Disabled and Displaced Our World


Disabled and Displaced

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It is one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of our

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generation. A conflict that is not only tearing apart families but an

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entire country. Around 11 million Syrians have been forced to leave

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their homes. Many have fled to neighbouring countries to escape the

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ongoing violence. I'm Nikki Fox, and I in an Jordan, a country that

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admits it is unable to support the estimated 1.4 million refugees it

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has already taken in. At the moment, I just think about walking again and

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everything will come about. Just take it one step? Step-by-step. If

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we are really looking to respond in a comments of way, and I'm not

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talking about millions of dollars of financial support, but billions of

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dollars. With the third having a disability or a series health

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condition I'm here to find out how the most vulnerable survive --

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cereus. This is their story. The first place we visit is Zaatari

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refugee camp, a city in the middle of a desert. This place has grown

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exponentially since the start of the conflict. Only a few miles from the

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Syrian border, it is where more than 80,000 refugees have sought safety.

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With its barbed wire fences and rows of white boxes, it is unlike any

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city I have ever seen before. The first person I meet is a little girl

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who is only ever known conflict -- has. Five-year-old Malik Foster left

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leg when her home in Syria was bombed. She's learning to walk with

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a new frame. Her mum tells me about the date the 10th came. -- tanks.

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Malik often forgets she's in pain. But here, she is safe. Goodbye! How

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difficult is it for you as a man? She didn't want to show her face to

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protect your family still in Syria -- as a mother?

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Malik's mother can't afford to dream of going back to Syria. She has more

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immediate concerns. Living here with a disability is tough. Apart from

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the fact you are away from your home and everything you know, your

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family, familiarity, living with a disability is tricky getting around,

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or just a quick difficult. I can imagine a lot of disabled people do

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feel a bit trapped in our own spaces, in their own places. They

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just can't get out. One charity that helps people like Malik is Handicap

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International. They estimate that around 30% of refugees in the camp

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have some kind of disability or chronic health condition. Every day,

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dozens of disabled refugees come for vital treatment. You are pushing me!

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One of those is 28-year-old Ragda, who has cerebral palsy. Unlike

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Malik, living in Zaatari has given her a new-found independence. Hello!

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This could be a bit of a bumpy arrival. Bear with me, they're with

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me. She fled Syria three years ago. The only way she could do it was by

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being carried across the border. Lovely to meet you! How did you do

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it without a wheelchair, Ragda? Ragda's disability meant her life

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back home difficult -- made her life. She had no wheelchair and very

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little support. And that was before the war. Do you hope to one day go

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back home this might know. No? No. Why not? Why?

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OK! It is only since arriving in Zaatari that Ragda started to get

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regular physiotherapy to help with her cerebral palsy, but what has

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really made a difference to her life is the fact she now has a wheelchair

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from Handicap International. Ragda's parents died in Syria. She

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is now completely dependent on the charity. Do you feel looked after

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Hugh? -- here? That is definitely perfect. Ragda, it has been a

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pleasure meeting you, because I can't imagine how you get around,

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but you are what we call in the UK a tough cookie. That is what you are,

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a tough cookie. # Don't be shy

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# Just roll on by #. Even with a new-found sense of

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freedom, she said having something like my scooter would make a huge

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difference to her life. They all want my scooter.

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LAUGHTER Go around in a circle! The children

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have been fascinated by my scooter. I don't think anyone has seen a

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mobility scooter before, not one might this anyway. -- not one like

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this. I have had kids running behind me in total fascination. I don't

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think they have anything here that is motorised. No electric

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wheelchairs, no mobility scooters. The only mobility they have is maybe

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a walking frame or a Wiltshire. -- wheelchair. The difficulties I saw

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in Zaatari are very much mirrored here in Jordan's new escape, Azraq.

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-- newest camp. Billed simply because there is no more room in

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Zaatari. This place is even harder to get around because of the sheer

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size of it. Home to more than 20,000 refugees, but with space for five

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times that amount, the camp feels desert. -- does alert. In between

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rows upon rows of metal roofs, large ditches line the long dusty roads.

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Eventually we came across the only supermarket on the camp, but it took

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us some time. We had a van. The majority here don't have that

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luxury. Which is side, the coups shopping is just that little bit of

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normality. -- because. If you have a disability would be really difficult

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if not impossible. There is a car, but you have to pay for it. If you

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don't have money that could be very tricky. This place is the future for

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the many thousands stuck at the Jordanian border desperate to get

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in. The UNHCR says they have just about manage to provide the very

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basics, but they admit it is impossible to meet the needs of the

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hundreds of thousands of disabled refugees already living in Jordan.

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If we are really looking to respond in a conference of way to the needs

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of Syrians, this has to go a step above what is ready been done. You

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are not talking about millions of dollars of financial support, you

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are talking about billions of dollars of financial support. All in

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all, the services we provide in the camp are geared primarily to

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covering basic needs. So often these issues are quite a challenge to

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respond to as fully as we would like to. I'm always surprised at the

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resilience and drive and determination of the Syrians

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themselves to respond to their own needs. But this resilience is tested

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even further. 80% of all of the refugees in Jordan don't live in

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these camps. They try and survive in and around the main cities, often

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hidden ending poverty. -- and in poverty.

