Thursday, February 18, 2010

FAR From FREEDOM: 3 part short video series on Iraqi refugees in Jordan

Please watch this video series on Iraqi refugees in Jordan by ABC News Australia. All three parts are available for watching online:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/iraqis/

ABC News Online presents this major investigation into Iraqi refugees living in Jordan. For two months, freelance video and photo journalist Ed Giles lived and worked among the refugees.

They told him their stories and showed him their lives.

The results of this assignment have been drawn together in this unique presentation.

Take the time to explore each chapter, access the additional interviews, and watch out for a special report screening on Lateline tonight at 10.30pm on ABC 1.

You can also watch additional interviews by the experts cited in this series at:
www.abc.net.au/news/video/iraqis/interviews.html


note:
When you hear in this report that only 7,000 Iraqi children have enrolled in Jordan's public schools as a measure of how many Iraqis are in Jordan, please take into consideration that some children who missed years of schooling (either in Iraq as security plummeted and/or when they came to Jordan before Jordan opened its schools to Iraqis) never enrolled as they were too far behind to keep up with their peers. Some children also cannot attend school because they must work to support their families. Also, some drop out as it is not uncommon for Iraqi students to be bullied and abused by other students and sometimes even their teachers. This is especially true since tuition for private schools (not the same as US or other western private schools) is no longer paid for. Students accustomed to being treated better in the private schools are especially sensitive to the problems they face in some of the public schools. Many choose to drop out rather than endure this.