbage for lunch. Dinner has included sardines, cheese, bread and olives. Dinner is also distributed with lunch for consumption at convenience or during travel if needed. Given the cool desert mornings and nights at the camp, hot tea is usually served throughout the day and well into the evening. JECRaD is varying the meals in order to provide a diet high in essential calories and nutrients.
Food distribution goes smoothly and quickly, as meal tickets are handed out and one person is designated from each tent to come to the kitchen and collect enough food for everyone staying in his/her tent.
World Relief's Brandon Pustejovsky writes: "Mealtimes have been greeted with calm and have been devoid of hoarding or shoving. As we passed out food distribution tickets, faces expressed a genuine sense of appreciation coupled with dignity, a sense of humor and determination. Having left their native lands to seek a new life in Iraq, many of these people have seen hardship before. The camp, it seems, is just another minor step on a challenging road to which they are not unaccustomed."
Immediacy of Need
As the camp's sole provider of food for the TCNs fleeing Iraq, the JECRaD committee is extremely dependent on the evangelical churches and para-church organizations within Jordan that it represents and the various relief agencies that are supporting these efforts. JECRaD's kitchen is prepared to feed up to 5,000 TCNs a day-people who will not be given refugee status in Jordan and are in need of transitory aid as they try and make their way back to their families and homelands.
World Relief's Brandon Pustejovsky writes: "I am comforted to know that needs (basic health, sanitation, and nutrition needs) are being met and that World Relief has played a part in ensuring a regular feeding regimen."
The time is now for the Church to unite globally and support this effort in the Middle East. Make your donation to World Relief today.
Please join us to pray:
- For the safety of third country nationals, workers and volunteers at the TCN border camp
- For emergency supplies to meet the demands within the camp
- For God's strength and wisdom for all those affected by the current state of the Middle East
World Relief is a Christian disaster relief and development organization whose primary objective is to alleviate human suffering. Compelled by love and compassion, World Relief unconditionally provides aid to any and all races, creeds and nationalities; World Relief does not provide humanitarian aid as a means to further a political or religious standpoint. We believe it is imperative to reach out to all of the world's suffering as it is instructed in the Gospel.