Paul Calvert spoke with Saleem Anfous from Immanuel Church in Bethlehem

Saleem Anfous

Zaatari is a refugee camp in Jordan, located 10 km east of Mafraq. It was first opened in July 2012 to host Syrians fleeing the violence in the ongoing Syrian civil war. In July 2013, the camp population was estimated at 144,000 refugees, making it Jordan's fourth largest city.

Saleem Anfous from Immanuel Church in Bethlehem - whose own grandparents were refugees from Haifa - went to visit some of the families in Mafraq to encourage, help and support them. He reported to Paul Calvert what he found there.

Paul: You have been to Jordan to visit Syrian refugees. Why did you as a Palestinian want to go and help the refugees there?

Saleem: Everyone knows that what is going on with the Syrians, we had the same situation about 60 years ago; both of my Grandparents are refugees from Haifa and so we went through the suffering that the Syrians are going through right now.

Paul: What did you do when you were there?

Saleem: Most of the time that we were there we were visiting families. Day and night we would go and visit families; about six families a day.

Paul: Was it easy for you as a Palestinian to get into Jordan?

Saleem: Yes it was easy to get to Jordan. We do this regularly. The only way we go, is through Jordan and then we took the bus to Mafraq, which is the area where the refugees are.

Paul: How many refugees are in Jordan at the moment?

Saleem: When we asked when we were there it was almost half a million refugees, either in refugee camps, or refugees who are living in cities, but in little homes or apartments.

Paul: So people are still living in tents?

Saleem: Yes, the Zaatari Camp I think it is called is up north and it's a huge camp area where people are still living in tents.

Paul: What sort of people did you visit? Did you visit people in the camps or people in their homes?

Saleem: Most people that we visited we visited in their homes.