Never Underestimate the Impact of Volunteering

The following blog post is written by AUA’s Advisory Board Member Sarah Hassaine about AUA volunteer Luis Aguilar and the impression he received from his recent AUA trip to Jordan. To find an amazing volunteer opportunity, search the AUA Directory of Recommended Organizations© today

Sometimes life just deals you a hand of cards and you are just so happy with it, you want to tell everyone. That is how I feel right now.  As a web designer at Creative Associates, my opportunities to travel abroad for work have been rare; in fact, I have never traveled abroad for work. So when I was approached to participate in a house build in Jordan for ten days, I immediately knew that this was something I could not pass up. I had actually never thought of volunteering abroad or even going to the Middle East per se, and the more I learned about this opportunity I found that there was no reason to turn it down.

Upon accepting the invitation by America’s Unofficial Ambassadors (AUA), I joined six other Americans on a ten day trip to Jordan where we were destined to visit the village of Salt, the capital Amman, and the renowned wonder of the world, Petra.  We were unofficial ambassadors for a project entitled Build Peace by Building Homes which builds homes for deserving families in Jordan. While prepping for my trip, I learned that Jordan was chosen as a project destination because of its growing housing crisis. It is not uncommon to see 12-15 people share small two bedroom houses.  In this case, we worked with a family whose son was recently married and needed a second story for their growing family.
Immediately upon our arrival, we were whisked away to Salt where we stayed in a Group House together and dedicated four straight days to building the second story alongside the family. During this time, we really got to know the family and when the time came to leave we were all so sad to part ways. The family appeared genuinely sad we were leaving and so appreciative of our help. I was really touched by their appreciation and I can only hope that they remember us. I personally wish I could have stayed longer and finished that build.  But it was amazing how our objective to engage in the physical labor of building a home and to foster people-to-people partnerships at the community levelresulted in an overwhelmingly warm and happy feeling for all of us in just four days.

I was surprised by the level of hospitality the Jordanians have towards guests, guests that they don’t even know. We were the first group of Americans that the villagers in Salt had ever met, and they rolled out the red carpet for us.  We were always invited to people’s houses, we drank so much tea and people just kept feeding us – the food never stopped. This struck a personal cord with me as I am of Salvadorian descent and my family is very similar. In fact, the entire time I was in Jordan, I felt like I was in Latin America. The cultures are both family oriented and incorporate religion into their way of life, be it Christian or Muslim Arabs.  Even people there look Latin! I felt very comfortable.The trip helped me better understand Arab culture and what the Middle East is in general.

What most affected me was the warmth of the people, they would just come by and shake our hands and invite us over. It made me think of how different American Culture is. I never get invited to my neighbor’s homes, nor do I invite my neighbors to mine. There, without knowing us,they did that over and over again, it was humbling.

Now that I am back and reflecting on my experience in Jordan, I noticed that I am more hesitant to believe everything I see on television and read in media since I was proven wrong about my initial impressions of people from the Middle East. I came back definitely bearing more of an open mind, especially towards other Middle Eastern countries because I have less of a fear and more of an understanding.  It is no longer an unknown.

Another element of surprise was the extreme biblical significance of the land. As a practicing Catholic, it impacted me on a personal and spiritual level because of the history in the region. I felt a connection to the land given it was the region where Christianity began. On this trip we went to Mt. Nebo, however on future trips, I hope to visit Israel, and other countries in the Levant with more religious historic sites.

I want to tell everyone what I experienced and I am now inspired to go back and travel extensively through the region.  Yes, the cards were dealt and I got a good hand indeed. I learned about the true value of volunteering and about changing people’s life and the impact traveling can have on one’s faith and perception of the world. I hope the cards are dealt in your favor as well.

Discovering Salt: Jordan Day 5

The 2012 Building Peace by Building Homes participants recently returned from their trip to Jordan. Catch up with their experiences by reading more of their entries written AUA’s trip leader Gideon Culman.  To find an amazing volunteer opportunity, search the AUA Directory of Recommended Organizations© today.

