بدأت مسيرتي العلمية والدراسية بعد انتهائي من الصف العاشر الأساسي عام 2003، وقد كنت اعمل في كراج صيانة الشاحنات، وكان عمري عندها لا يتجاوز 16 عاما، فانتسبت لمؤسسة التدريب المهني لمدة عاميين، تلقيت تعليمي من خلال التدريب المهني وكان تخصصي ميكانيك الشاحنات والحافلات. عملت خلال هذين العامين في كراجات الصيانة، بحيث كنت أتلقى تعليمي النظري ثلاثة أيام بالأسبوع، حصلت على شهادة من مؤسسة التدريب المهني بتخصص صيانة الشاحنات والحافلات وحصلت على رخصة مزاولة المهنة بهذا التخصص. وبعد انخراطي في الشركات الخاصة ومراكز صيانة السيارات , و انخراطي في مجتمع (أبناء الكراجات ) اللذين لايعرفون الا الشتم والتوبيخ والضرب , فقررت ترك تلك المنطقة المليئة بالأوبئة البشرية الذين لا يعرفون معنى الرحمة والإنسانية .

عملت بعدها في احدى معسكرات الجيش العربي ( مشاغل الصيانة ) 2006 وكان لقبي الوظيفي (مستخدم مدني ) فتعرفت اثناء عملي على المهندسين وأصحاب العقول النيرة. وبعد عدة اشهر بدأ المهندسين بتقديم النصائح والتوجيهات لي بأن أكمل مسيرتي العلمية لما اكتشفوه بداخلي من حب لهذا التخصص في ميكانيكا السيارات. فعدت من جديد للدراسة وتقدمت لامتحانات الثانوية العامة، وأنا على رأس عملي في مشاغل الصيانة، حيث كنت اعمل في النهار وادرس ليلا” بعد العودة من عملي
رغم الصعوبات التي واجهتها تلك الأيام لكني لم أتوقف يوما” عن تحقيق طموحي وحلمي، فاجتزت امتحانات الثانوية العامة 2007وبحمد الله نجحت بمعدل 66.8 ولولا ظروفي في تلك الأيام لكان تقديري ومعدلي اعلي من ذلك.

بعد ذلك سجلت في برنامج الدبلوم في كلية الهندسة التكنولوجية (البوليتكنك) في تخصص ميكانيك المركبات وقبلت في البرنامج التنافسي وكانت رسوم ساعتي 7 دنانير فقط ، لذلك استمررت في العمل أثناء الدراسة، حيث كنت احتاج لعمل يسد متطلبات رسوم الدراسة، فعملت في احد معامل توزيع مواد البناء في تحميل وتنزيل المواد ، وكانت دراستي في الكلية مسائية رغم هذه المعاناة كان ترتيبي على مستوى الكلية في تخصصي المرتبة ( الثانية ) وبفضل الله تعالى اجتزت مرحلة الدبلوم وحصلت على شهادة الدبلوم في عام 2009

تقدمت بطلب توظيف لأحدى شركات السيارات في عام 2009 , وكان دوامي في الشركة في الشفت الليلي وحينها قررت أن أتقدم لامتحان الشهادة الجامعية المتوسطة ( الشامل ) وعدت لأيام الدراسة الليلية بعد إنهاء عملي اليومي، واجتزت تلك المرحلة التي كان لها التأثير على مجرى حياتي بنجاح وبتوفيق من الله حصلت على شهادة الشامل بنجاح بتقدير 72.4 وكان ترتيبي في ذلك العام على مستوى كليتي ( الثالث ) وعلى مستوى المملكة ( السادس)

