August 2002

Written by: Sumaia Al Khalidi

Jordan is being described as the town for the Iraqis. Under reeling UN sanctions many drifted to Jordanian cities and towns in the 1990s. Today they have made Jordan into their permanent sojourn. What makes all the Iraqi women leave their country and come to Jordan to sell petty things like cigarettes, lighters, chocolates, and other trinkets? In Amman for instance, they can be seen in many parts especially in the downtown area.

“I’ve been in Jordan for almost three years now,” one woman said. “I buy goods and resell them to make a living. I’m married but had to leave my family because I need money to buy medicine.

“I’ve almost lost sight of my left eye and my medication is too expensive,” the woman in black abayah added. The second woman along the row is old and aging quickly no doubt because of the despair. “I’ve been here for five months but I had to come here in search of work,” she said in a tired voice. “I have seven daughters and four sons and need to feed them. Our life is difficult but I had no other choice,” she sighed sadly. She began re-telling what seemed to be her life story. “Look at my gray hair; it’s because of worry about my daughters,” she added. “When I feel hungry I buy a falafel sandwich. I try to save most of what I earn to send to my daughters. I make 1.5 or 2 dinars a day but life is too expensive.” Her husband is too old to work so “the burden fell upon me to make a living and take care of my children.”

The heartache continues. Amman has become a welcome relief for many Iraqis who are said to number 100,000 according to very rough estimates. Another Iraqi woman was sitting on the floor with a little girl about 3 years old next to her. When asked why she came to Jordan she covered her face with her hands and told us to leave her alone. Probably out of fear she didn’t want to talk about her life and was extremely agitated. Next was a jolly woman who was eating chocolates rather happily. She was all smiles when we approached her. “I’ve been here for two months,” she confided. “I get my goods from shops and resell them,” she said. “I have five daughters and four sons and left them with their father in Iraq.” She admitted she is rather enjoying her life in Jordan. “It’s quite a change to my routine life,” she told us.

After that we headed to a beautiful young woman who couldn’t have been more than 20. She looked sad and rather desolate. “I’ve spent a month in Jordan. I’m not married but came here to work with my mother to help her feed the rest of my little brothers and sisters in Iraq,” she said in a resigned kind of way. “My mother and I are living in a small room in downtown but the money we make is barely enough to live on, let alone send to Iraq, but we do send because the rest of the family needs to live,” she pointed out. “I have to renew my residency every six months which needs lots of time and effort. We have to live. What can we do?” she wonders. “What makes our life difficult is the security people who come suddenly and arrest us so we have to take our goods and run before we are caught,” she admitted. “We live in a continuous fear of them. Why can’t they just leave us alone?” she asked.

The last woman was probably the most poignant. “I live on charity. Many people don’t buy my goods but they give me money any way. They feel pity because I’m old,” she said. “I had no other choice but to come to Jordan because life in Iraq became a living hell,” she narrated. “After the war with Iran and Kuwait, life became impossible for us so the best solution became to leave our country to find a better life somewhere else,” she added. Iraqis, both inside and outside their country, have gone through a lot. When will their suffering end nobody knows. Certainly not until the UN sanctions on the country are lifted. For the Iraqi women of Amman it will continue to be business as usual for the immediate future at least.