Yasser and Khadija* witnessed a huge massacre outside of Damascus and had to flee among bodies and pools of blood. They were displaced several times inside Syria, staying less than two weeks in each place. When they returned to their house for one day, regime soldiers invaded their home, sexually assaulted Khadija, destroyed everything in their house, humiliated Yasser, who is in a wheelchair, and threatened them. They have been displaced in Jordan for nearly four years and Yasser said that the inability to work is “driving us crazy.” International aid is drying up and his able-bodied son is unable to work because if he gets caught again, they are afraid he would be sent to a camp or deported.

Yasser and Khadija witnessed a huge massacre outside of Damascus and had to flee among bodies and pools of blood.”

Yasser and Khadija both came to CVT and went through a 10-week group counseling cycle, Yasser in a men’s group and Khadija in a women’s group. After they completed their interdisciplinary program of care, they both found the courage to tell their story publicly. As they took these steps to rebuild their lives, they wanted their experience to give evidence of the reality of the Syrian war and help create real change.

*Names and some details have been changed to protect anonymity.

CVT’s work in Jordan is made possible with funding from the US State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, and the United States Agency for International Development/World Learning and the American people’s support, and Open Society Foundation.