What is a refugee? A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
Kamal used to be a peaceful Shepard in Darfur, Sudan. But then things changed when he and his family were hit with an unnatural disaster. “I was caring for my sheep when horse-riding militias attacked my simple home; I was struck in my right arm which left me unable to use it.”
Kamal and his family were separated. His family had to stay in a camp in South Sudan that he wasn’t allowed to enter. “I had to sneak in to see my wife and children, once every couple of months only,” says Kamal. It was while they lived under these conditions that Kamal heard the news that his father was killed.
Kamal was separated from his family once again, this time a much greater difference. After obtaining a passport, he fled to Jordan alone, spending two years alone in Jordan as a manual laborer to able to get his family to join him.
This was risky because legally, Kamal was not supposed to be working.“Due to refugee laws in Jordan, as well as my disability, I’m not able to get or maintain any sort of job. I have five kids to support and my sixth and oldest boy is still stuck in Sudan. I need to make money to be able to bring him to Jordan. Me and my family are in need of resettlement, I want proper education, life and a future for my children who weren’t able to attend school until last month,” says Kamal. “I receive a food voucher from CRP that help me feed my family each month.”
One of the most difficult things that refugees have to deal with living in a host country is struggling to fill their time. With little-to-no opportunities or anything to do, boredom overcomes their lives, which takes a huge toll on a person’s mental health. “I like to go on walks, go to the mosque to pray, that gives me some peace of mind and I used to attend physiotherapy and psychosocial support programs at the Center for Victims of Torture in Amman,” says Kamal. Soon our new downtown center will start offering activities that are easily accessible, not to mention free, for Sudanese, Somali, and Yemeni refugees.
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