Al Zarka

The most interesting fact for me on this first day in the clinic in Zarka was that many of the refuges that I saw were from Homs, in the middle of Syria. I thought that by being in a country that borders Syria from the south we will see more refugees from Daraa and Damascus suburbs. We were at the Jordanian Woman Union clinic in the town. As you know by now every good thing that happens in the world has the word woman in it.

We set up our clinic in two rooms. There were three of us in one of the rooms, a Syrian-American Nephrologist, an American Cardiologist, and an Egyptian-American family doctor. I was glad to be the go to doctor for our group to translate the most complicated medical terms and to answer some clinical questions. It quickly became obvious to me that these poor patients prefer someone who speak their language.

I wanted to ask and listen to their personal stories at the same time that I was trying to treat them. I saw this 80 year old man from Homs who has an enlarged prostate. He was there with his daughter and grandson. He told me about his house that is now gone with tears in his eyes. The fruits of all his life journey suddenly vanished. He had many clinical problems but my limited list of medications cannot treat all of them. I hope at least that I touched his heart and caressed his soul.

There were many women, women with unemployed husbands, women and children with missing fathers, and women whose husbands were detained. Most of them were registered at the UNHCR and receive coupons to help them buy food and a monthly salary of about 125 Dinar per family. There was a family of 10 people that I met today. They receive the same 125 Dinar! To work in Jordan you have to apply for a work permit which cost 450 Dinar (or about $650) and many cannot afford it, and if they were caught working "illegally" they are immediately deported.

One sixty-year old man lost two of his brothers in the conflict. One of them died in the chemical weapon attack last August and the other was shot just last month. He was from the suburbs of Damascus. He had diabetes and high blood pressure. He picked up smoking since the beginning of the conflict. He sent four of his sons to fight in retaliation. Both sides don't realize now that war of attrition and mass punishment is not going to help. Killings will only fuel killings. There is no end in sight.

There are few Syrians who believe that these people whose brother, sons, husbands are fighting against the Syrian government don't deserve to be helped. But being against a government doesn't make one less human. It is sad that we got down to this. As we try to find ways to get of this hole, we must take care of our fellow humans.