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Goodbye from Jordan!

By ecirrincione

Hello everyone! I'm back- after a big drama with the internet providers here in Jordan! Cheap and abundant wifi/3G is one thing I will definitely be a lot more thankful for once I am in the states. It is a big hassle here to get yourself situated with a good company, and mine just went out of business so I have been internet free the past few days.

I am leaving Jordan on Monday to spend three weeks in the US before coming back. My experience in Jordan has been overwhelmingly positive, and that is why I decided to stay for the whole academic year. Undoubtedly, my time abroad was only enriched by the experience of volunteering at the Mubarrat.

To backtrack, this semester I volunteered twice a week at the Mubarrat Um El Hossain. From their website :

Mabarrat Um Al Hussein was established in 1958, by her late Majesty Queen Zein Al Sharaf, as a learning and care institution for boys living in hardship. The Mabarrat is located in Marka Shamaliyeh, a densely populated, low-income area of north Amman. Over the years, generations of boys from urban and rural backgrounds have grown up at the Mabarrat and come to think of it as home. These boys who are orphans, or come from broken homes and impoverished families are provided with a safe environment and learning opportunities to help them attain a happy and fulfilling adult life.

While I volunteered there, I do not work with the boys. Instead I taught an English class to adult women. This was geared towards teaching the women a skill that they can use in their education and work. I grew to love these ladies, they really have become part of my family . The class was taught at beginner-intermediate level, but all of the students improved immensely throughout the semester. I couldn't be more proud as I remember where they started and where they ended.

I feel that watching the students progress was my biggest accomplishment. It's a great feeling to realize you had a part in helping women better themselves. It was also great to have them teach me about Jordanian culture, and in turn I taught them about American culture. It was a great exchange and I hope I can see them some day again in the future, whether in America or Jordan! One of the other accomplishments was the transportation (which was also a challenge in itself...). To get to Marka I had to take two buses, and it was very far from my house. When I started volunteering there, my Arabic was very weak but I figured out how to get around and I never had any problems. I was really happy that I could be self sufficient in Amman, and not just in my neighborhood.

But yes, the transportation was probably the biggest challenge. Obviously volunteer work is unpaid, and the transportation costs certainly made a dent in my budget. As I prepare to return to Jordan, I am looking for more volunteer work, and I will definitely make sure I consider transportation costs in the future. Other challenges regarded the first week of class, trying to remember names and determine the students levels. It was kind of overwhelming, but thankfully we found a good rhythm.

I hope that I made an impact in the community of Marka, it will always be very dear to me and I hope to visit it again in the future. Working there, outside of the glitzy parts of Amman, really made me aware of the problems people here face. At the same time, I met the kindest and most loving people in this neighborhood. I'm eternally grateful for having discovered this opportunity.

While I will not be coming back to GW in the Spring, I do hope to continue to volunteer as an English teacher in Amman. I am currently trying to find something with the refugee population.

Thats all from me, it's time to pack. See you later GWU!