Ministers witness Syrian refugee crisis

“These people have experienced the very hard circumstances of conflict in Syria”, said Philpott.

When Colyer met Carson in Topeka in September he told the presidential candidate about his volunteer work at a refugee camp in Jordan near the Syrian border last Christmas. Colyer says Carson requested the visit back in September, citing Colyer’s involvement with volunteer medical organizations assisting refugees. The U.S.is now the largest contributor of humanitarian aid for refugees and donations for the UNHCR, but Carson said funding to support refugees still fell short by $3 billion over the past year.

He’d meant to join them as soon as they were settled in Irbid, a town among those hosting some of the estimated 680,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.

An influx of cash from global donors – Canada among them – helped alleviate the immediate crisis, a delegation of federal cabinet ministers were told Sunday by WFP and UNICEF officials as they stood on at the centre of the camp, overlooking thousands of homes. “They need the world’s help to feed, educate and care for these refugees until the war ends”, Carson said.

“The United States must do more”. Colyer says the US should work with allies in the region to help Syrians return to their homes, rather than bring a small number to the U.S.

“That is not going to have an impact on what’s going on in that situation”, Colyer said. They want to go back to their lives. “If you can eliminate the possibility of terrorists infiltrating them and wanting to destroy us, you have a different argument”.

During winter it becomes harder to charge the solar powered lanterns that residents rely on to light their shelters by night, plunging homes into darkness and putting an abrupt end to family life when they run out.

Colyer said he agrees with the security concerns, although he doesn’t necessarily think it’s the most important concern. “We’re not against Syrians”.

“We feel lost”, he says.

Colyer argued that the best thing individual Kansans can do to support refugees is to donate to organizations, such as the Red Cross, that are involved in relief efforts closer to Syria. An estimated 4 million people have been declared refugees from the Syrian war.

“These are people who have gone through the most tragic circumstances you can imagine”, he told Power & Politics guest host Hannah Thibedeau.

“What I didn’t hear him talking about, though, was that a political solution is what’s needed”, she said. “Having said that, my suspicion is that these people are incredibly resilient and courageous folk who have managed to endure these circumstances and we will be impressed by their resilience”.

A spokesperson for the governor’s office said Colyer paid his own costs for travel in the United States, while the Carson campaign footed the global travel bill.