Dear Friends,
Affectionate greetings to you all. I arrived four days ago from the Middle East and find myself caught as it were between two worlds. I feel like I left one family there in order to return to family here. Despite the starkly different realities, both places seem equally familiar. In ways hard to describe, life there seems easier.
Time did not permit me to write a final letter from Jordan, so I want to do this now. Words can’t express my gratitude to you for your prayers and support. It is you who made the trip possible, and I can assure you that your money gifts and messages brought much healing and some relief to many Iraqis. I regret that I was unable to write each of you individually, but I trust you understand.
Jet lag has me rising at 3:00 or 3:30am these last days and, despite my somewhat weary state, it is good to be with my community and friends again. Little by little I am catching up on the events of the last four months. Little Esther, one month and scrawny when I left, is now the most charmingly beautiful hamster-cheeked baby, smiling from ear to ear! As I feared, seventeen month old Tobias forgot me, but we will soon remedy that. Jonah, almost nine now, embraced me with a big hug!
Excited shouts from the 4th floor of our house two nights ago caused me to go up to see what was going on. As I suspected, the family from the Congo was beside themselves with joy at the news of Obama’s victory. Jaded as I am from the last two years of campaign frenzy and mistrust of our political system, I can’t help but be caught up somewhat in the enthusiasm around me. I want to believe that things will get better.
My last two weeks in Jordan found me paying visits to a much neglected sector of the Iraqi refugee population, that of single men between the ages of 20 to 35. As I write you, I have their faces before me. It helped greatly that I was taken to their homes by someone they know and trust. For the most part, their initial cautiousness faded as we visited, and one by one they told me something of their situations. I was amazed by their open expressions and the lack of anger and rancor in their voices. Sometimes as many as six men are sharing an apartment with only a mattress or blanket on a bare floor. They have all fled violence and many have lost loved ones and/or have suffered physical harm themselves.
Separated from their families, they are unable to return to Iraq and fear pickup and deportation should they be caught working. As “younger” single Iraqi men, they are lowest on the “totem pole” of candidates for resettlement. Not permitted to work, they nevertheless have to find ways to pay rent and support themselves. Many eat only one meal a day and, without even a hotplate, they can’t make a hot cup of coffee or tea to help ward off the cold. They live in a constant state of anxiety and fear. Unable to pursue work, studies or their careers and trades, their desperation grows. Women in the same circumstances to often feel driven to prostitution in order to survive. What, we must ask ourselves, will these men be forced to turn to? Here are a couple of stories. The names have of course been changed to protect them.
Mohammed, 20 years old. He came to Jordan in 2004 when he was just 15 years old. The militia was trying to force him to join them, kidnapped him for two days and under torture he accepted their demand and was released with the promise to come back to them. His family sold furniture to help him go to Jordan. He is living with four other men in miserable conditions.
Abu Mustafa, 32 years old. He came alone to Jordan in 2006. He worked as a police officer. Threatened by militia (two of his police friends were killed in front of him), he had to flee. He left a wife and small son. His wife gave birth to a baby girl 20 days after he left Iraq. She is now 2 1/2 years old and he has never seen her. Recently his 5 year old son said to him over the telephone “Baba (father), come and eat with us, we are going to have lunch.” He has relatives in the states and in Germany. He lives with four other men in very poor conditions.
Mazen, 28years old. From a family of eight brothers and sisters, he came alone to Jordan in 2003. His whole family is in southern Iraq. He was forced to flee when armed men with black masks attacked them. His father was so badly beaten that he can no longer walk. The area where they lived had problems between Shi’a and Sunni. He is unable to return or he will be killed. He has no relatives outside of Iraq.
These are only three brief accounts of about twenty men I met one evening. The same evening we learned that the housemate of one of the men was seriously ill with fever and vomiting. After speaking with all of the men, we went to the apartment and found the man lying on the floor on a blanket. With the help of his friends we were able to get him to a hospital. I saw him three days later in the hospital. He was receiving IV antibiotics, but still had a fever and intense headache and cough. A nurse told us he had pneumonia. After another couple of days his condition had improved, thank God. But how can he return to an unheated apartment, to a bed of blankets on the floor? He was the only person working in the household, having found work breaking up concrete from 6am to 8pm daily. His wage, when the boss was willing to pay, was 50-100JD monthly (approx. $70-$130.).
The desperate and urgent situations of these young men follow me back to the states. We have a way to get money directly to such households. If someone among you, or a group or community, would be able to wire a monthly contribution directly to our friend, she would make sure that it reaches such a household. You can call me or write me for detailed information. Tel. 212-777-9617, email: .
I greet you with much love, Cathy Breen