وحينها انتظرت بفارغ الصبر موعد التقدم لقبول الموحد للجامعات الحكومية , وتم قبولي تنافسيا” في كلية الحصن في مدينة اربد , بتخصص هندسة التكييف والتبريد، والمفارقة أن هذا التخصص يختلف اختلافا” كليا” عن أصل تخصصي في مرحلة الدبلوم ، فلجأت حينها للجامعة الأم في مدينة السلط لتقديم اعتراض على التخصص الذي تم قبولي به ولم استطع أن أحول مقعدي التنافسي لنفس الكلية التي أدرس فيها ( وبما أنه لم يكن معي فيتامين واو (الواسطة) لم يتم قبولي في البرنامج التنافسي وذهب نصيبي في المقعد التنافسي من أمام عيني )فقررت مضطرا” وجاريا” وراء حلمي وحبا” لتخصصي أن أقوم بالتسجيل في البرنامج الموازي في كلية الهندسة التكنولوجية (تخصص الهندسة الميكانيكية العامة عام 2010) حيث لم استطع أن أبقى واقفا” مكتوف الأيدي أمام احد الأبواب التي أغلقت أمامي ، ومؤمنا” بما يقوله أجدادنا: أن الدراسة الجامعية تتم بتسهيل المولى عز وجل من حيث لا ندري !!!!

ولكن نحتاج لتلك الأسباب التي تيسر أمور الدراسة الجامعية فكانت بداية مواجهة تلك التحديات فلجأت لعمل ما يدعى بالجمعية مع زملائي والجيران لإكمال رسوم الجامعة لفصل واحد، لم يكن بعلمي أن احتياجات الجامعة تختلف عنها في الدبلوم من الناحية المادية والأعباء المتراكمة نتيجة الرسوم المرتفعة والكتب وما يحتاجه أي طالب من مصاريف يومية، حيث أني احتاج رسوم فصلي الواحد الشيء الفلاني صدقا” عندما كنت ادفع رسوم الفصل وقبل مغادرتي مكتب المحاسب في الجامعة، كان ينحصر تفكيري بكيفية تأمين الفصل القادم وأعباؤه ورسومه .

أصبحت أواجه المشاكل حتى في بيتي ومع أفراد أسرتي، حيث أني الوحيد المتعلم بين أفراد عائلتي ، وكما تعلمون لم أجد من بقدّر الانجاز الذي أقوم به، بسبب ظروف العائلة المادية الصعبة ,كل ما يحتاجونه ابن يسدد ما يترتب عليهم من ديون وفواتير، فوالدي يعمل سائق بشركة خاصة، يتقاضى راتب شهري 200 دينار ولا يستطيع إعانتي، لا بل ينتظر من يعينه، ليس بوسعي أن أقدم العون الكافي لعائلتي ، حيث أني اعمل حاليا” بشركة خاصة . تقوم الشركة باقتطاع نصف الراتب بسبب غيابي المتكرر ومغادرتي الكثيرة بسبب دوامي ثلاثة أيام في الجامعة، وما يتبقى من راتبي المتواضع لا يسد التزاماتي ومصروفي الشخصي وإعانة عائلتي بمبلغ بسيط

وها أنا على أبواب فصل دراسي جديد ، ولا املك من رسومي الجامعية شيء، والمفارقة أن الجامعة بقوانينها المزاجية قررت فصل كل طالب لم يقوم بتسديد الرسوم الدراسية قبل تاريخ 26/1/2012
فلجأت لصديق في قسم المحاسبة في الجامعة، كان يساعدني بتقسيط رسوم الفصل الدراسي فأعتذر مني بسبب قوانين الجامعة الصارمة هذا العام الدراسي.

في أبريل/نيسان تحققت مخاوفي، عندما جاء إلى منزلي أكثر من 30 رجلاً ملثماً ويحملون المسدسات واقتادوني أمام ناظري ابني، الذي أُرغمتُ على تركه وحيداً. وتعرضتُ لإساءة المعاملة
الجسدية والنفسية؛ فقد عصبوا عينيَّ وقيدوا يديَّ وانهالوا عليَّ بالضرب بالأيدي والأرجل وأوسعوني ضرباً بخرطوم الماء وصعقوني بالكهرباء. كما هددوا باغتصابي وقتلي كي أعترف
بتهم ملفقة، وتعرضتُ للتحرش الجنسي والإذلال. وبعد ذلك كله، جاء رعب المحكمة العسكرية .»
إحدى العاملات في مجال الرعاية الصحية وقد كتبت عن معاناتها قبيل وقت قصير من إصدر أحكام بالسجن عليها وعلى 19 آخرين من العاملين في المجال الصحي بتاريخ 29 سبتمبر/أيلول الماضي

