AMMAN, Jordan (27/05/2018) – 68-year-old Mona Jomaa arrived in Jordan as refugee with her daughter in 2013. She survived throat cancer and relies on the cash assistance she gets from UNHCR. The 80 Dinars a month (US$113) is not enough to buy all the medication she needs. . This photo was taken as part of a story for UNHCR that highlights the difficulties refugees are facing in accessing healthcare and medicine in Jordan after the Jordanian government decided to cut healthcare subsidies from refugees. Photo by Annie SakkabLUNENBURG, Nova Scotia – (12/10/2016) – Syrian refugee Fatmeh Alkrad prepares dinner at her home in Lunenburg, Oct. 12, 2016. Fatmeh and her family are sponsored privately by a group of people who work closely to help in their resettlement process. ?From Far and Wide’ is a series of stories produced for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that profiles the Canadians who have privately sponsored and welcomed Syrian refugees with compassion and support. Photo by Annie Sakkab.HUWAIJEH, Jordan (31/05/2016) – 22-year-old Syrian refugee Hanan relaxes on a mattress in an afternoon gathering with family at her home in the Northern village of Huwaijeh in Jordan May 31, 2016. This photo is part of a long term project ‘A Familiar Stranger’ a series of photographic and video images that challenges post-colonial constructs and generalizations about the femininity, religion and agency of Arab women. Often labeled as naively subservient or mindlessly radicalized, the women in ‘A Familiar Stranger’ defy such stereotypes and unabashedly project their individuality through how they dress or inhabit spaces. Real name concealed for privacy. Photo by Annie Sakkab.TORONTO, ON – (14/01/2019) – 18-year-old Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun poses for a portrait after an interview with media a day after her arrival in Toronto at Corvetti Education Centre in downtown Toronto Jan. 14, 2019. Ms al-Qunun told the media that she was stopped at Bangkok airport in transit from Kuwait and had her passport taken from her. she claimed that she fled her family fearing for her life and had been planning to head to Australia where she hoped to seek asylum. Ms al-Qunun was eventually granted asylum by the Canadian government after a request from UNHCR and entered Canada on temporary resident permit. Photo by Annie Sakkab.WATERLOO Ontario – (27/05/2015) – Canadian born Minnat-Allah Aboul-Ella moved to Canada seven years ago, she is the Vice President at Al Huda Weekend School and a Quran teacher at MAC Maple Grove School in Waterloo May 27, 2015. Photo by Annie SakkabOAKVILLE, Ontario – (01/10/2020) – The president of Cisco Systems Canada Rola Dagher poses for a portrait at her home in Oakville Jan. 10, 2020. Photo by Annie Sakkab.MADABA, Jordan (21/04/2018) – Hamed Mifleh from Syria is photographed at home in Madaba, Jordan. Two of his children suffer from thalassaemia, a blood disorder that requires costly treatment. Thalassaemia is a hereditary condition that affects the body?s red blood cells. It requires regular blood transfusions, and costly medication. Without treatment, it causes fatigue, osteoporosis, physical deformations, heart palpitations, organ failure and eventually death. The Mifleh siblings, Ahmad and Baraa, have not taken their medication for two months, after Jordan introduced rules that dramatically increased the cost of healthcare for Syrian refugees. The Government is struggling with the financial burden of hosting more than 650,000 registered refugees from Syria?s seven-year conflict. Before March 2018, the family paid 3.5 Jordanian dinars ($5) per month for both children?s treatment. Now the cost is 3,500 JOD, of which they must pay 2,800 JOD ($3,950), an impossible sum for refugees with no regular income. Without urgent financial support, vast numbers of Syrian refugees in Jordan requiring treatment and antenatal and postnatal care will be unable to afford it, putting their lives at risk.AMMAN, Jordan – (25/05/2018) – 42-year-old Syrian refugee Osama al Rifai poses for a portrait at his home in Amman May 05, 2018. Osama suffers from epilepsy and water retention in his brain. Prior to arriving in Jordan in 2013, he used to get an epilepsy attack once a month. For the past two years, he’s been suffering at least two attacks a day if not more due to lack of proper medication and increased stress. He cannot afford the 120 Dinars (US$170) to undergo an MRI, and cannot afford to pay the 2,000 Dinars (US$2800) for an operation to remove the water from his brain. Osama who was able to work in a falafel shop, now cannot anymore due to ridicule by his fellow employees and frequent epilepsy attacks. Osama, his wife and two young children rely on the monthly cash assistance they get from UNHCR. This photo was taken as part of a story for UNHCR that highlights the difficulties refugees are facing in accessing healthcare and medicine in Jordan after the Jordanian government decided to cut healthcare