Michelle Dockery visits Syrian refugees

Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery has swapped the English countryside for the Middle East by traveling to Jordan to meet Syrian refugees.

The actress, who plays Lady Mary Crawley in the popular British period drama, journeyed to the region last month (Nov13) with representatives of international charity Oxfam to meet with families who have been displaced by the ongoing civil war in Syria.

Dockery visited refugee camps and met with the residents who are living in "horrific conditions".

She says, "What I have seen and heard on my trip is hard to put into words... All of the refugees I met were experiencing a terrible suffering which is hard to comprehend. I met families living in sprawling camps, tents on the side of the road and rented accommodation in horrific conditions with the damp so extreme it is making children and the elderly sick. Mothers told me their children are already unable to sleep because of the cold and it is only going to get worse."

The trip was part of an initiative to publicize Oxfam's Syrian Winter Appeal to help the refugees through the colder months.

Dockery adds, "I met just a few of the millions of refugees from Syria who are going to need the very basics to keep them warm and survive the coming months. Oxfam will be doing the best they can by delivering winter kits to help many of the poorest families, but they want to be able to do much more and so we really need the public's help."