Last Sunday 60 Minutes broadcast a short piece on "Christians of the Holy Land," which reported on the dwindling number of native Christians in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank that may eventually leave historically important cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem without an indigenous Christian population. The short, 14 minute video is included below.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Details
Two months ago when we left the United States to come back to Jordan, it seemed as if the news cycle there was beginning to move on from the so-called "Arab Spring." After all, there was the long-running Republican presidential nominating marathon to cover, as well as dire global economic news from countries like Greece, and the always popular stand-off with Iran over their nuclear weapons program, among other things. Here, though, the details of the Arab Spring are still obviously important, daily news, and this was highlighted again for me yesterday with two short articles from the English language Jordan Times newspaper. Both articles deal with the kinds of details that tend to get lost amid the flash and clamor of bombs and gunfire, and both draw attention to the human consequences that such flash and clamor bring.
Around 60,000 Libyans came to Jordan as a result of the revolution against former leader Muammar Gaddafi last year, and one article reveals that hotels in Jordan have recently decided to stop accepting them due to non-payment of bills. Apparently, the hotels are still owed around 90 million Dinars. The article goes on to say that hospitals in Jordan are still owed around 100 million Dinars from Libyans who came for war related medical treatment. According to the story, around 12,000 Libyans currently reside in hotels here, and a total of around 50,000 have come for medical treatment.
Right now there are reportedly around 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan due to the ongoing conflict there--a number that is said to be increasing by 500 people per day. The other article reports on the growing number of them arriving with various injuries and signs of torture.
Jordan is a peaceful, stable country, but there is war and conflict almost all around it. There are 1.5 million Palestinians in Jordan classified as refugees, and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians just across Jordan's western border continues to rage. At the height of the war in Iraq--on Jordan's northeastern border--there were an estimated 750,000 Iraqi refugees here, and of course that war continues too, and many refugees remain. And regardless of the world news cycle, the Arab Spring continues into year two. Two articles printed on the same day--one about refugees from Syria, on Jordan's northern border, and one about people from far away in the north African country of Libya--serve as a reminder about those details that linger after and during the blasts of gunfire, the far-reaching consequences of war.
Around 60,000 Libyans came to Jordan as a result of the revolution against former leader Muammar Gaddafi last year, and one article reveals that hotels in Jordan have recently decided to stop accepting them due to non-payment of bills. Apparently, the hotels are still owed around 90 million Dinars. The article goes on to say that hospitals in Jordan are still owed around 100 million Dinars from Libyans who came for war related medical treatment. According to the story, around 12,000 Libyans currently reside in hotels here, and a total of around 50,000 have come for medical treatment.
Right now there are reportedly around 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan due to the ongoing conflict there--a number that is said to be increasing by 500 people per day. The other article reports on the growing number of them arriving with various injuries and signs of torture.
Jordan is a peaceful, stable country, but there is war and conflict almost all around it. There are 1.5 million Palestinians in Jordan classified as refugees, and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians just across Jordan's western border continues to rage. At the height of the war in Iraq--on Jordan's northeastern border--there were an estimated 750,000 Iraqi refugees here, and of course that war continues too, and many refugees remain. And regardless of the world news cycle, the Arab Spring continues into year two. Two articles printed on the same day--one about refugees from Syria, on Jordan's northern border, and one about people from far away in the north African country of Libya--serve as a reminder about those details that linger after and during the blasts of gunfire, the far-reaching consequences of war.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Jordanian Easter
Easter in Jordan and throughout the Middle East was celebrated yesterday. This is because the region generally follows the Eastern Orthodox calendar. In Jordan specifically, many years ago leaders from the various churches--Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches are all represented in the country's tiny three percent Christian population--met and decided to observe Easter according to the eastern, and not the western, calendar, serving to show a bit of unity amongst the different expressions of the faith here. The Christian holidays here are also celebrated like the main Islamic holidays, in that they are not just simple one day occasions, but festivals lasting several days, during which time people are supposed to visit as many of their extended family and close friends as they can. Our street has an unusually large number of Christians on it, and so yesterday--Easter Sunday, and the first day of visiting--there was a happy bustle of activity below us, with well dressed Christians laughing and chatting on the sidewalk and greeting each other in their homes.
