It is all so familiar but at the same time everything here is completely different... including me.
I hope all of you will forgive the lack of posting but I needed some time to reflect before posting. I felt that it was important to understand the experiences I was having before providing commentary about those experiences here for you all to read.
Last year when I left Jordan I was unclear about how things would turn out in my future. I did not have a set plan of action other than to go back to BYU to help out with some research in the Sociology department with Dr. Ralph Brown. Through various fortuitous events and some divine intervention I was able to put together an amazing team of graduate and undergraduate students to join me out here this summer and do some great things. We have created the organization Zaytoon International and you can check it out at www.zaytooninternational.org and learn more about our goals and progress there. In this blog I will focus more on personal insights and observations.
Being back here in Jordan I have had the chance to talk to many of my friends from last year and it has been absolutely wonderful catching up. The culture here is almost entirely based on face to face interaction and as such trying to stay in touch via email or phone is less than effective. I have been looking forward to talking with people here given the recent upheavals in the Arab world and I have not been disappointed. Politics are everywhere and it comes up in just about every conversation. There is an energy in the air that is almost palpable and it is a night and day difference from what I felt last year. This blog isn't here to promote any political or ideological agenda so hopefully you will all understand that I am simply trying to relay my experiences and observations. I'm sure some of my own opinions will come out in relation to those observations but I am not here to encourage a specific change or provide direction but rather promote general understanding.
I have so many things to write about, things that I have seen, conversations that I have had, ideas that have been shared with me, and I have only been here a week. This last weekend I was out in the eastern badia (rural Jordan) in the villages I lived in last year and I was amazed at the changes I saw. I am very fortunate to have lived in these areas last year to give me a point of reference as to how different things are now as otherwise I would not have believed it. Last year a friend of mine here who had lived in the states told me a key difference between Americans and Arabs. He told me that when he was in America (and in other places in Europe and the West) everyone was reading, newspapers, magazines, books, blogs, articles, everyone was not just literate and educated but they were aware. He told me that Arabs were literate and educated here but you would rarely see anyone pick up a newspaper or read a book. There were computers and available resources to connect to the outside world but little motivation to do so. This year everything is completely different! The friends I had who last year had little desire or need for an internet connection all have wireless internet and smartphones. People are constantly reading up and learning what is going on around them. People who had little interest in politics or global awareness are now consuming information at every opportunity. Instead of vague and generic opinions people have well established and diverse points of view. Where there used to be a sense of quiet desperation and acceptance there is now active discussion. There are new ideas being shared and considered, and everyone is taking part in the conversation. It has been said that the Arab world has found its voice and this is definitely the case in Jordan. So now Jordan you have your voice, the world is listening... what will you say?
No comments:
Post a Comment