Down toward Petra

  Al-Rajef, Jordan
Monday, June 23, 2008

Today the Youth Corps group split in two for the separate projects on which we'll work for the next week. One group of four composed of Melia Martin, Kristen Waldrup, John Nichols, and Garrett Wayne remained in Amman with David Baker to work on a YMWA (Young Muslim Women's Association) camp for mentally challenged young people. They were to leave the hotel at around 8:00 to stay and work at the camp starting this afternoon.
 
For the group my wife and I are accompanying the rendezvous was set for 06:50 for the drive down to Al-Rajef, a village of 3000 or so people, about 10 miles, as the crow flies, from the famous and mysterious site of Petra. Two young Jordanian men, recent graduates of the ABS, named Yazan and Faris met us at the hotel just before we left. They and two young women will act as staff and translators during the camp in the south. We drove through Amman and into the desert in the calm early morning hours. We took the desert road south toward Aqaba for about 250 km then turned off to the right toward Wadi Musa and Petra. Half an hour farther, instead of turning right toward Wadi Musa, the gateway to Petra, we continued on and a few minutes later arrived in Al-Rajef where we will work for the next five days.

Al-Rajef in the mountains near Petra

The goal of the camp is to introduce the children to some basic English and to various other skills and abilities that will be helpful to their development.
 
We first drove to the apartment where the volunteers will stay. It was built for other foreign volunteers who have taught in the area and has been made available to us by the town council. After dropping luggage, we drove immediately to the school where the camp will operate for 5-6 year old children. We arrived about 10:30 am.

The school in Ar-Rajef

We had expected the children to arrive at 1:00 pm, and planned to greet them as they arrived, but it seemed they were all already present. Time to be flexible and start things on the fly! We were received cordially by the school administrators and discussed with them what was planned and how we could best serve the needs of the children who would participate. The two men were dressed in impressive Bedouin robes and keffiyeh; this dress looks very distinguished and dignified. The women wore headscarves and long robes, and were very friendly and welcoming. Two Jordanian women, other recent graduates of ABS joined us at the school. Their names are Raia and Bujra.
 
The meetings finished, we unpacked supplies, hurried last minute preparations and launched two hours of introductory classes for the 40 young children. Matthew and MaryAnne Bates have done a fantastic job in planning and preparing the logistics for the camp. Opening activities included dividing them into four groups by colors. Each member of each group was presented a colored name tag: blue, green, red, and yellow. The children will wear the name tags on strings around their necks so that we can identify with which group they should be, as well as by their names written in Arabic and English. Followed four one-half hour classes with drawing and physical education activities.

Liz helps the campers with their drawings

To finish the orientation day, lunch, prepared by the female school staff and some other village ladies, was served to everyone, and then the children were conducted home either on foot or by the ABS bus made available.
 
After the children left for home, around 3:00 pm the teachers planned, and prepared for the next day. As the apartment didn't have room for all of us, my wife and I arranged to stay at a hotel a few miles from the village in the direction of Wadi Musa. We ended the day pleased with the beginning of the work at Al-Rajef, and curious about the rest of the week.