Visiting a Syrian fanily

We arrived at the house at about 4pm. The father of the family met us on the street and showed us the way up to their apartment. In Jordan, houses are often difficult to keep warm in the winter and this house was freezing cold. There was a gas heater, but the gas bottle was almost finished and the windows were all open – presumably to allow some oxygen to enter while using the gas heater. There are often cases in Jordan of people dying of carbon monoxide poisoning while using gas heaters.

Fleeing the fighting

The family was Syrian and they had fled to Jordan to escape the fighting, like many other Syrians. In Syria, they were a middle-class family with good jobs and a nice house but since coming to Jordan, they have been reduced to a desperate state of poverty, forbidden from working and relying on food vouchers from the UN which are only enough for the bare essentials. Like many Syrians who have fled to Jordan, they are just waiting and hoping for things to improve in Syria so that they can return home.

Health problems

They have 5 children, one of whom has developed bladder retention problems as a result of the trauma of what happened in Syria. Another has a problem with a swollen knee which makes it difficult to walk and is taking a long time to heal. We wondered if the lack of nutrition is contributing towards the lengthy recovery process.

Amazing hospitality

We arrived at this time so that they would not feel obliged to cook a meal for us but, according to Syrian hospitality customs, they wanted to give us the best meal they could make in order to make us feel welcomed as friends. Giving food to guests is considered to be a very important expression of hospitality in their culture, more than would be true for most Jordanian families in Amman. They had explained to us that it was very difficult to afford to buy meat, and yet they had put a small amount of mince in the rice, along with a delicious selection of other Syrian dishes.

Some things are worth a lot more than money or food

We wondered how much of their monthly food allowance had been spent on this meal but on the other hand, we could visibly see how much our visit lifted their spirits as we tried to bring some love and joy into their household. We were very proud of our kids who got on really well with their kids and had lots of fun, playing with them. Their mum thanked us profusely for coming and bringing joy into their family for the first time in ages. We hope to repay their amazing hospitality by inviting them to our house for a meal soon.