My trip to Jordan with International Medical Corps gave me an opportunity to see a side of the Syrian refugee crisis that I did not expect: happiness. Whether it emanated from the faces of children at the Makani Centers in Amman or Irbid, or the new mom in Azraq camp who treasured feeling safe with …
Syria’s relentless civil war enters its ninth year this month, with fighting beginning to wane in what has become this century’s bloodiest, most brutal conflict. But as the violence ebbs, the humanitarian crisis left in its wake will only grow in the period ahead. The fighting, which has claimed an estimated 500,000 lives, has caused …
American photojournalist Marissa Roth traveled to Jordan in December 2018 as part of her One Person Crying: Women and War photography project. In camp as well as urban settings, in International Medical Corps health clinics and women’s centers, Marissa visited with multiple Syrian refugees whose lives have been torn apart by a brutal eight-year war. She gathered …
Layan and her family lived a good life in Syria before the war. Her father worked as a businessman in Kuwait and made a decent income. She was a child who knew no other life, so war, death and annihilation seemed very distant. No matter where you live, nothing but experience can prepare you for …
International Medical Corps believes that passing on skills and knowledge fosters self-reliance. Training enables people who have been struck by conflict, disease or disaster to not only benefit from aid but also to develop their own, innate potential to become resilient in the face of disaster. This is why the organization has always been so …
I barely make it inside the kitchen before Mohammad and Maen offer me one delicious dish after another—vegetable soup, rice and chicken—based on relatively simple ingredients. It nevertheless tastes divine and, for a brief moment, I forget that I’m standing in a kitchen inside a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. The cooks—Maen and Mohammad—are both Syrian refugees. …
July 2018 marks one year since Iraqi forces and their allies retook the city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), after three years of occupation. As many as 1 million people fled the city due to the conflict, but today 870,000 have already returned to their hometown. Hiba, Mental …
Zaid was only a young boy when air strikes and artillery fire began to plague his hometown in Syria. Originally from Daraa, the city where the war once began, Zaid, his siblings and their mother were left with no choice but to flee the country. Although they eventually found safe haven in Ajloun, Jordan, the …
Is home where your heart is, as the popular saying goes? Or is it, as Webster’s dictionary defines it, just “one’s place of residence”? What does home mean to the more than 65 million people displaced globally because of war, violence, natural disaster and persecution? They live in temporary, uncertain and often chaotic conditions, far …
At the center of this emergency lies Syria. Since the conflict started, more than 5.5 million people have left the country. The majority of them have found shelter in neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Inside Syria, 6.6 million are internally displaced and an unimaginable 13 million people need humanitarian aid. What would …