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."

Threatened Lebanon ~ Refugees Upset Balance

NYTimes infographic by Sergio Pecanha, Timothy Wallace, and Derek Watkins show Refugee Influx Threatens Balance in Lebanon...

"Many in Lebanon worry that the influx of up to 400,000 Syrian refugees, who are mostly Sunni, may disrupt the delicate balance in the country. Lebanon fought its own sectarian civil war from 1975 to 1990."

Syria Snapshot ~ Map of Controls Mid-Mar 2013

NYTimes infographic by Liam Stack and Sergio Pecanha attempts Map of the Dispute in Syria...

"It is impossible to determine precisely where the boundaries of control lie in Syria. But an analysis of news reports and videos posted online indicates that rebels are stronger in the north and northeast, while the government holds the center of most of Syria’s largest cities and the west."