The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, visited Za’atari Refugee Camp on Saturday 19 September, 2015. In his short visit, he made a stop in one of the humanitarian projects funded by the UN through its humanitarian agency, OCHA: the FPSC clinic for the care of people with disabilities, especially children with cerebral palsy or spine bífida1.
Those responsible for the Jordanian office OCHA highlighted the services offered by the FPSC clinic: physiotherapy and rehabilitation on the one hand and distribution, adaptation and maintenance of assistive devices for mobility (such as wheelchairs, crutches or walkers) on the other. They strongly emphasized that any of these services, such as maintenance of technical aids, is only carried out in the entire field by the FPSC.
Mr. O’Brien had occasion to talk with some parents whose children receive treatment at the clinic. The words of gratitude for services rendered mingled with the cries of the difficulty of finding work, and having to rely on humanitarian assistance to meet the basic needs of these children. These shortcomings are exemplified in very concrete requests, for example, the distribution of diapersr.
Also, he could meet some of these children, like Abd-Al-Rahman, who arrived at the camp with cerebral palsy, unable to walk or stand upright. After months of treatment at the FPSC clinic, Abd-Al-Rahman can hold himself up and has begun to take its first steps at the age of 4 years.
At the end of his visit, O’Brien thanked those present that they had opened their heart and told their stories: “That is why I come here to meet you, to hear your stories and then count them in Europe that is what gives me strength”.
He was also pleased that there were children like Abd-Al-Rahman, who in the midst of such a dramatic situation, has had access, in the FPSC clinic, to services that might not have enjoyed in Syria, and that he is already capable to walk by himself.
“The neighbouring countries of Syria have reached a stage in which the world must quickly share more responsibilities to meet the humanitarian needs engendered by the Syrian crisis and support the most vulnerable people.”
And in his words, “I now urge each and every one of the international community to do more and increase its support to Jordan and the other countries in the region.”
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1 The FPSC is currently the only Spanish NGO present in Za’atari Refugee Camp. In 2013, with the support of AECID, OCHA and private donors, the FPSC established in District 10 Za’atari Refugee Camp a clinic specialized in physical therapy and rehabilitation for disabled refugee, which caters mostly for children with cerebral palsy. From this Centre is done distribution, adaptation and maintenance of assistive devices for mobility (wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, etc.), being the FPSC the only actor which offers some of these services in the field, as UNHCR recently reported.
You can collaborate with the FPSC for the feasibility of the clinic in Zaatari Refugee Camp:
http://www.fundacionfpsc.org/siria/en