Kat Graham meets Abu Hadi
American actress Kat Graham meets Abu Hadi and his children in Zaatari refugee settlement.
“After a huge air attack on our village we decided to leave Syria. We reached the Jordanian border at the same time as many thousands of other people and stayed there for 2 days before we got to the camps.”
“We arrived here with the clothes we had on and had to wait for 3 days to get a ration card. Our idea was that we would stay for a month until the situation settled and then we would go back but then we realized we must stay until the end of the conflict.”
“In Syria I was assigned to the criminal investigation unit for 10 years. I was known in the community so three days after arriving at Zaatari I was asked to become a street and then district leader.”
“My plan is to start up a charitable campaign using youth from my district to support vulnerable people in the camp. I’m trying to keep the youth busy with something that can benefit people as it can be very boring in camp so young men go back to Syria to fight and die.”
“I am pleased to help but I have so much work to do that I don’t have time to sleep, or eat and still have to support my family by earning. But sometimes I realise that I have forgotten to raise my own children in amongst all of my work for the community. I don’t know what to do about that.”