Update from Amman

Coming back to Amman after several months away has been a moving and a sobering experience, as I’ve had the opportunity to spend day after day in the company of Iraqi friends and colleagues.

Prices here have continued to rise in recent months, with basic commodities being revalued monthly, and the price of milk going up every week. What small savings some Iraqi families had is now gone, and those who have not yet been resettled as refugees are losing hope as they become mired in cycles of repeated, redundant security checks; poorly-administered health screenings; and other bureaucratic nightmares.

Some of those registered as most vulnerable are now being resettled to other countries, or at least told they will soon be resettled. The numbers are still a trickle, but several people DAI has worked closely with are now beginning new chapters of their lives in Britain, the United States, Sweden, or Australia. Aid organizations are increasingly working with Iraqi volunteers at least to some degree, though leadership by Iraqis is still rare, and Iraqis continue to be barred from organizing within their own communities. We have heard that deportation to Iraq has decreased in recent months, though Iraqis still face imprisonment and exploitation when they try to work to feed their families, which they are prohibited to do by law.

It is also clear that hostility to Iraqis among Jordanians has continued to increase. Negative stereotypes of Iraqis are increasingly widespread, and conflict is more common as people grow more desperate and the spiraling cost of living strains everyone here. There is a tension that was not here even a few months ago.

In the midst of this, Direct Aid Iraq has grown in experience and in resources, and has been energized by the skills and passion of several new Iraqi community members. There have been many successes in recent months that have not been mentioned at directaidiraq.org, and I want to highlight just a few:

• DAI is now regularly partnering with well-known medical and humanitarian organizations to provide supplementary care to patients under these groups’ primary treatment, amplifying the impact of funds donated to DAI in many ways.

• As the Iraqi members of the DAI team have increased, we are now able to send both a medical doctor and a social case worker for assessments of new patients. This allows a more full picture of both the challenges members of the Iraqi communities face, as well as a clearer sense of how we may be able to help.

• Working quietly as “volunteers” with a variety of organizations, DAI team members have contributed significantly to reducing corruption and improving provision of services among nongovernmental organizations working with Iraqis. DAI staff have become respected sources of information on the needs, perspectives, and attitudes of the Iraqi communities in Jordan.

• DAI has initiated and facilitates a network of Iraqis helping Iraqis with financial assistance on a monthly basis. Iraqi families who have some means of livelihood or more resources than others are connected to families in serious need, and then contributions are made directly from one person to another, strengthening community bonds and increasing a sense of solidarity, step by step.

• For the last several months, DAI has coordinated a “mobile clinic” under the auspices of various organizations that provides check-ups and health screenings to Iraqis and Jordanians living in unserved or underserved areas in Jordan. While we do not have the capacity to provide large-scale health services, we have been able to collect reports and assessments that help us to advocate for increases in services by larger aid groups that otherwise might ignore isolated and often invisible Iraqi communities here.

• As part of regular visits to long-term patients and new case assessments, team members often receive news and referrals about people in need who are unable for various reasons to access services offered by other organizations, or whose problems are too complex for them to be addressed by one group. The DAI team here has an impressive network of contacts with UN organizations and other groups that can provide support, and so they are often able to provide referrals that result in people getting the help they need — legal help, shelter, financial assistance, surgery, education.

As our work proceeds, we continue to seek opportunities to expand and provide more support to the many thousands of Iraqis who remain unserved or underserved in Jordan. And we continue to plan and seek opportunities to increase our role in Syria and Iraq beyond serving the patients who are able to make it to Jordan for care, with or without our help.

Throughout this process, it has been Iraqi community leaders who have focused and informed the work, and it is Iraqis who carry it out, in partnership with Americans who recognize our responsibilities to stand with Iraqis in this dark time.

Noah Baker Merrill is in Jordan during the month of July accompanying the Iraqi DAI team in Amman. To support the work of Direct Aid Iraq with and for Iraqi refugees, click here.