WUNRN
Save the Children
A Young Girl's Journey: From Iraq to Jordan
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Madona, 11, and her parents will soon celebrate the
holidays in Jordan, where they were forced to flee from Iraq as a result of
violence and repeated threats in their native country. |
Madona, 11, and her parents have just celebrated the holidays in Jordan, where they were forced to flee from Iraq as a result of violence and repeated threats in their native country.
"We had to leave everything behind in order to save our child's life. We have nothing now. We are old and sick, and we cannot provide our Madona with any sort of future," says her father, Qabeel.
The family's home in Amman consists of two tiny rooms with one small window. One room is filled with a single large bed where they all sleep, and the other room is a small living space that they share with cockroaches, beetles and other insects.
Madona's father and mother married late in life and have only one child. Her father was a well-known painter and taught graphic art and drawing at the Academy of Art in Baghdad. Her mother was a teacher and taught at a primary school.
"Who would have thought that life would turn out like this? We had everything we needed and life was good. And here we are, right in the middle of a slum," sighs Madona's mother, Eman.
She believes education is Madona's only escape route. "We place our trust in the belief that Madona will have an education. School is important, especially for girls. Boys may have a chance to succeed in other ways in our culture. For Madona, education is the only way to achieve a better life for herself."
On the run from war and death threats
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Save the Children's Kholoud and Madona establish a
good rapport immediately. Kholoud has brought a doll for Madona, which makes
her beam with joy. She immediately names the doll Asawer
("Bangles"). The meeting becomes a positive turning point in Madona's
life. "We must never forget that in the huge flood of people from Iraq
there are many young children," says Kholoud. |
Children pay the highest price in war. After Iraq was invaded almost five years ago, Madona and her family managed to cope with the battles and military actions in Baghdad streets. However, then they began to be harassed and threatened because they belong to a religious minority. As time went by, the streets were taken over by criminal gangs who made life even more treacherous.
"One day three years ago I was on my way to school with Madona when a car full of masked men stopped and tried to tear my little girl away from me. I screamed and gripped her as hard as I could and, in the end, I managed to escape into a mosque. In the mosque, a mullah succeeded in driving the kidnappers away with threats," Eman says.
The gangsters had planned to kidnap Madona, force her parents to pay a ransom, and then kill the child. That same evening the family packed their most essential belongings and some clothes. A bus driver helped them to escape unnoticed over the border to Jordan.
Nightmares and loneliness
Madona has frequent nightmares. She dreams about war and bombs, and has to be comforted for hours before she calms down. Her tiny body trembles with fear. Her mother is worried about her little girl's mental health: night after night with repeated nightmares, her anxiety, her sadness, her lack of friends. The only child with whom Madona can play is 2-year-old Sara, who lives next door.
At school she is teased and bullied by other pupils.
"They discovered that I am afraid of loud bangs, so they throw firecrackers after me. That makes me cry because it reminds me so much of the war," says Madona.
Her physical health is also worrying. Madona is very thin. She hardly eats, and her parents cannot afford to buy the nutritious food that she needs. Her current existence is wearing little Madona down. When she throws herself into her mother's arms, it is like catching a feather.
Save the Children's Rewrite the Future program works to get children into school and to protect their rights in a range of areas. The state school system in Jordan has limited resources, and at times there is scant understanding of the needs of displaced children. Save the Children has established contact with several community schools that are better able to accommodate students like Madona.
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'Children are happier when they can go to school.
Iraqi children's minds are filled with war and bombs, murder and violence. At
school we have an opportunity to change these thoughts and attitudes. It
takes time, but it can be done. We cannot give displaced children anything
better than the chance to attend a good school!' |
A wonderful day for Madona
One day Madona has a visitor. It is Kholoud Abu Zaid, program manager for Save the Children's "Ta'leem Tots and Kids" initiative in Jordan. Kholoud has brought Madona a doll, which makes Madona beam with joy. She cradles the doll, sits close to Kholoud and chatters on.
"Madona is a lovely, strong little girl. But she is on the verge of being destroyed by all the hardship and lack of support she has experienced. She deserves a better life than this," says Kholoud.
The very next day Kholoud sets to work to help Madona. She wants to move Madona into a school where the teachers and principal respect and understand diversity among students, provide the support needed for children like Madona, and where they take an active concern about the Iraqi children's need for emotional support. Next Kholoud coordinates with related organizations to secure the family's financial position, so that Madona can be fed properly. And then Madona must find a better place to live with her parents.
"This sort of work takes its toll on us, but it is the only way. We must never forget that in the huge flood of people from Iraq there are many young children," says Kholoud.
Save the Children's "Rewrite the Future' program supports several schools where displaced Iraqis' special needs are addressed. Among other things, Save the Children deploys Iraqi skilled volunteers as school counselors or teachers, and funds school fees, books and uniforms for those many Iraqi children who are in a similar situation as Madonna.
Save the Children in Jordan
Save the Children's Rewrite the Future program is a frontline responder in Jordan, supporting the protection and education needs of displaced Iraqi and Jordanian children. The agency provides programs that support children as they grow and develop, from early childhood activities to support for youth as they enter adulthood.
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