The Building Peace by Building Homes team heads to the building site at daybreak and the work is the same as it has been all week: Hauling bricks, mixing cement, mixing cement, hauling bricks. But today there’s something different. As the walls grow higher, we leave spaces for windows, and the fruit of our labor finally resembles a house! The wind is blowing hard and we wrestle to secure the tarp protecting us from the unrelenting sun.

Photo Courtesy of AUA Volunteer Marcela Garcia.

In the evening we meet with board members of the Salt Youth Club and learn about the organization’s historical importance to the area. Afterwards we explore the streets of downtown Salt. A major hub during the Ottoman Empire, Salt boasts colorful bazaars, hillsides brimming with old stone houses, and a sampling of historical palaces, mosques and churches. We buy souvenir scarves and chew frankincense resin as the sun sets over the scenic cityscape. After the evening prayer is done, the faithful spilling out of the mosques and into the streets offer sweets to the members of the Building Peace by Building Homes team.

Returning to Allan village, a family whose mother serves on the board of the community center hosting us invites the Building Peace by Building Homes team for a late dinner. We expect a small family meal. When we arrive, everyone is there: Grandparents in flowing robes, children lighting firecrackers, uncles and aunts who have brought all the cousins. The feast is enormous. We learn that the head of the household trained as an Arabic-Russian interpreter in Kyiv. He used to visit the Ukraine every year. “Until this,” he waves his hand at a flock of children running into the house, and beams.

The Unveiling of Many Myths

The following blog post is written by AUA’s Advisory Board Member  Sarah Hassaine. Her article has also be published by the Arab American Institute. Read below to see what she has to say about the recent AUA trip to Jordan. To find an amazing volunteer opportunity, search the AUA Directory of Recommended Organizations© today.

Marcela is not ready to talk yet. But at the same time she wants to. Her recent trip to Jordan left her reeling with unanticipated emotions and experiences from the people she met.  Before her departure, Marcela Garcia, a behavioral therapist and a Masters Candidate in Special Education, described herself as someone who “lives in the moment, and in the seat of my pants.”  She enjoys traveling and learning about people’s dreams and aspirations in life. Her trip to Jordan, however, has proven to be an unanticipated life-changing experience.

Marcela has lived in Japan for a year and has done some international traveling, but none of her trips took her to the Middle East, and none were volunteer-based… until last month, when she joined six other Americans at New York’s JFK airport and flew to Jordan for a 10-day trip through America’s Unofficial Ambassadors (AUA) to build homes in the village of Salt. AUA aims to improve America’s relationship with the Muslim World by providing opportunities for private citizens to volunteer in various development projects across the globe, from Indonesia to Morocco. Unofficial Ambassadors volunteer in various fields like education, health, human rights, and economic development in communities throughout the Muslim World.

AUA Team Members Marcela & Constance learn how to “dabkeh” after a long day.

Marcela’s recent trip with other Unofficial Ambassadors was entitled Build Peace by Building Homes, which focused on building homes for deserving families in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity. Before her departure, Marcela said she was going on this trip “because I always wanted to volunteer and the opportunity never presented itself… I have always wanted to help build a house for others.”

After a whirlwind of ten days in Jordan, Marcela found herself crying in her hotel room the night before their flight back to the United States. “I came back feeling sad – very sad. While packing in Amman – I just started crying, I was not ready to leave,” shared Marcela. Ultimately, this trip opened her eyes to the fact that she wasn’t doing enough with her skills in behavioral therapy: “I wanted to stay and work with teachers and children there… the people were so amazing!”

Like many Unofficial Ambassadors, Marcela had not had much exposure to the Arab world or to many Arabs or Muslims in general. She said,

The trip exceeded my expectations.  Anything I knew about Muslims or Arabs was from the media or from people around me and it was so way off!  I thought they would treat me ‘badly’- but they appreciated that I was different – there was so much love, we did not know what to do with it!

Every day, Marcela and the AUA team helped a family build a second story on their home, and in the evenings they would field invitation after invitation to people’s homes. They were repeatedly offered tea, food, sweets and given gifts. “The people were always feeding us and they treated us like family [even though] we are nothing like them,” said an awed Marcela, “The hospitality and love and care were amazing. Every day brought more than we could take.”

