This is an extremely long collection of things that I think about a lot since I've been here with some recent anecdotes thrown in. Read on if you're particularly interested in the Middle East or my life.
Twice this week, I visted Al Baqa'a, a refugee camp near my university. On Wednesday we drove through it as a field trip for my class on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, since it is primarily a Palestinian refugee camp. We stopped a few times, but since you're not really allowed in Al Baqa'a unless you're with the UN or you live there, we mostly just looked around at the crowded buildings. Yesterday, a few of the other exchange students and I went back to Al Baqa'a to begin volunteering at an after school program. They explained to us what we would be getting into, and eventually we ended up on the roof in a crowd of beautiful faces and shoo ismek's (what's your name?) from 8 year old girls that were born and will probably die in Al Baqa'a where the trash piles up on street corners and where there is not enough work and water and food and money to keep these after school programs running.
On the way home I made a passing comment to the ISA director about if my brother visits we'd probably want to go to Israel. And he corrected me, saying you mean Palestine? It was a harmless comment, more meant for me to realize that other people would get offended, not him. But it was enough to drag me out of the Amman-dreamland I've been living in. Yes, I can order food in Arabic and I no longer feel utterly uncomfortable taking a taxi on my own and I recognize landmarks in the city now so I can orient myself as to where I am usually. But the reality I grew up with is shockingly different than so many of the realities of other people's lives I encounter here.
This morning I went to Jesus' baptism site at the Jordan River. The Jordan River is the border between Jordan and Israel/Palestine/the West Bank (the whole time we were there, Katrina and I made sure to only refer to Israel/Palestine/the West Bank as "the area of land west of here" so as to remain as politically correct as possible. Although at one point Katrina made a joke about something being kosher as in "yeah, that's kosher," and we wondered outloud if that could be construed as too pro-Israel... middle east study abroad problems). At one point we were literally so close that if I'd reached out I could practically touch the area of land west of the Jordan River that can be called several different things. But when I turned around and asked if I would be shot if I jumped in the water and swam to Israel/Palestine/the West Bank, I got a very emphatic yes. On the walk back to the vans, I ended up talking to our director again. And in the middle of our conversation about our proximity to the border, he asked his three-year-old daughter who was sitting on his shoulders where she was from, and she happily said "Palestine!" Mohammad is Palestinian living in Jordan, and his wife is from Arizona, and Noor is their beautiful 3-year-old girl. It was another dragging me out of the dreamland moment.
My whole entire experience in Jordan has been a big education on refugees. The ones that are coming from Syria, the ones that came from Iraq a few years back, the ones from Libya that fill up the hotels while they wait for medical care, the ones from Palestine that have been here since 1948 and '67 and '91. To be truthful, no one in Jordan is really Jordanian. Unless you get out into the small villages and sit with the Bedouins in their tents, everyone here hails from somewhere else. And they all have stories behind why they're not there anymore, but instead living in this small, water-poor country that doesn't have much going for it except its compassion.
All of this mulls around in my head constantly. I spend my spare moments thinking about the Syrians that cross the border in the north and are stripped of every earthly possession and penny before they can leave their country, and then move into refugee camps where getting a mattress to sleep on is a luxury. I think about how peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will not even begin to be considered unless Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank, which they're not (and even then, what will be done with all the settlements and settlers that are already there?). I think about how international organizations mean well and do a lot of good in the world, but there are still so many hungry people that go to bed on pieces of cardboard every night.
So, today we went to the Dead Sea. We got to go to this beautiful resort with about 6 different pools and right on the beach with salty water to float in and mud to coat yourself in and an all you can eat buffet. It was the first time the world had seen my shoulders and knees in two months, and subsequently I felt extremely uncomfortable. I also had a hard time not staring at some of the tourists and wondering how exactly they were walking around in bikinis with such confidence in a place where women have special swimsuits with hijabs built in.
The thing is that the resort is disgustingly not Jordan. It's fancy hotel life with a camel thrown in by the beach. Yeah, it was nice to check out for the day. But it got me thinking about all the people that travel and never step outside of their small comfort zone. Like the people that go to Jerusalem and travel the holy site circut, never stopping to look at the life of the people less than five miles away. Like me, who has lived in Amman for two months and hasn't really seen East Amman yet. And if all of these atrocities are fed by ignorance, how are we supposed to know what life in a village by the Dead Sea is like if we don't step outside of the resort?
If you're still with me at this point, you deserve an award. So here is what I think. I think that Turkey will be the country that saves us all from World War III by bridging the East and the West with their beautiful blend of cultures and prime geographic location. I think that even though Obama told the Russian president that once he was reelected he'd have more flexibility in an open mic slip, the United States will probably still fund Israel unquestionably because of the power of the Israeli lobby in the states, although hopefully they'll draw some sort of line at war with Iran. I think Jordan is a beautiful country for what it does for all the scared, hungry, running people that come here to seek refuge. I think that I'm too small to fix the entire world, but that if more people could see what I see they'd want to try.