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After seeing the struggles disabled refugees have around two of

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Jordan's main camps, iron back in the van heading to the capital

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city. A city which has for many years been the home for the

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displaced. -- I'm back in the van. This area is known as the

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Palestinian camp and dates back decades. But more and more Syrians

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are living here. Why? Because it is cheap. Behind this apartment

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building the less it costs, which makes it impractical if you have a

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disability. The charity Handicap International doesn't support rivage

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is in the camps, they have a number of mobile teams that go to help

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people. We have many people have a problem in mobility. Many with

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spinal cord injuries, many with dramatic brain injuries. They cannot

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go down the stairs. You can see from here that the stairs are really

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crazy. They are mad, aren't they? Many of the refugees they see live

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in high-rise apartment blocks. This man and his brother left Syria not

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long after the start of the conflict. They were successful

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factory owners back home, so providing for their children wasn't

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a problem. He was a hard-working and generous man. But the pressure he

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was under, being forced to leave his country and the loss of his

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business, were all too much. His brother says this contributed to him

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having a stroke. The family live on the third floor. It is all they can

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afford. The only way he can leave his home is if his brother carries

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him. They have received some financial support from various

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charities, like paying for the initial treatment, but now what

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little they have goes towards paying for his ongoing medical bills.

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While his physical health is slowly improving, his family remained

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trapped in an unsuitable home with very little income.

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That particular area that we were in is the only area that they can live

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in because of the price, they don't have any money, their medical bills

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are huge, there's nothing... There's no other, really. They are being

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quite basic about it. There's just not enough money. Jordan Archer bin

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with a huge influx of refugees and 30% of them have disabilities or a

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chronic health condition. -- are dealing with. There's just a massive

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funding shortfall. Since 2014, serene refugees are no longer

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eligible for free secondary healthcare that so many with

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disabilities rely on. That's prosthetics or in this case the

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therapy and ongoing medication. There are an estimated 1.4 million

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refugees now living in Jordan. 25% of this country's budget is spent on

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them. With a huge funding shortfall from the international community, I

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asked the government if this meant that most vulnerable are being

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forgotten. We are very hospitable people, but at the end of the day

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there will come a time when you need to look at the interests of

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Jordanians vis-a-vis the interests of non- Jordanians who are living in

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Jordan. As a country, as the government, our priority as his

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Majesty has said is serving the Jordanian people.

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So with the government admitting it is overstretched and underfunded,

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how do disabled refugees get the treatment they need? Well, it is

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down to charities like medicine songs frontier to step in. --

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Medecins Sans Frontieres . This is the hospital many injured Syrians

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come to for that vital after-care. They've had their life-saving

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surgery and here is where they it in the long recovery process. -- here

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is where they begin. I was in my home, suddenly the wall exploded.

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And I find both legs injured. And they immediately brought me here.

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And a work appear after if you days. -- woke up here. He has been

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receiving intensive treatment for nearly a year now. It is hard.

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Sometimes exhausting, but it is getting easier every day. So I think

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in the next three months it will be too easy. It will be so easy! You

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don't even need to turn up! I will get rid of him, my physio. He's a

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goner! Before he was injured in the war he was a training lawyer and a

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pretty decent football. Here, at the hospital, he has been exercising

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hard. -- decent footballer. Almost every day. We have some music. You

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listen to music? No. I play Clash of Clans. What is that? It is again!

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Candy Crush?. Everyone knows that! It is entertaining.

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What is your aim for the future? I think go back to my home. Just that.

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Do you have family still? Yes, all my family in Syria. They are waiting

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for me. Are they? Yes. I will go back. When I start walk will go back

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immediately. Really? Yes. That's what keeps you going? Yes. Yes.

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While he sees his future back on an Syria, right now this hospital is

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where he needs to be. -- back home. But soon he will have to move on. So

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where will he go if he can't get back home? There are many disabled

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refugees who end up on the streets of Jordan's capital city. This

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centre was set up to find and take care of those people.

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Many of them will have arrived in Jordan without family or friends.

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Here they are no longer alone. A home by definition is somewhere

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you live with people who love you and you love them back and this is

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what everybody here feels. Ask, the staff, and patience. They visit

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hospitals and search the surrounding areas for those refugees who are at

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their lowest and have nowhere to go. If this place is not existing, I

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think you would end up alone, neglected, on a mattress on some

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corner in a dark, empty room. I don't want to imagine. I love it

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when I spend my time here. Making fun of them, they making fun of me.

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They love you? I love them so much. We are back on the road again.

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Heading for a city which is 20 kilometres from the Syrian border.

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It is our last day and we are off to visit another centre for disabled

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refugees. Unlike the last place there's no physio or specialist

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rehabilitation here. Instead these young men with injuries from war

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meet every week to talk about how they see their future as disabled

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refugees living in Jordan. Their lives have been changed

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forever, but they are resilient. They don't want sympathy. Guys,

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what's your message to other disabled people?

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One, two, three, go! Despite their situation, these young men won't be

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beaten. But I can't help inking about their future. And the future

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of those I've met. All of these people have very different stories.

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But they all share one thing. A total reliance on charities to

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survive. And with too many people and not enough money, what does

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their future hold? I've asked the question a lot, where do you see

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yourself in five years time, and many people are just... They can't

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really say. It is getting by every day, that's what is important.

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That's what they have to do and that's the only thing they can do.

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The bank holiday weekend is finally upon us and there will be some good

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opportunities for getting out and about.

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There is warm sunshine in the forecast.

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Not the full story, because there are thunderstorms

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