Inspiring Amputees ~ MSF Action in Jordan...

MSF works in Jordan on seriously injured Syrian refugees. Here's a snippet of their work... Now the key additional thing is to ensure affordable quality prostheses are, in fact, accessible to those Syrian amputees, otherwise this was not inspiration but cruelty.

Zaatari City ~ Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan...

With shocking speed Zaatari City has grown in Jordan from a few thousand to over 130,000 Syrians seeking refuge. The BBC reports on Zaatari refugee camp that...

"This makeshift piece of Syria has three hospitals -- meaning that healthcare and mortality rates are significantly better inside the camp than outside -- and there are a number of schools, although attendance is low. Just a quarter go to classes. Entrepreneurial residents have also set up more than 3,000 different shops and businesses along the camp's main roads -- including the humorously named "Champs Elysee" -- selling a wide range of goods and services, from groceries and fresh bread to wedding dresses and mobile phones. There are also taxi services, children's playgrounds and football pitches. [...] Yet, the vast majority of Syria's 1.9 million refugees do not live in Jordan's desert camps, but are instead spread across the region. Most are in Lebanon, followed by Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. This is not forgetting the 4.25 million internally displaced people within Syria itself."

I wonder what it would take for Jordan to assimilate the refugees and give them empowerment rights to work and own property and businesses and welcome them to build up the Jordanian economy, including such emerging cities as Aqaba and beyond.

Jordan Swamped ~ Refugee Influx Overwhelms...

PBS reports on how Jordan Struggles with Next Door's Chaos and Influx of Syrian Refugees...

"More refugees continue to pour into the Hashemite kingdom every day, and this has put an enormous strain on Jordan. It's a relatively poor country that already hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Iraq war and more than two million Palestinian refugees who have come in various waves over the past 65 years. Last week, the country took out a $150 million dollars World Bank loan to deal with the refugee crisis, and King Abdullah made a plea for help at a World Economic Forum."

Star Trek Aqaba ~ Jordan's Green Theme Park!

Thanks to Inhabitat for spotting the planned US$1.5B development of a Star Trek theme park in Jordan's southern port city Aqaba! Not only is this a cool addition to emergent Aqaba, but it's a salute to the most Trekkie of royalty, King Abdullah II, who even cameo'd in a Voyager episode!