Views of Amman, Jordan
Hi everyone!
Greetings from Jordan and welcome to our blog! So much has been going on that it feels good to finally begin formally documenting some of our experiences.
I have loved my experience here so far, although there have definitely been challenges. Last year if you had told me some of the things that I would be doing during my Gap Year, I literally wouldn’t have even believed you. My friend Sophie Shimer (also an Andover ’09 alum) and I work together in the Round Square and Community Partnership office at King’s. Round Square is an international organization composed of over 60 schools worldwide – they work on establishing 6 ideals (internationalism, democracy, environment, adventure, leadership, and service) into programs for students. Simone and Nayab (both Andover ’08) worked tirelessly last year so that King’s could become a Round Square regional member and this year Sophie and I are working on creating programs that fall under the Round Square umbrella so that we can become a full member.
Our boss, Tessa Fairbairn (who is a fabulous woman from South Africa) is in India right now representing King’s Academy at a Round Square conference. I can’t stress this enough about my gap year at King’s – it is PHENOMENAL work experience. Sophie and I essentially run the Community Service program here because our boss is so busy teaching her English classes. Simone and Nayab did a great job last year of setting up several community partnerships around the Amman region in Jordan (and also beyond) and now it is our job this year to solidify these partnerships.
Right now we are in the midst of setting up a Habitat for Humanity chapter at King’s! We are going on several Saturday building projects, which will be full day events stationed in different locations all around Jordan. We are going to Habaka, Jordan in a few weeks for our first build. It looks like we will also be going to Budapest, Hungary on a Habitat trip over spring break! It is quite eye-opening to be doing the logistical work behind this sort of thing – I have a whole new appreciation for the kind of effort it takes to send a group of students and faculty on one of these kinds of trips! We also had a big event this weekend with the King Hussein Cancer Foundation – we walked/ran in the first ever Amman International Marathon! Sophie and I put together a team from King’s and we are ran 10k in support of this organization.
Reclaim Childhood is another organization that we have a partnership with. The organization was started after the Iraq war - we run sports clinics and other activities with Iraqui refugee girls. Yesterday we also spoke with a Jordanian representative from an organization called Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). They bring Jordanians, Palestinians, and Israelis together to fight common environmental problems in the Middle East. They primarily address the water shortage issue and environmental sustainability in farming. We’re going on a conference to the Dead Sea in a few weeks to meet with representatives from the other schools and then we’re going to Southern Israel for our November vacation. I love working with these organizations although it is difficult at times – I definitely have a huge appreciation now for American efficiency in the workplace. Many of the Middle Easterners that we have encountered in these non-profit organizations don’t have the same sense of deadlines or accountability that we are used to in the US.
Other than our internship, I have been traveling and exploring quite a bit with the other Junior Fellows (that is technically my title). We went to Beirut, Lebanon for our October vacation and did quite a bit of sightseeing there. We are also busy planning a trip to Damascus, Syria and Jerusalem for our next vacation in November.
More to come soon....
Lots of love,
Marianna
Greetings from Jordan and welcome to our blog! So much has been going on that it feels good to finally begin formally documenting some of our experiences.
I have loved my experience here so far, although there have definitely been challenges. Last year if you had told me some of the things that I would be doing during my Gap Year, I literally wouldn’t have even believed you. My friend Sophie Shimer (also an Andover ’09 alum) and I work together in the Round Square and Community Partnership office at King’s. Round Square is an international organization composed of over 60 schools worldwide – they work on establishing 6 ideals (internationalism, democracy, environment, adventure, leadership, and service) into programs for students. Simone and Nayab (both Andover ’08) worked tirelessly last year so that King’s could become a Round Square regional member and this year Sophie and I are working on creating programs that fall under the Round Square umbrella so that we can become a full member.
Our boss, Tessa Fairbairn (who is a fabulous woman from South Africa) is in India right now representing King’s Academy at a Round Square conference. I can’t stress this enough about my gap year at King’s – it is PHENOMENAL work experience. Sophie and I essentially run the Community Service program here because our boss is so busy teaching her English classes. Simone and Nayab did a great job last year of setting up several community partnerships around the Amman region in Jordan (and also beyond) and now it is our job this year to solidify these partnerships.
Right now we are in the midst of setting up a Habitat for Humanity chapter at King’s! We are going on several Saturday building projects, which will be full day events stationed in different locations all around Jordan. We are going to Habaka, Jordan in a few weeks for our first build. It looks like we will also be going to Budapest, Hungary on a Habitat trip over spring break! It is quite eye-opening to be doing the logistical work behind this sort of thing – I have a whole new appreciation for the kind of effort it takes to send a group of students and faculty on one of these kinds of trips! We also had a big event this weekend with the King Hussein Cancer Foundation – we walked/ran in the first ever Amman International Marathon! Sophie and I put together a team from King’s and we are ran 10k in support of this organization.
Reclaim Childhood is another organization that we have a partnership with. The organization was started after the Iraq war - we run sports clinics and other activities with Iraqui refugee girls. Yesterday we also spoke with a Jordanian representative from an organization called Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). They bring Jordanians, Palestinians, and Israelis together to fight common environmental problems in the Middle East. They primarily address the water shortage issue and environmental sustainability in farming. We’re going on a conference to the Dead Sea in a few weeks to meet with representatives from the other schools and then we’re going to Southern Israel for our November vacation. I love working with these organizations although it is difficult at times – I definitely have a huge appreciation now for American efficiency in the workplace. Many of the Middle Easterners that we have encountered in these non-profit organizations don’t have the same sense of deadlines or accountability that we are used to in the US.
Other than our internship, I have been traveling and exploring quite a bit with the other Junior Fellows (that is technically my title). We went to Beirut, Lebanon for our October vacation and did quite a bit of sightseeing there. We are also busy planning a trip to Damascus, Syria and Jerusalem for our next vacation in November.
More to come soon....
Lots of love,
Marianna
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