Inside a Refugee Camp and Ajlun Castle

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Yesterday and the day before we spent the days in a Palestinian Refugee camp near Jerash about an hour and half from Amman. Yesterday we spent several hours distributing packages that contained food items enough to last a family for three weeks... or so we were told. They looked pretty small to me. The camp has 32,000 refugees living nearly on top of one another. I was actually more impressed at their living conditions then I expected I would be. Although they do live in extreme conditions by any western standard I felt it could be much much worse. I know there are much worse camps near here but clearence into those places is difficult to get.
Anyway, yesterday, the houses we went into were well furbished and clean and the people all looked well physically. It was encouraging. I learned an interesting fact as well.... all the "refugees" in this camp have actually been granted Jordanian citizenship. I was confused by this and then asked why they were then still considered refugees. They told me that Jordan, unlike any other country in the world, allows refugees to become citizens without loosing their refugee status. This is done for several reasons; a) the refugees are free to return to Palestine if they ever have the oppertunity... if they were no longer considered refugees, they would be barred access and b) they recieve much more aid and donations from the government and the UN if they are considered refugees. But the King apparently still wanted these people to have full rights as citizens so they are also considered Jordanian. I think this is a wonderful plan and respect Jordan for implementing it.
The camp has been there for over 50 years. This means that most of the people now living there have lived there their entire lives. When we asked some younger people whether they consider themselves more Palestinian or Jordanian, they simply told us that it didn't matter.

Day before yesterday, after the refugee camp, we went to the Ajlun castle. This is a real castle on a tall hill. When we climbed to the top (unlike western countries there were no restrictions on climbing the dangerousish walls) we were able to see in the distance both Palestine and Syria. It was an impressive view and the pine studded desert hills reminded me distinctly of New Mexico. I never really realized that the Middle East has castles but they sure do... quite impressive ones too.

Today, I joined a smaller group to go to a poor neighborhood about 2 hours north of Amman. I forget now what the town was called. We distributed food packages here too but because this place is much more conservative than even the refugee camp, us girls were required to wear head scarves. It was quite an experience. The houses these people live in are tiny and falling apart. They live off very little food and hardly any water. I was quite disturbed at the seeming lack of enthusiaism though. Many people seemed as though they'd already given up. They need to be helped by being taught new skills so they can have a job rather than giving them food that will only last them so long. Unfortunatly we were in no position to provide that sort of help they really need and so did the best we could.

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Photos

Aljun Castle
Perched upon a hill it could fit in fine in Wales.