Bradford father recounts harrowing trip to aid Syrian refugees
A father from the city of Bradford has spoke of his harrowing experience distributing aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan.
Muqaddus Khan, 28, travelled to the country with Bradford-based charity Human Relief Foundation to distribute food, water and toys to those affected by the conflict in Syria.
He told the Yorkshire Standard: “I’ve had a passion to help people so I wanted to see things for my own eyes, to see where money is spent, and see what the situation is really like.”
Muqaddus – who has worked with the charity for almost three years now – had to travel to Gatwick, where he stayed the night before flying to Jordan the next day.
He is a father of three and had to make some sacrifices to go to Jordan, as he explained: “Two of my kids go to school and my wife doesn’t drive, so it was a bit difficult for us.
“But my wife was very supportive and she knew I was going for a good cause. All the way throughout the journey I was talking to her over the phone.”
Muqaddus spent five days in the capital city of Jordan named Madaba, where he was guided by a local charity volunteer who helped him distribute aid to families.
He was told stories from the refugees, as he recounted: “A woman was telling me she owned a big nice house in Syria, but she had to leave it all behind because she feared for her life.”
The Syrian conflict has so far displaced over 2.5 million people, and over 100,000 people have been verified as killed by the conflict, but official figures are unknown, as entry to the country is very difficult.
Muqaddus added: “Realistically, each and every story had it’s own tragedy, and the worst was when I saw 19 people in two rooms of which 10 were orphans.
“It touched my heart, because it was the first family I visited. I’m a father myself, and I could not imagine my kids going through what these kids were going through.”
