Hardly slept, even though I was exhausted. Too many thoughts! Anyway, time to see Jordan in daylight. Today’s plan: meeting with the Jordan director of the Orthodox Initiative, the Jordan liason to the Middle East Council of Churches, and meeting with Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Up and at ‘em! (at Century Park Hotel)
Good morning, Amman.
We spent our first day with the Orthodox Initiative. Our first task was meeting with Wafa, the leader of the organization, whose work is primarily with refugees. She briefed us on our activities for the day and what the Orthodox Initiative does more generally and some of their big projects as of late. The Orthodox Initiative is a Christian (Orthodox) organization.
Hospitality in Jordan is amazing. When we got to the offices for the Orthodox Initiative, we were given some info about the work they do and the refugees we would be visiting before we had to load up in the vans. “There is no time for more questions now, but we will have coffee.” Priority 1: generosity.
In the van, driving through Amman.
The feeling of hospitality continued as we moved on to our next site, a church where we were greeted with tea and snacks.
Jordan almond in Jordan.
Again, when we arrived at this church to see the Orthodox Initiative, one of our denominational partners in Jordan, to give heaters, jackets, and food parcels to Paelstinian, Iraqi, and Syrian refugees, they offered us tea and snacks. Arabic hospitality. It’s a thing.
The Orthodox Initiative, with support from the UCC and Global Ministries, has helped get food parcels, jackets for children, and space heaters to Syrian and Iraqi refugees whom we met at the church. After the supplies were handed out by some of my peers, we got back in the vans and headed to a refugee camp in Jordan. The camp houses Palestinian refugees, the families of whom have been at this spot since 1948. The town was originally tents, but with the help of the U.N., has become more stable housing.
An image of Jabal el-Hussein, a refugee camp that Jordan set up in 1948 for displaced Palestinians. Originally tents, people built more permanent dwellings after it became clear that they would not be able to return home. The homes are incredibly small, do not shield inhabitants well from the elements, and have become permanent realities for refugees who cannot work in their host country and cannot return to their home.
Images of the refugee camp
The above picture is from inside the home of a family we visited. The kitchen is 2 square meters, if that. There are two other rooms, each roughly the same size and filled mostly with the family’s limited belongings. “Bedding” (looking less warm and comfortable than my camping gear) is stacked everywhere. Their ceiling leaks, the walls do not meet the ceiling in some places. 8 people live in this home; every inch of the floor is used when they sleep. The family is very hospitable. Their home is ours, they tell us. They seem so grateful to be seen, to feel that someone in the world still cares about the struggles of Palestinians.
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