subsidies from refugees. Photo by Annie SakkabAMMAN, Jordan (25/05/2018) – 28-year-old Osama Hjareesh suffers form thalassaemia, a hereditary blood disorder that requires regular transfusions and costly drugs to manage the side effects. His medication has run out three months ago and cannot afford to pay the 800 dinars a month (US$1130) he needs to regulate the iron level in his blood. His physical appearance is beginning to deteriorate, and he can no longer work due to fatigue. If he remains untreated, he will suffer from anaemia and, in severe cases, possible heart failure. “I’m scared. I have no Jordanian friends that I can get medication from,” Osama said. Before the government made the changes It was heavily subsidized at a low cost of 0.25 cents (US$0.35) a month. This photo was taken as part of a story for UNHCR that highlights the difficulties refugees are facing in accessing healthcare and medicine in Jordan after the Jordanian government decided to cut healthcare subsidies from refugees. Photo by Annie SakkabZAATARI SYRIAN REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan – (16/07/2014) – 24-year-old Ne?meh poses for a portrait at her caravan at Zaatari Refugee Camp Jul. 16, 2014. Ne?meh flee the Syrian war in 2012 with her elderly mother thinking she will go back in Syria after two weeks. Her elderly mother died from exhaustion as they walked their way out of Syria towards the Jordanian border. Photo by Annie SakkabAMMAN, Jordan (27/05/2018) – 55-year-old Saif Al Zobi in his bedroom at his home in Jordan. Saif arrived in Jordan as refugee in 2014 and suffers from disability due to injuries sustained during the previous two years of imprisonment and torture inside a Syrian prison. Saif relies on the monthly cash assistance he gets of 80 Dinars (US$113) a month from UNHCR. Without the ability to work and move, this amount of money is not enough for Saif to get all the medication and pain killers he needs. This photo was taken as part of a story for UNHCR that highlights the difficulties refugees are facing in accessing healthcare and medicine in Jordan after the Jordanian government decided to cut healthcare subsidies from refugees. Photo by Annie SakkabHUWAIJEH, Jordan (21/05/2016) – 22-year-old Syrian refugee Hanan prays in a shattered home in the city of Huwaijeh in the northern region of Jordan. This photo is part of a long term project ‘A Familiar Stranger’ a series of photographic and video images that challenges post-colonial constructs and generalizations about the femininity, religion and agency of Arab women. Often labeled as naively subservient or mindlessly radicalized, the women in ‘A Familiar Stranger’ defy such stereotypes and unabashedly project their individuality through how they dress or inhabit spaces. Real name concealed for privacy. Photo by Annie Sakkab.RAMALLAH, West Bank (12/11/2015) – Fathiyyeh Shtayyeh enjoys a bright and warm afternoon in the city of Rawabi with her daughter Suhair, who moved with her family into the city of Rawabi in September 2015 in Ramallah Nov. 12, 2015. Shtayeh feels Rawabi provides her grandchildren a safe and secure environment to grow up in. Photo by Annie Sakkab.ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan – (28/02/2018) – Eman Ahmad Al-Mousa, a Mercy Corps volunteer, feeds her pigeons in her caravan at Zaatari Refugee Camp in Northern Jordan Feb. 28, 2018. Photo by Annie SakkabZa’ATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan – (25/02/2018) – 39-year-old Syrian refugee Samar Al Haj Ali poses for a portrait just outside her caravan with her son Abdallah, 4, at Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan Feb. 25, 2018. Photo by Annie SakkabAMMAN, Jordan (09/12/2015) – 30-year-old FIras, a gay Syrian refugee from Damscus, was beaten up badly three times since he arrived in Jordan three years ago because of his sexuality at his home in Ashraffiyyeh neighbourhood in Amman, Dec. 09, 2015. Firas is one of the 25 thousand refigees who will be resettles by the Canadian government and hopes to be an advocate for gay rights once he settles in Canada. Photo by Annie Sakkab.ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan (29/11/2015) – 16-year-old Halim, one of the children at Dara?a who sparked the Syrian revolution, at his home at Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan Nov. 29, 2015. Halim was tortured at the hands of the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad after he spray-painted anti-regime graffiti on a local school wall along with 20 other children at the start of the war in 2012. He dropped out of school and now works at a farm picking tomatoes and olives to help his family with their financial situation. Photo by Annie Sakkab.ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan – (28/02/2018) – 36-year-old Syrian refugee Ibrahim Khalil Mansour poses for a portrait with his son Khalil, 7, in their caravan at Zaatari refugee camp in Northern Jordan Feb. 28, 2018. Photo by Annie Sakkab
