Eye of the Hurricane

This week we were briefed at the Fulbright House about what to expect in Jordan. One of the speakers was the Regional Security Officer (RSO) from the U.S. Embassy. He summed up Jordan succinctly as the "eye of the hurricane." A glance at a map will show you why. The Syrian civil war has sent over 700,000 refugees fleeing into Jordan (over 83,000 in a tent city on the border that has few jobs but most essentials of a city as it has become in only two years, complete with ATMs) . Iraq remains in turmoil. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict seems never ending. Saudi Arabia is in conflict with Yemen. Daesh (the Jordanian term of contempt for ISIS) continues to run amok.

The stability of Jordan is of extreme importance to the West and the region. The United States has upped it's yearly support to $1.3 billion. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has a huge presence here. Many non governmental organizations (NGOs) have large operations here providing refugees everything from food to blankets to legal support to yoga lessons. This results in a surprising number of Westerners who have come here to help and have stayed on, many for years.

Amman is the center of it all. It's population has swelled enormously in just the past two years and more than half the country's population lives here. Most Syrian refugees are now city dwellers who have either bypassed the border camps altogether or came here from them. The city is an incredible amalgam of nationalities. Previous waves of refugees actually form the majority of the population. Palestinians make up between 60% and 70% and they are well integrated into society. Even Queen Rania is Palestinian.