Happenings

So much seems to have happened since I last posted, so many experiences, two of which seem to stand out.
…sleeping outside in Wadi Mussa, me, two colleagues, and a Bedouin friend called Abu Sagaar, who brought with him his Oud (think Bedouin traditional version of the Oud). The following day, he insisted I borrow his [...]

Summer camp, Ammarin-style

I remember watching the summer service placement presentations and thinking, during the one by a guy who was a camp counsellor at a summer camp for disadvantaged kids up in Maine last year, that I’d never spend my summer during that… ha, yeah. Last night was at least a little like that – we took [...]

arabian nights

Other than my laptop screen, all I can right now are stars. It’s 1130 pm, and I’m lying on the roof of Ruwwad’s new project, a library and community centre in Beidah, a Bedouin village about 5 minutes drive from Petra, 3 hours south of Amman. Above the sporadic whine of the water pump I [...]

Empowerment

So Ruwwad decided that they wanted a new project far enough away that it couldn’t overlap with the work in Amman. At the same time, a community association was being set up which required support, but was trying as hard as possible to stay out of the clutches of USAID. (Brief digression: USAID are great [...]