This article was earmarked for publication under a nom de plume, however, the publisher had a change of heart and I decided that I should publish it on my blog
Amman, Autumn 2015
Today was just one of those days that has to be recorded, I don't know why, but it has to be recorded.
First I took my baby daughter to get her vaccines , a "Hexa Vaccine", which I really, really didn't want to because I read somewhere that some babies die because of it! Which is the exact opposite of what you want to read about a vaccine.
We were also planning a "Rota Virus Vaccine," which has a chance to cause her intestines to collapse like a -you couldn't make this stuff up- telescope, However remote the chance, you still don't want to hear about it!
With that in mind I walked into the health center -partially renovated by USAID funds- this morning and processed our turn and paid our dues. A few minutes later, we get called into a room, and the pediatrician looked at our paperwork and told her assistant that there are many Jordanians visiting the center today.
Semantics dictate that the deduced norm is: not to have many Jordanians on any given day. I laughed and asked, and yes that center was usually overwhelmed with Syrians, because "they are the ones with all the kids." In an instant there was a range of emotions running through me.
I was proud that the center in sweileh is among many that have been trying to offer Syrian refugees in Jordan a chance at decent medical attention while running away from their war-torn country. Immediately followed by a -probably unnecessary- fear from over population or changing demographics,then a second later by a need to act.
I wanted to do something, the war in Syria has gone on long enough, surely these refugees deserve to go home, if only we could do something. Maybe the Jordanian government and people should back one of the sides, perhaps the resistance, or the regime. Anybody, to conclude the bloodshed and help tip the scales.
The resistance shouldn't be helped because we don't want the weapons to reach ISIS, or is that what the regime wants us to think. Are there true freedom fighters? or Are they all just terrorists? The regime has shed thousands of lives, damages countless areas and communities because it wants to stay in power and doesn't believe in freedom, or is that what the resistance wants us to believe. Are there not external forces trying to manipulate the resistance and damage Syria? Are these opposition forces not traitors by conspiring with outside forces?
I don't know, but it needs to stop!
It was to be expected with the influx of refugees from Iraq, that there will pop-up some restaurants with a slightly tilted menu, or eateries that cater almost exclusively to a different tongue palette. But to have a waiter in one of the oldest restaurants in Amman (Jabri) call one of my favorite dishes by its Iraqi name Dolmah, was a bit too much, especially since he was Egyptian and the Egyptian name is very similar to the local name. Isn't it time that an inclusive democracy happens in Iraq? or maybe another Saddam should come in and settle the place down, either way, shouldn't Iraqis have a better life than trying to carve out an existence in the foreign cities of the world.
Later in the day, I walked into the Civil Status and Passports Department(CSPD), in their new(ish) offices, to get a passport for my baby girl, walking up-to the front desk, I show the clerk my paperwork and he asks me one surprising question. "Are you Jordanian?"
Ofcourse, I am, am I not? I mean, the whole deal with this building was to provide paperwork to Jordanians and of-course some minorities who live here, but mainly Jordanians, no?
Well, it turns out that "Yes," is not a sufficient answer, I was further prodded on with " Jordanian Jordanian?" and yet again my head nodding and my feverish "Yes," didn't do it, I had to get asked a third time "Jordanian and a national number" which immediately brought more meaning to the words he was asking.
See in Jordan, a national ID number gives you a 5-year passport, while those with ties to Palestine and claims on other identities have 2-year passports that require much more intensive paperwork and a much more time-consuming process. Others still have different claims and get different identification documents which could have burdensome procedures. This all warrants more visits to the CSPD.
Obviously, therefore, the majority of people visiting the CSPD would not be "Jordanian Jordanian" as the clerk so eloquently put it. They even have whole floors to their affairs. I felt bad for those too, and I wanted someone to act, if Syria had taken long enough and Iraq needs a solution then Palestine is ridiculous. Maybe then Amman will be inhabited by a large majority of Jordanians and foreigners will be a novelty again and Ammanis will stop their xenophobia and go back to their xenophilia for which they were once famous.
