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Report on the Exploratory Trip to Jordan, Less than 24 hours after our arrival in Jordan, we knew that this was not to be merely a leisurely tour of the historic sites of Jordan, but would involve significant work on our part as we were taken to the first of five appointments for the day. These meetings were with organizations that deal with issues of youth development and training, women’s legal and organizing issues, and Interfaith Dialogue. We ended the day at the top of the highest point in Amman, listening to the Muslim calls to prayer echoing through the dusk from the hills around us. While most days were not this busy, the general pattern involved meetings with groups in the morning, with time off later visit the many historic and religious sites in this ancient land, interspersed with occasional evening dinners with prominent local people. This schedule allowed us to make personal contacts with key people that could be interested in people-to-people exchanges as, well as acquainting us with this small country, from north to south.
The organizations we met with fell into the following categories. Children & Youth: JOHUD (Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development) with multiple meetings in their offices throughout the country, ZENID (Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development), Sweifieh School (Public) and The Ahliyyah School (Private), INJAZ (Life Skills Training). Women’s Issues: Jordan Women’s Union (legal help), General Federation of Jordanian Women (umbrella organization) and the Jordanian National Forum for Women and the Ministry for Political Development (political organizations). US-Based organizations: Save the Children, International Republican Institute and Habitat for Humanity. Religious: Center for Religious Dialogue and a visit to the King Abdullah I Mosque. Other: Jebel Amman Association (A new local civic organization in the capital city, with aims like the Beacon Hill Civic Association.) In the Jebel Amman area, this group is also interested in creating a museum of the house in which King Hussein lived before he ascend to the throne. Geographically, we traveled from north to south, seeing historical sites like the Roman ruins in Jerash and Um Qais after visiting women’s groups, going to the Dead Sea and the place in Jordan River where legend says that Jesus was baptized, but also talking with present-day Bedouin shepherds on the way up to Mount Nebo where Moses saw the promised land before dying. Incidentally, the remains of Byzantine Churches and their beautiful mosaics are so prevalent that there is a major craft movement which produces modern versions of ancient scenes. The craftspeople even create modern works such as mosaic portraits of the current King Abdullah II! But the fifteen hundred year-old originals in Madaba and Mount Nebo are genuine works of artistic achievement. In the south of Jordan, we made the obligatory visit to the massive, two thousand year-old Nabataean site of Petra, and found that it more than lived up to its “hype.” But we also learned that the vast tourist influx to this most-visited site in Jordan has also brought the plague of HIV-AIDS to the local inhabitants. Further south, we encountered the contrasts of the wild, protected desert of Wadi Rum and the modern developing tourist and port city of Aqaba, each interesting in its own, very contrasting, way, and less than an hour apart. We were careful to get the names and especially the e-mail addresses of the people we met, and we have been in contact with many of them. In explaining our objectives we were careful to note the small size of Building Bridges and its limited funds, but also emphasized that if visitors could get themselves across the Atlantic, we could then take care of most of their local transportation, housing and eating needs through volunteer efforts. We will shortly be looking for such volunteers here in the Upper Valley. Building Bridges owes a great debt of gratitude to the patron of many of the organizations we visited, Princess Basma, the sister of the late King Hussein and the Aunt of the present King, Abdullah II. In our meeting with the Princess, she emphasized that many people-to-people exchanges could work well with 3-5 well-chosen participants. Groups of that size could be a good way to start the early visits. We will continue to work with the Princess’ offices and our contacts to get the first exchanges going, and hope that we can start soon. Language should not be a major problem as the English-language skills of most of the people we met were quite good.
On to the next stage!
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