The night before, at around 11:30, the dark silence was pierced by the loud clanging of bells from what I think was the nearby Greek Orthodox church, ushering in Easter Sunday. Below is a short video, which is nothing special to look at, but it's not a sound often associated with the Middle East. !المسيح قام He is risen!
The night before, at around 11:30, the dark silence was pierced by the loud clanging of bells from what I think was the nearby Greek Orthodox church, ushering in Easter Sunday. Below is a short video, which is nothing special to look at, but it's not a sound often associated with the Middle East. !المسيح قام He is risen!
Sunday, April 08, 2012
A Dead Car and Jordanian Hospitality
Yesterday we took a drive to the outskirts of town, to an older area called Bayaader, which used to be a village separate from Amman, but which now has been swallowed up by the ever growing city. It is literally on the edge of town, as buildings on its easternmost point cling to the sides of high hills that overlook the quickly dropping route down to the Jordan Valley. Unlike where we live--and unlike most of Amman--many of the people who live there are original, tribal Jordanians, who are descendants of nomadic Bedouins. There is also a small but significant population of Circassians, whose ancestors were forced by the Russians from their homeland in the mountainous Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas in what is now southern Russia and Georgia in the late 19th century. Jordan is filled with people who came from someplace else.
Not long after we arrived in Bayaader, though, the rental car we were driving suddenly came to a stop. Since the gas tank had been creeping towards empty, at first we thought we had embarrassingly run out of gas. So, we flagged down a man driving by, and he drove me and my crutches to a gas station some distance away, while Annamarie and the kids stayed back with the car, ate snacks, and checked out the neighborhood. We returned with two old water bottles filled with gas, but that was not the answer, as the car still did not start. By this time some of the neighborhood men had begun converging on the scene, each offering their advice on how to start the car, and it was decided that I should try to start it while coasting down the top of the hill. Don't, though, go too far, they said, as the hill drops very steeply quite quickly, and the car if it didn't start would be impossible to stop. So, with no power steering or brakes, I casually began coasting down the hill. It again didn't start, though, and I turned the car up the last side-street before the big drop.
With no other option at this point, we finally decided to call the rental car company. To make a long story short, they sent out one of their workers, who discovered the timing belt needed to be replaced. The four of us waited for the car to be fixed with a family of strangers whose home it came to rest in front of. Two cups of mint tea, a cup of Turkish coffee, a glass of Pepsi--and almost four hours later--we left. Below are some pictures of our day with them, the kind of day all the travel books have in mind when they talk about Jordanian hospitality.
Not long after we arrived in Bayaader, though, the rental car we were driving suddenly came to a stop. Since the gas tank had been creeping towards empty, at first we thought we had embarrassingly run out of gas. So, we flagged down a man driving by, and he drove me and my crutches to a gas station some distance away, while Annamarie and the kids stayed back with the car, ate snacks, and checked out the neighborhood. We returned with two old water bottles filled with gas, but that was not the answer, as the car still did not start. By this time some of the neighborhood men had begun converging on the scene, each offering their advice on how to start the car, and it was decided that I should try to start it while coasting down the top of the hill. Don't, though, go too far, they said, as the hill drops very steeply quite quickly, and the car if it didn't start would be impossible to stop. So, with no power steering or brakes, I casually began coasting down the hill. It again didn't start, though, and I turned the car up the last side-street before the big drop.
With no other option at this point, we finally decided to call the rental car company. To make a long story short, they sent out one of their workers, who discovered the timing belt needed to be replaced. The four of us waited for the car to be fixed with a family of strangers whose home it came to rest in front of. Two cups of mint tea, a cup of Turkish coffee, a glass of Pepsi--and almost four hours later--we left. Below are some pictures of our day with them, the kind of day all the travel books have in mind when they talk about Jordanian hospitality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)