Marcela went on to say that the “most exciting” part of the trip was being around “women of all ages, in all jobs, because they have so much to contribute to society and their families. They are articulate, intelligent and powerful.” She also joked about how all the women she met, be they villagers or university students, seemed “happy in their relationships;” which is not something you see often.

Marcela, like many westerners, had viewed women in the Middle East as oppressed silent women: “I thought they did not work and that they just stayed home and had kids and wore the scarf, boy was I wrong. I am so glad I was wrong.” Marcela and her AUA female counterpart Constance Castrence spent some alone time with the women. When men were not around, Marcela was shocked to see the women take off their headscarf and dress as they want: “I was so surprised to see them in short dresses and laughing and happy and talking about the same things we do here.” Marcela also noted that “so many women in Jordan are educated and worked,” and discovered that headscarves were not imposed: “I learned that it was their choice. They chose to wear the hijab, one girl explained how she opted to wear it but her sister did not… in the same household, two sisters with different approaches to clothes.”

For Marcela, learning more about women in Arab and Muslim cultures really opened her eyes and helped build a bridge of understanding.  She experienced firsthand how open-minded the people were and how non-judgmental they were of her. She admits that her expectations of the trip were beyond exceeded, and she came away having learned so much about a people and culture that she did not even know existed. “I was so wrong about everything – so wrong. It is great to have friends there now,” she said happily. She concluded by saying that her “message to people is that Muslims are amazing and loving people… And I want to tell people that the women are amazing!”

Jordan Day 4:The Building Begins

The 2012 Building Peace by Building Homes participants recently returned from their trip in Jordan.  Continue to catch up with their experiences by reading more! To find an amazing volunteer opportunity, search the AUA Directory of Recommended Organizations© today.

The idea that people would serve as volunteers is novel in Jordan. Most people there have never done it. To help normalize the notion of volunteering, Habitat for Humanity invites several Jordanian news outlets to film the Building Peace by Building Homes team at the worksite. Here the camera crew is talking to Habitat program officer Fadi and community center leader Buthaina.

After work the Building Peace by Building Homes team visits the Abdul Rahman Ben Ouf Society outside Salt. This is an NGO that has specialized in local permaculture, a branch of ecological design and engineering that cares for the earth and the people, and sets limits to population and consumption. The NGO also boasts a formidable chess team trained for years by Elham beaming here between Building Peace by Building Homes team member Constance and two of her chess champions. The chess players are top-ranked in Jordan and have competed in several different countries.

Contractor Abu Ussama hosts us at his family’s house for an evening feast. The centerpiece of the meal is mansaf featuring a whole goat. Notice goat meat artfully arranged on a bed of rice surrounding the goat’s head with a bunch of cilantro in its mouth. There are bowls of vegetables and tart yogurt as well as delicious yogurt sauce. The vegetarians in our group enjoy a separate feast of fried cauliflower, baked French fries, eggplant, red pepper sauce and fritatas. Yum!

Day 3 in Jordan: The Experiences Continue

The 2012 Building Peace by Building Homes participants recently returned from their trip in Jordan.  Below is a glimpse into their first couple of days during this exciting adventure. To find an amazing volunteer opportunity, search the AUA Directory of Recommended Organizations© today.

Photo Credits Marcela Garcia

At the homebuilding site, the team forms a “brick dancing line.” This is a technique that our Habitat for Humanity program officer Fadi taught us so that we could move large numbers of bricks to the top of the building with no more movement than a simple pivot. From right to left, Jacques, Dan, Mitch and Gideon pass bricks up to the top of the building.

A school in the city of Salt invites the Building Peace by Building Homes team to attend its Jordanian Independence Day celebration. There are several troupes of talented Dabke dancers, a teen heartthrob rapper, and a wildly enthusiastic audience.

The Building Peace by Building Homes team ends the evening with a meal in the ancient city of Salt.  It’s been quite the day but day 3 was a success. After dinner, it was  finally time for some rest. Tomorrow begins a new day with more adventures.