March 14, 2014

By Sally Urang

I am an Arabic-speaking American nurse-midwife who recently went to Jordan through the generosity of the Syrian American Medical Society on a two-week medical mission with a midwife friend and colleague. We were able to work at two sites providing care to Syrian refugees -one in Amman and one in Irbid.

The situation of the Syrian refugees is beyond dire. In our rounds with the SAMS Social Work team we encountered children who had not slept for more than an hour at a time for over a year.

We met a 5-year-old boy from Homs with constant nightmares who had seen his father killed in front of him. We tried as much as we could to provide some comfort to this young innocent soul. We visited a patient in a hospital, a mother of three and a nurse, who was tortured after she was taken from her hospital in Damascus and beaten on the head and spine and left for dead. She is now a paraplegic.

The evil that is being visited upon innocent people in Syria is unspeakable.
Syria is a lovely country that I have had the pleasure of visiting three times in the recent past. They have been subject to unspeakable torment for almost three years.

— Sally Urang, a volunteer Registered Nurse, participated in a 2-week medical mission where she worked providing medical and psychosocial care to refugees in Jordan. This account was included in the official statement of SAMS provided to the U.S. Senate.

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