"You gave us a dose of hope and optimism"

Mr. Fawaz Yousef Al-Kalkal, 66 years old, from Jordan

        Fawwaz Yousef Al-Kalkal, 66, a Syrian refugee who has lived in Al-Mafraq Governorate since 2017, told us about the difficult living conditions he went through recently, such as the death of his wife and the inability to work in the profession of tiling again because of his poor health due to his prostate, diabetes, blood pressure, and dyspnea in addition to joints’ pain as well as the extreme disc, which negatively affected his psychological and physical condition.

       Mr. Fawaz says: “I live my daily routine with my family and try to secure my daily food by selling simple items but it is only enough to meet our needs for a day or two at best, and I don’t hide a secret that I knocked on the door of many local and international humanitarian associations to help me, but, most of the time, to no avail, ".

       "During the quarantine period, my family and I went through difficult times. We, like many people, do not know much about the Corona virus and I have no longer any source of income to survive. A young woman named Aya contacted me during this period and told me that they are working on a promotion project for emergency response to the Corona Virus Crisis and availability of emergency services and humanitarian distributions funded by the Jordan Humanitarian Fund-UNOCHA  and implemented by HelpAge International in Jordan.

        She started providing me with awareness messages about the Coronavirus, its effects, and how to prevent it. Aya started the call to check on me and my family and ask about our conditions, and this call meant a lot to me and my family, and I used to position the phone to the speaker mode somy entire family could hear protection and health messages. The children and I never hesitated to ask questions or reconnect in case of any questions or concerns about the Corona virus.

       In fact, I am very happy for two reasons. The first is for what HelpAge International provided us with in kind assistance, psychological and moral support in these difficult times, as what it gave us was a dose of hope and optimism, as we felt that good and humanity are still present despite the harsh conditions around us, and the second for the presence of those who care about older persons this means a lot to us and reflects very positively on our psychological state.