because without work, life in the refugee camps - like zaatari - can feel pretty hopeless. >> the zaatarifugee camp has become the last stop for many syrian refugees in jordan. more than 80,000 people live here in cramped quarters. food supplies are barely sufficient to feed the population. many are desperate to find small jobs to improve their circumstances. >> we don't have official work permits. i may go back to syria. i'd rather die in the war there than continue like this. >> the situation is not much better for the more than one million syrian refugees believed to be living in jordanian cities. many women are on their own, or with their children. their husbands are dead or still in syria or on their way to europe. >> i'm two months behind in the rent. we're stuck here. i can't work. i'm thinking of going back to syria with the children to live with relatives. i can't support us here. >> no work, no money, no future. that's how most syrian arrivals describe their life in jordan. authorities give work permits to only a fraction of refugees. it's a sensitive issue, since unemployment i

i went to zaatari, the biggest refugee camp in jordan.here are 80,000 refugees living there and it's actually a community of makers. i was fascinated to find out, and they are making some incredible technology out of some very rudimentary things in the camp. the main street here in zaatari is called champs elysee. it is a play on two things, the champs elysee in paris and the word syrians refer to damascus by. there are several hundred shops lining this street and you can find everything from bridal dresses to vegetable shops, barbershops and even quite a few mobile phone shops. technology here is being used in inventive ways to ease daily life. the camp is a community of makers and one of the most innovative people we met is safwan. three years ago safwan fled the violence in syria with two family members. they all have disabilities and struggled to get around on the unpaved roads. he wanted to have more independence and designed an electric bike around spare parts he found. the brakes. giving refugees access to technology and education

this is zaatari refugee camp in jordan, about seven miles from the syrian border. 80,000 syrian refugeesiving in tiny, steel boxes as far as the eye can see. the camp run by the u.n. sprang out of the jordanian desert in poured out of syria. it's now the largest syrian refugee camp in the middle east. >> gina kassem: every refugee here lives now in pre-fab housing. >> whitaker: gina kassem oversees the refugee resettlement program in the middle east and north africa for the u.s. state department. as of late 2016, the u.s. was processing an additional 21,000 syrian refugee applications for relocation to the united states. >> kassem: mostly we focus on victims of torture, survivors of violence, women-headed households, a lot of severe medical cases. >> whitaker: kassem told us each syrian refugee who makes it to the united states goes through a lengthy process of interviews and background checks. you know, there are many americans who don't trust government to fix the roads or run the schools. how can you convince them that this process is going to keep them safe? >> kassem: because they u