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11April 2003 by Till Mayer in Ruweishid Another endless day. Hayat glances out of her tent over the rows of dusty tarpaulins. As far as the eye can see, only sand and stones surround Camp B at Ruweishid. There are no trees for shade as the sun beats down from a cloudless sky. Hayat, a 22-year-old Somali, is learning a bitter lesson – what it means to be a refugee. Until the bombing started, everything seemed so far away. In Baghdad, Hayat tried not to think about what the war meant, ignoring the sad and serious faces of her fellow students. That short inescapable word – “war” - stopped them concentrating on the words their professor wrote on the lecture hall blackboard. Bagdhad represented an opportunity for Hayat. With her scholarship, she was able to study medicine - for free. “And the education is very good”, explains Hayat. Her parents could never afford to pay for her studies, despite her good grades. Her father works as a driver in the United Arabian Emirates, her mother earns a little money as a housekeeper. Their income is far too small to provide all their children with a good education. Hayat’s homeland of Somalia lies on the brink of ruin, torn apart by civil war and the rule of warlords. Kalashnikovs are the law. “We need doctors in Somlia, not fighters”, the young medical student says. She speaks of her aunt, who died in childbirth. Nobody was trained to stop the bleeding. “It was a nightmare for the whole family. That’s why I decided to study medicine.” For three years, Hayat has studied hard at University. She had completed half of her studies when the rockets began to fall on Baghdad. Together with friends, she fled the city, an old bus taking her as far as the Jordanian border. Soon she finds herself in the Jordan Red Crescent-run camp near Ruweishid. More than 200 men, women and children are sheltered here, while about 1,000 more have passed through. They are Third Country Nationals - guestworkers and students from Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea or Egypt. Some of them stay only for a short time, as they travel on to their countries of origin. Others, like Hayat, are waiting for the war to end. Especially when chaos rules at home. “I don’t know what I can do. I have been here for more than two weeks. Time passes so slowly. The Red Crescent takes good care of us. But no one can give me my hope back,” she says. So I will return home to Somalia. But who can I help there with my studies only half-finished? A doctor in Somalia takes care of tens of thousands.” Aid-workers like Rania try to restore some hope to the refugees. You can find this 30-year-old playing with the kids in the school- and game-tent, painting fantastic colourful pictures to hang on the canvas-walls. Rania and her husband joined the Jordan Red Crescent as volunteers. Since the camp opened, both have been doing what they can to help these stranded people. Rania, a qualified nurse, is full of energy, something the people in the camp appreciate. A pregnant Sudanese woman chats with her Jordanian helper. A little joke, and the two women are laughing. For a moment the refugee forgets her worn-out sneakers, her old sun-bleached dress. “Sometimes I feel sad when I think about the uncertainty that the people in this camp face,” Rania says thoughtfully, as she looks at the dusty floor. “Some of them only possess what they wear.” Specialists from the International Federation have been sent to lend support the Jordan Red Crescent as it tries to help these vulnerable people through this time of crisis. Huge water-tanks are filled and ready to use, toilets and showers stand in a long row, a hospital tent and a big kitchen have been erected. Although the camp population has remained fairly constant during the crisis – between 200 and 300 people, it can accommodate many more. “We can extend the camp to 25,000 people,” says Wolfgang Stöckl, a Federation water and sanitation expert. In a warehouse in the capital, Amman, the Federation has stocks of blankets, tents, cooking pots and other items for around 40,000 people. Until now, though, there have not been masses of refugees flooding into the neighbouring countries. There have been countless losers in this conflict – people like Hayat, who has lost part of her future because of the fighting. Related links: Iraq: humanitarian crisis Jordan: appeals, updates and reports Make a donations |
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