Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (more commonly referred to as the Mormon Church) possess an innate nature to want to serve their fellowman. They are always ready and willing to answer the call to serve wherever and whenever needed.
Joseph Smith, the first Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ, taught the Saints, “[A member of the Church] is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all, wherever he finds them.” (1) That is a lesson that was meant not only for the Saints of Joseph Smith’s day, but even today for every member of The Church of Jesus Christ to take to heart and follow.
In the Holy Bible, in the New Testament book of James are recorded the words, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27.) Visiting and ministering to the fatherless and widows in their affliction is exactly what LDS humanitarian missionaries, Jim and Karyn Anderson, did on a daily basis as they rendered unselfish service to Jordan’s surging population of Syrian refugees. Their mission exemplified the teachings of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon (Another Testament of Jesus Christ), when in his timeless sermon he exhorted the people, “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17.)
Jordan is certainly worlds away from the bucolic and tranquil life in Farmington, Utah where Jim was a bank president and Karyn was a nurse who often traveled with Operation Smile – a children’s charity dedicated to treating facial deformities across the globe. The couple, now in their 60’s, could have scarcely imagined when they accepted the call to serve The Church of Jesus Christ in any capacity, that they would be supervising gravel work in a windy, dusty, teeming refugee camp or comforting escapees from a brutal conflict in which more than 34,000 Syrians had been killed according to the Syrian Observer. Jordan’s open-border policy grants refuge to all those escaping the warfare. They hail from both sides of the conflict causing heightening tensions in the camps.
United Nations Refugee Agency Liaison Officer, Ali Bibi, said more than 215,000 Syrians had taken shelter in Jordan. He further stated that this wave strained Jordan, the fourth-poorest country in the world in terms of water, which had to house and feed tens of thousands of newcomers.
“Major infrastructure developments are occurring on a daily basis,” Bibi says, “in addition to the support of food and nonfood items.”
The camps also are moving to dry-food rations, which the refugees can cook themselves.
“Jordan is doing its best,” he says. “We need the international support to move forward in supporting Jordan in assisting with transition commodities.” [1]
That is where faithful, humble servants like the Andersons and other aid workers come in. When the LDS couple arrived in Jordan in April 2012, they went to several cities in the north, where refugees — hungry, hurting, disoriented and with only the clothes on their back — cross the border.
“We spent a little time visiting some of the wounded who had come across, those that were in prison, tortured,” Karyn Anderson says. “We saw one young man, 18 years old, who had fled when the attacks came in his area. When he [went] back, his mother, father, two sisters and brother all had their throats slit.” [1]
The Andersons focused their time and efforts on Jordan’s largest Syrian refugee camp, Zaatari, a sprawling tent city about two hours from Amman, Jordan that houses more than 35,000 people. Located near the northern border city of Mafraq, the camp is essentially in a desert, where hot, dusty gales uproot tents and send families scrambling.
“We saw it before the first tent went up, and our impression was, ‘They can’t move people out here,’ ” says Jim Anderson. “There wasn’t water. There wasn’t a town nearby. There wasn’t a way to allow them to be mobile.” [1]
In representing LDS Charities, a humanitarian outreach agency for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Andersons worked with many aid organizations, especially the Jordanian Hashemite Charitable Organization (JHCO), which oversees all Syrian relief efforts and partners with the United Nations to run the camps. The Andersons say they assessed needs and “fill in the gaps,” providing help where they can — more in the form of “hand-ups,” not “handouts.”
Before the Zaatari camp opened, Jordan attempted to absorb the refugees into society, but the effort overwhelmed an already-weak economy, so the government launched a large-scale camp. By the time Zaatari came online, it had 8,000 refugees waiting. Now camps are mandatory for all Syrian refugees with guards and police helping to keep the peace.
On a chaotic first day, the camp didn’t have restroom facilities, washing areas, or even water. Now it has restrooms, operational kitchens and some semblance of order. UNICEF and Save the Children organizations provide schools and were expected to be able to handle 5,000 kids by December 2012 which was still a mere fraction of the almost 14,000 children in the camp.
The United Nations strives to erect hundreds of new tents every 24 hours to accommodate the tide of refugees, which rises and falls depending on the bloodshed in Syria and has been as high as 2,500 tents in one day. While the strain is great and conditions dismal, Jim Anderson said that he saw improvement.
“There are so many dedicated charitable people working,” he says. “I have a great admiration for what Jordan is doing for these refugees.” [1]
LDS Charities partnered with its Jordanian counterpart to haul in 20 trucks full of gravel to tamp down the dust which continuously plagues the camp, not only invading the food and the tents, but the swirling dust also makes everything look the same, disorienting children and families who can’t find their new homes. Women use their headscarves to cover their babies while men frantically tie down loose ends and possessions. Refugees took buckets of the gravel to spread outside their tents.
Another challenge comes when distributing donations among the refugees. The sheer number of refugees makes it hard to have enough for everyone.
“A series of riots over living conditions caused thousands of dollars of extensive damage,” The Jordan Times reported. Refugees torched warehouses and tents and injured guards.
“Just when you think you’ve solved one problem, the camp expands [dramatically],” says Karyn Anderson, “so you go to Plan B tomorrow. It’s just a continual challenge.” [1]
This is not exactly how the Mormon couple expected to spend their “golden years.” LDS couples, usually after retirement, can apply for volunteer, full-time missions. In the Andersons’ case, the Church called them. As soon as Jim announced he would be ending his career as president of the Bank of Utah in June 2010, an LDS Church official asked if he and his wife would like to go on a mission. When later told it would be in the Middle East, they didn’t hesitate. Jim retired 31 December 2010, and a month later they were on their way.
The couple spent two weeks commuting to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah and attended orientation sessions at the LDS Church Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
They were assigned to Beirut, where they spent 14 months distributing hygiene kits, providing beds to a women’s prison and performing other tasks. Then they were transferred to Jordan.
Though they were Mormon missionaries, the Andersons did not proselytize. Their aim was to foster good will and create relationships with people, communities and countries. Similarities between Mormonism and Islam helped them bond with many in the Middle East.
It was hard for them to be so far away from family, the Andersons concede. Between them, they have 16 children and 35 grandchildren — four of whom were been born while they served their mission. “Did we ever think we’d come on a mission like this?” Karyn asks. “No.” But, “We have backgrounds that are conducive to being volunteers,” she says. “We [were] raised in that culture of giving service.” [1] .
Sources:
1. Editor’s reply to a letter from Richard Savary, Times and Seasons, Mar. 15, 1842, p. 732; Joseph Smith was the editor of the periodical.
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