Less Than An Hour's Drive...

Displaced Syrians in Amman watch
news coverage of their country's events.
(credit: Ali Jarekji)

Only 42 miles from our apartment in Amman families fleeing the Assad regime are flooding into the city of Ramtha. Most recent estimates suggest that since the beginning of the conflict, more than 100,000 Syrians have crossed the border into Jordan. To complicate matters, the Kingdom is somewhat reluctant to open refugee camps, fearing that Damascus will misinterpret humanitarian aid as Jordanian support for the revolutionary movement. 

While some Syrians travel to Jordan on Fridays in order to avoid the heightened conflict following weekend protests and then return to their homes within a few days, the mass exodus of illegal arrivals continues throughout the week with many families sneaking across the border overnight. In Ramtha, five military-guarded apartment buildings currently house more than 2,000 refugees with dozens of people sleeping in stairwells, crowded rooms—even outside. Why is this facility spilling over with occupants? According to The Jordan Times:

“As part of security procedures, Syrians must make the complex their temporary home until a Jordanian citizen signs a JD10,000 financial guarantee taking legal responsibility for their activities during their stay in the Kingdom. While the process proved to be a swift procedure for refugees hailing from Daraa due to the presence of Jordanian relatives and in-laws living in Ramtha, relief workers say new arrivals from Homs, Idlib, and the Damascus countryside face obstacles in locating Jordanians to vouch for their activities, leading to extended stays and an added stress on limited housing.”

While the willingness of Ramtha-based citizens to take responsibility for their relatives is very well and good, the task of finding Jordanian sponsorship for displaced Syrians is more than a matter of familial obligation. Consider this: the CIA World Factbook lists Jordan’s official unemployment rate at 12.3% in 2011, while unofficial estimates run as high as 30%. If a department head—say, a man in his early 40s with a university degree who’s a chief officer for one of the Kingdom’s security branches—makes approximately JD13,000 per year, how can he afford to support his family and sign a JD10,000 promissory note in order to sponsor an incoming Syrian?  What’s more, an annual salary of JD13,000 hardly represents the average household; according to UNICEF, Jordan’s gross national income per capita was approximately JD3,084 in 2010. 

Trailers in Ramtha's King Abdullah Gardens.
(credit: Taylor Luck)

Although King Abdullah has promised health coverage to displaced Syrians, it’s clear that average Jordanians remain hard-pressed to care for those families fleeing Assad’s regime. Recently, the French Ambassor to Syria visited Ramtha to consider ways in which his country might led support. In the meantime, The Jordan Times reports that some 1,000 refugees will be housed in a complex currently under construction. How 200 furnished trailers will relieve the daily influx of more than 500 Syrians remains to be seen.