Jordon: Trip of a Lifetime
In the photo album of life, we tend to cherish some photos and place them neatly in their rightful place while others are lost between the pages of the past. Our trip to Jordan was one of the photographs etched on our memories; it will hopefully persist and have a way of affecting our lives for years to come.
Let’s start at the beginning. This all started when our school hatched up the concept of participating in a local community service project-basically a small public school in need of a ray of hope, so we pulled together and granted them a beautiful library. Our whole journey was documented into a movie maker presentation (prepared by one of our fellow schoolmates). We were invited to present this creation at the International Conference of Community and Service in Jordan. Here ends one quest and begins a much more exotic and horizon broadening adventure. During this trip we unknowingly grew on many levels:
As expected we delved deep in the Jordanian ideology, their customs, habits and moral fabrics; this culminated our introduction to a real life prince! Al Ameer Rashid Bin Hasan’s modesty, hospitality and generosity opened our eyes to things we never expected royalty to posses making us doubt what fairytales wanted us to believe. Additionally, at the conference itself, we witnessed a diverse array of projects and documentaries that orbited around the idea of serving and bettering the community. Grasping the impact of these simple acts of kindness on less fortunate people truly made the whole experience worthwhile. And If I were asked to be doing it over for just the smile on a little girl’s face, I wouldn’t hesitate one second.
Finally, we were introduced to some of the most incredible venues on earth; one of them being Petra the 8th wonder of the world. This experience was only made more vivid by the great and colorful friends we made. Different nationalities especially the Jordanians took us off guard with their humor and humble nature. We expected a great trip but words fail us as we look back and try to express how lucky we were to be chosen. I believe I speak for everyone when I say I won’t soon lose the smile Jordan has drawn so promptly on my face.