Spread love everywhere you go.

Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

– Mother Teresa

Winter Ups and Down

Well, it snowed in Jordan!

I can’t help but feel constant ups and downs about the early start to winter.

I’ll share some of them in attempts of explanation..

1) Being snowed in for an all-night Christmas party at Dan’s house.

2) Watching little kids building a snowman in a neighborhood of Homs in Syria – which has been blockaded by the regime for 500, thus left to face the early winter storm with no gas or electricty.

As the citizen journalist describes the dire situation in the neighborhood, the kids interrupt, talking amongst themselves “Now put the eyes! Yeah, just use the snow.”

More at: Syria Direct

3) Venturing out in the snow to gather the necessary supplies for 3 days of movies, hot chocolate and kahlua, and snuggling.

4) Thinking of friends in Zaatari sitting in caravans, or worse, in tents without heaters or winter clothes as strong winds and heavy rain rips through the camp.

More at: Syria Direct

5) Arriving in Boston, happy to be home for a White Christmas.

6) Reading about refugees in Lebanon, who are all the more worse off from snowfall and lack of resources.

A flock of small boys trotted by. “Bring us clothes!” one shouted. “We are cold!” called another.

More at: NY Times

I guess its inevitable that I couldn’t be happier or sadder that winter is finally here. It seems appropriate to return back to some favorite lines from Mahmoud Darwish, Think of Others:

As you return home, to your home, think of others
(do not forget the people of the camps).

As you sleep and count the stars, think of others
(those who have nowhere to sleep).

One of my favorites from Zaatari wearing his new winter hat – which he chose himself during our distribution of over 4,000 donated hats.

He was pretty happy with himself and, needless to say, warm.

You can donate to the UN emergency response here

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

– Steve Jobs

Female Slam Poetry in Jordan

Nadine, as per usual, writes a compelling piece about Jordanian women in Amman’s Spoken Word scene.

Its further proof of Jordan’s confusing identity; the reality of so many different types of people and lifestyles darting across this region that make it impossible to speak about Jordan – the Middle East – or Arabs in any sweeping generalizations.

As tonight’s poetry reading draws to a close, Aysha speaks her own manifesto of youth. The emotion is raw, but no one looks away as her piece crescendos.

“It was my friends who hugged their canvases and wept for brothers killed in the doom of Arab revolution, and guilted over the fire exit of their breath,” she raps, her words echo within the narrow walls.

“But I still have my dictators falling, as the Arab Spring fireworks into a festive autumn. So for all I care me and my friends are the sunrise.”

Read all here —> Jordan’s Underground Female Slam Poetry Scene

“Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation … It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Nizar Qabbani

 

I love her when she drinks her morning coffee,

and she drinks me

I love her more when she assures me she’ll take over the world,

and she takes over me

Separation Wall

Bethlehem – Palestine

 

“I always go back to William James,” he said. “ ‘The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.’ A big part of it is being remembered.” Besides, relaxing stresses him out.

 

Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?

Jackie in Jordan

 

Jackie has graced Jordan with her presence for a month…

She ate at Jafra, Al Quds, Habibeh, and Hashems, visited Petra and Wadi Rum, floated in the Dead Sea, taught a Language Club at the OWA summer camp, experienced long Ramadan days, broke fast with the OWA students, spent a long weekend in Palestine, and ate 5 servings of Maqlubeh at Wael’s house.

Needless to say, she did it all.

Yet.. I STILL WISH SHE STAYED!!!

Erbil

A few weeks ago, Nadine and I travelled together to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. We went for work – to cover IOM’s projects in the area. The whole trip, I couldn’t help thinking how surreal it was…two best friends, paid to go on an adventure to a new place, meeting and interviewing people who have beautiful stories of hardship turned success with a little help from IOM. Really, it does not get much better than that.

Perhaps the best takeaway of the trip though was feeling the impact IOM has had on its beneficiaries’ lives – as well as seeing the way IOM staff truly integrate themselves into the local communities. There are many cynics of humanitarian work and aid in general – they talk of top-down approaches, programs that ignore local realities, and office bureaucracies that forget about the humanity of the people they serve. Yet watching IOM staff in action re-affirmed my belief in this work.

The staff members truly became a part of the communities in which they worked – IOM staff and beneficiaries looked at each other as friends and partners, working toward the same goal together. The local community groups informing IOM’s work were active and passionate, volunteering their time to ensure effective programming for the vulnerable populations in need of assistance. More than that, I cannot even count the number of times beneficiaries told us, a lot of different organizations came and took photos of us… but IOM was the first to do anything to help. It was truly inspirational to see such good work being done – and having a big impact.

To see the result of our trip — check out the newsletter produced on IOM’s Community Revitalization Program

As always, because IOM blogging rules are unclear.. disclaimer: these are IOM’s photos but only my opinions :)