Twice this week, I visted Al Baqa'a, a refugee camp near my university. On Wednesday we drove through it as a field trip for my class on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, since it is primarily a Palestinian refugee camp. We stopped a few times, but since you're not really allowed in Al Baqa'a unless you're with the UN or you live there, we mostly just looked around at the crowded buildings. Yesterday, a few of the other exchange students and I went back to Al Baqa'a to begin volunteering at an after school program. They explained to us what we would be getting into, and eventually we ended up on the roof in a crowd of beautiful faces and shoo ismek's (what's your name?) from 8 year old girls that were born and will probably die in Al Baqa'a where the trash piles up on street corners and where there is not enough work and water and food and money to keep these after school programs running.
On the way home I made a passing comment to the ISA director about if my brother visits we'd probably want to go to Israel. And he corrected me, saying you mean Palestine? It was a harmless comment, more meant for me to realize that other people would get offended, not him. But it was enough to drag me out of the Amman-dreamland I've been living in. Yes, I can order food in Arabic and I no longer feel utterly uncomfortable taking a taxi on my own and I recognize landmarks in the city now so I can orient myself as to where I am usually. But the reality I grew up with is shockingly different than so many of the realities of other people's lives I encounter here.
This morning I went to Jesus' baptism site at the Jordan River. The Jordan River is the border between Jordan and Israel/Palestine/the West Bank (the whole time we were there, Katrina and I made sure to only refer to Israel/Palestine/the West Bank as "the area of land west of here" so as to remain as politically correct as possible. Although at one point Katrina made a joke about something being kosher as in "yeah, that's kosher," and we wondered outloud if that could be construed as too pro-Israel... middle east study abroad problems). At one point we were literally so close that if I'd reached out I could practically touch the area of land west of the Jordan River that can be called several different things. But when I turned around and asked if I would be shot if I jumped in the water and swam to Israel/Palestine/the West Bank, I got a very emphatic yes. On the walk back to the vans, I ended up talking to our director again. And in the middle of our conversation about our proximity to the border, he asked his three-year-old daughter who was sitting on his shoulders where she was from, and she happily said "Palestine!" Mohammad is Palestinian living in Jordan, and his wife is from Arizona, and Noor is their beautiful 3-year-old girl. It was another dragging me out of the dreamland moment.
My whole entire experience in Jordan has been a big education on refugees. The ones that are coming from Syria, the ones that came from Iraq a few years back, the ones from Libya that fill up the hotels while they wait for medical care, the ones from Palestine that have been here since 1948 and '67 and '91. To be truthful, no one in Jordan is really Jordanian. Unless you get out into the small villages and sit with the Bedouins in their tents, everyone here hails from somewhere else. And they all have stories behind why they're not there anymore, but instead living in this small, water-poor country that doesn't have much going for it except its compassion.
All of this mulls around in my head constantly. I spend my spare moments thinking about the Syrians that cross the border in the north and are stripped of every earthly possession and penny before they can leave their country, and then move into refugee camps where getting a mattress to sleep on is a luxury. I think about how peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will not even begin to be considered unless Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank, which they're not (and even then, what will be done with all the settlements and settlers that are already there?). I think about how international organizations mean well and do a lot of good in the world, but there are still so many hungry people that go to bed on pieces of cardboard every night.
So, today we went to the Dead Sea. We got to go to this beautiful resort with about 6 different pools and right on the beach with salty water to float in and mud to coat yourself in and an all you can eat buffet. It was the first time the world had seen my shoulders and knees in two months, and subsequently I felt extremely uncomfortable. I also had a hard time not staring at some of the tourists and wondering how exactly they were walking around in bikinis with such confidence in a place where women have special swimsuits with hijabs built in.
The thing is that the resort is disgustingly not Jordan. It's fancy hotel life with a camel thrown in by the beach. Yeah, it was nice to check out for the day. But it got me thinking about all the people that travel and never step outside of their small comfort zone. Like the people that go to Jerusalem and travel the holy site circut, never stopping to look at the life of the people less than five miles away. Like me, who has lived in Amman for two months and hasn't really seen East Amman yet. And if all of these atrocities are fed by ignorance, how are we supposed to know what life in a village by the Dead Sea is like if we don't step outside of the resort?
If you're still with me at this point, you deserve an award. So here is what I think. I think that Turkey will be the country that saves us all from World War III by bridging the East and the West with their beautiful blend of cultures and prime geographic location. I think that even though Obama told the Russian president that once he was reelected he'd have more flexibility in an open mic slip, the United States will probably still fund Israel unquestionably because of the power of the Israeli lobby in the states, although hopefully they'll draw some sort of line at war with Iran. I think Jordan is a beautiful country for what it does for all the scared, hungry, running people that come here to seek refuge. I think that I'm too small to fix the entire world, but that if more people could see what I see they'd want to try.
I'd be interested to see "special swimsuits with hijabs", sounds interesting. It sounds like you're getting a pretty unique opportunity to step outside your bounds, and I hope you continue to share your experiences. Best wishes, Grace
ReplyDeleteI understand where you are coming from. But, these injustices exist even in your own state in Alaska. Perhaps many don't take the time to look or step out of their comfort zone to see what's really going on around them. The real solution will come when more people realize that we are one, interconnected like the organs of the human body. When one part hurts, all of the body hurts. That sort maturity and that day will have to come one or the other. *
ReplyDeleteAmen, Elika. {:~))
ReplyDeleteAmazingly well put!
ReplyDeleteYou're idea of Jordan is disgustingly ignorant.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's true. There are so many things I don't know about Jordan at all. Care to expand on your statement, anonymous commenter?
Delete