Joelmeeker's travel blogs:
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Amman to Wadi Musa
Entry 10 of 28 | show all | print this entry |
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Today was the end of camp and the time of our departure with the YMWA volunteers back here to Wadi Musa where we would rejoin the other volunteers for the continuation of this project.
Morning activities at the YMWA including clean-up and packing, finishing up various art projects, dancing (of course), meals, and the distribution of projects and gifts that had been purchased during the one-day outing to Aqaba, which has a duty free zone for shopping.
One of the staff, Salah is a very accomplished potter. He trains some of the students at the YMWA to make fired ceramic recipients and art objects to be sold in the school shop.
He invited the volunteers to come back to the workshop where he demonstrated how to make vases, mugs, and other such items.
Then he invited the volunteers to have a try. He guided their efforts and corrected the occasion catastrophe so they could produce beautiful vessels of which they were proud.
Their comment universally was that it was much harder than it looked. It reminded me of the Bible passages that call God the Master Potter fashioning His creation with time and great care.
Several commented on President Clyde Kilough's recent GCE sermon where he mentioned his first, not-so-successful, attempt at spinning a clay vessel. Due to Salah's help, they joked that they'd be willing to compare their final products with Mr. Kilough's....
After lunch, everyone, staff and campers, were asked to sit in a large circle, while the camp director, named Mohammed, thanked on behalf of the campers each teacher and each of our Youth Corps volunteers for their hard work and commitment. Due to pronunciation and comprehension problems, each of our volunteers had seen his name evolve: Melea became Mary, Kristen morphed into Christine, Garrett transformed to Gary, and John turned into Jack. That is how they were known to the campers and staff, and that is how they were thanked for their work. They confided to me afterwards that they had even started calling each other by their new "Arabic" names to avoid confusion. Melea picked up another new nickname as well "No Sleep" because on the long drive back from Aqaba to Amman - arriving at 2:00 am, she had sensibly insisted on sleeping while all the other did their best to stay awake (for reasons I have not yet entirely elucidated...) and keep her awake too.
After the "awards ceremony" the gifts were handed out and the campers came around to tell us all goodbye. Even Marjolaine and I who had only been present a day and a half, were accepted as full members of the staff and received handshakes, hugs, and kisses from many campers. The staff said they truly appreciated the work of our volunteers and hoped that we would be able to send more again next year, perhaps even sending 6 in stead of 4 as they had requested this year.
The campers loaded into busses and were gone by about 12:30. Our bus from the ABS arrived a bit after 1:00. We loaded out luggage and started out to the south, stopping just outside Amman for a kabob sandwich and a coke. On the 4 hour trip to Al Rajef, where we would pick up the others, we spent about an hour debriefing the volunteers about the project while everything was fresh in their minds. They all said their participation at the camp had surpassed their expectations, and that it had been very worth while. They made some suggestions that we can incorporate in the future if this project can continue. These included having Arabic vocabulary to study in advance, and having separate rooms (for guys as well as gals) in which to sleep during the camp. They also said it was very important to be able to bunk at the camp itself since it is late in the evening and at night that much important bonding can occur with staff and campers both.
We drove down the Desert Highway once again to our turnoff for Al Rajef. I snapped a photo of a warning sign on the sign of the road. It warned that cars had to yield to any camels crossing the road....
We arrived at Al Rajef once again around 5:00 and found everyone in the last stages of cleanup at the school. As soon as they finished, we drove over to the apartment which they cleaned up quickly as well, washing the last dishes (apparently there was something like a burned sacrifice for dinner the previous evening which required a certain amount of pot scrubbing). The water had been off for a while which meant the toilets hadn't been flushed in a while, and bottled water had to be used for washing, but that kind of challenge goes with the (rural) neighborhood.
We piled in the bus along with all our luggage, there is just room for all of us and all of it, and drove north on the Kings Highway. We are now in what the mentioned in the Bible as the land of Edom. While wandering in the wilderness, Israel specifically asked permission of the Edomites to travel this exact route in Numbers 20:17, which permission was refused. This caused the Israelites great discomfort. It was interesting to consider that Al Rajef is located right on the ancient King's Highway. There are so many interesting Biblical connections to make in this area.
We arrived at our hotel, the Al-Anbat 1 on the outskirts of Wadi Musa and got checked in by about 6:30. Dave and I drove into town to get some more Jordanian Dinars to be able to pay the entry fees for Petra, and to buy lots of water for tomorrow. We'll need at least 3 liters of water per person, probably more.
We are here at the hotel on a half-board basis, so dinner is included in the room price. We had dinner together at 7:30 and discussed the plan for the next day, which would be our visit to the premier tourist site of Jordan: Petra. We decided on a 7:00 am departure since we will only have one day on a site that can take several to explore. Dave Bake and I encouraged everyone to get as much rest as possible, and to bring water, sunscreen and good hiking shoes for the visit. Everyone is tired now, but we have a big day in store tomorrow.
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