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The church overlooking Amman

On Monday, I had the opportunity to meet some extremely dedicated individuals who through years of hard work have been able to dramatically change the lives of many Christian refugees from Iraq, both Assyrian and Armenian. I got here through the help of Nuri Kino, an Assyrian-Swedish journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Sweden. In 2007 he wrote an absolutely chilling piece about the status of Christian refugees in Jordan titled, “By God: Six Days In Amman”. And because he is a far better writer than I am, I strongly urge you to read the article. I contacted him for help with my project and he put in touch with Hanna Shamoun, one of the church elders and community leaders devoted to helping the refugees here in Amman.

I met Hanna in the morning and he took me to St. Ephraim’s Syriac Orthodox Church to speak with Father Ammanuel Al-Bana, who has been at the church since 1999. He was new to Amman and before he could get settled and understand the city, the refugees began arriving. With Hanna Shamoun as his right hand man, they set to work and became a center for the displaced Christians of Iraq. At the height of the crisis in 2003, as thousands of Assyrian refugees fled Iraq, they would arrive at the church and the priest’s attached house at all hours of the night with only the bags they carried looking for help.

Per Kino’s account, “One reason for the special situation in Jordan, compared to other countries with Iraqi refugees, is the fact that Jordan has not ratified the UN convention on the right for refugee status from 1951. This means Jordan is not obliged to regard the Iraqis as refugees or give them the rights of refugees.”

As a result, community organizations were the only other place to turn. The refugees often initially stayed in Fr. Al-Bana’s home, with as many as 30 at a time sleeping on couches, floors, and hallways until he could find them a more permanent home. The church also worked with aid organizations to get large amounts (~1000 kg) of food donations (rice, flour, other staples). Fr. Al-Bana turned the church hall into a food distribution center and would re-package these donations into smaller amounts, label them with families’ names, and call them one by one. The church also worked to plug the refugees into other social services, such as Caritas, an German relief organization devoted to social causes around the world, that pays for healthcare services in Amman.

And now? Combined with hard work by Kino and others, three months ago the US and some European nations and began offering visas to the refugees. As a result, hundreds of families have left Jordan in the past three months and the number of refugees was dwindling. At this particular parish, there are approximately 10-15 Assyrian families remaining. Three weeks ago, however, Jordan re-opened its border with Iraq and refugees have begun trickling in again fleeing religious threats and violence in Iraq.

It was truly inspiring to witness firsthand how completely these individuals have dedicated their lives to helping strangers robbed of their homes and homeland. And add me to long list of people that owe Hanna Shamoun deep gratitude. He had a major cardiac bypass 4 months ago and is only now slowly recovering. On our way home, as he struggled to catch his breath walking from the taxi, he revealed that this was the first time since his operation that he had left the house by himself, but felt he had to push himself and take me to the church because of how important it was for others to know about the refugees’ struggles.

Hanna Shamoun

Follow this link to see more photos of the church, mapped to the actual church location.

The only thing that has kept me somewhat sane is my handhelp GPS which I preloaded with maps of Jordan and Syria that were generated by users. While not completely accurate and unlabeled, I can at least track where I’ve been and make sure I can get back. Also very helpful for dropping pins at cool cafes or restaurants (such as the one I’m sitting in now, writing this blog post). I will also be geo-coding my photos and placing them on interactive maps so you can see where things come from.

As an aside, pretty cool to know that the GPS works even on the plane (and is an approved device, don’t worry!).

584 MPH at 34,000 feet? Awesome!

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