Iowa couple will travel to Jordan to help Syrian Refugees

Syria's civil war has caused more than 11 million people to have been killed or forced to leave their homes , despite the danger, two eastern Iowans are packing their bags to help Syrian refugees.

Ethan and Bethany Anderson live in West Liberty with their three young children.

But for the past few years they've watched the Syrian refugee crises unfold across the world.

"Honestly it's just been breaking our hearts and we've been you know we've just been wondering well what can we do what can we possibly do to help,” says Ethan Anderson.

For Ethan the decision came after watching video of a five year old Syrian boy sitting in the back of an ambulance.

His face is caked with blood and dust after being pulled from the rubble following an attack on Aleppo in August last year.

"Yeah when I saw that I went home and we have a four year old boy and boy I hugged him so tight that night,” says Ethan.

Ethan and Bethany will soon volunteer after they were able to track down a church in Mafraq, Jordan called the Alliance Church.

"It's right on the border with Syria and they've had a huge influx of Syrian refugees so they're just doing a lot of hands on helping refugees in their city, setting them up with household items and food and that kind of things,” says Bethany Anderson.

Ethan and Bethany bought their tickets and also received donations from their church and friends they'll take to Jordan.

As they make plans to leave their children with their grandparents, the couple says a lot of people have asked them about their own safety while traveling overseas.

"Not to look at it blindly but at the same time these people need our help,” says Ethan.

"When I think about Syrian Refugees I don't think about a risk, I think about people who are fleeing a risk for their own family and so that's just heart breaking to me because any family just wants to keep their family safe,” says Bethany.

Ethan and Bethany take off for Jordan next month for ten days.

Mafraq Jordan has already had more than 78,000 Syrian Refuges come in the over past few years.

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