سوف أسحق حنجرة ابنكِ بقدمي هذه؛ وسأعيده لك جثة هامدة كما فعلنا بغيّاث مطر .
كانت هذه كلمات وردت على لسان أحد ضباط الأجهزة الأمنية مخاطباً بها والدة محمد محمد الحموي البالغ 22 عاماً من العمر، لحظة اعتقاله رفقة أبيه. وأما غيّاث مطر، فهو أحد الناشطين الشباب المسالمين من داريّا تُوفي في الحجز

تحت التعذيب على الأرجح بعد أربعة أيام من اعتقاله

صورة من محمد صياغي رويترز. صورة لمجموعة من النساء يطالبن بمحاكمة علي عبد الله صالح. من أكثر الصور انتشارا في عام 2011

January started by losing a lovely Lady. My mother in law passed away after a long and brave battle with cancer. She was a sweet and happy lady, she was full of life and hope. She was a great mother and a great wife.

I had officially met my mother in law in May 2010. We had soon become good friends. Even though our friendship lasted for less than a year, she had accepted me as I am and loved me unconditionally.

Just before she passed away she cooked for me couscous, we ate it the Moroccan way in her winter home at AlGhor. I always have such a fond feeling remembering that day.

Thinking of her brings warmth to my heart every time.

In her memory, I would like to share the song mensch (” Human”). It is an old German song by a famous rock/pop artist Herbert Grönemeyer. Mensch (“Human”). This song was Grönemeyer’s first number-one single in Germany. The mood of the album reflects the recent death of both his wife and one of his older brothers within the same week, and is rich with poetic imagery. In the song Grönemeyer reflects on his own humanity as it relates to feeling loss.
This particular video is a concert by Bono and Grinemeyer.

On January 14, Tunisia’s authoritarian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali fled the country after 23 years in power as a result of massive popular protests. What a sweet sweet moment!

February: Month of Dignity

If I can single out a day to which I can attribute the making of history, it would be the 11th of February when Hosni Mubarak resigned Office. The whole Arab World was glued in front of our TVs breathlessly waiting for that moment.

I am not sure how to express the impact of that glorious moment on our world. That moment was the embodiment of the powerful Tunisian Poem, ” If the people Ever wanted to live” for Al Sayyab. This poem soon became the symbol all the Arab revolutions, which started in Tunis on December 18th 2010.

Youth in the Arab world took the streets and fought for freedom. It was not about poverty, hunger, marginalization, corruption, oppression or disenfranchisement. It was about regaining dignity. This year will be engrained in our memories forever, because it brought us hope.

And this was only the beginning. To date, there have been revolutions in Tunis and Egypt, which led to the fall of both presidents, a civil war in Libya resulting in the fall of its government and the death of a mad Tyrant Ghaddafi. Uprising in Yemen resulting in the resignation of the Yemeni prime minister; The Arab springs included protests in Bahrain, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Sudan and finally a revolution in Syria.

As always the price of freedom is very high. According to USA news Death toll up until November:

Syria: 5000
Yemen: 250
Bahrain: 30
Libya: 30,000
Egypt: 900
Tunisia: 300

I think the least we can do is to observe a moment of silence for these people who paid the price, so that we can breathe the air of freedom

Here, I would like to share a song for Al Sheikh Iman called “ I am the people- ana Al sha3b“

March: Trouble

Trouble came home. This month created a shift in the atmosphere. Up until then, the government did not know what to make out of what was happening in the region. In March and after the tragic events of March 24th, security forces took the streets and managed to create a horrible rift between the reformist and the loyalists. It is the months that witnessed all the fake pop nationalism… as if wanting to improve our country makes a person not patriotic?! I don’t know…

Picture by Lina Ejeilat

April: Wedding and Venice
I met Nas in May 2008. I won’t get into the details, but I will share how excited I was about meeting the Black Iris. It took me six months to understand the extent of my admiration for this man, and it took me three more to realize that I wanted to spend my life with him.
I don’t know what the future is holding for us, but I embrace my new life with so much faith, hope and many many aspirations… we finally got married in April, amidst all the chaos… but, as I said before, love becomes more acute in times of turmoil.

By the way Venice is as beautiful as they say!

I leave you with life-ning, I think it is probably the sweetest song I head this year. But snow Patrol have alwys had sweetest songs.

May: Living the vida loca!

Well, ok… maybe  i am  exaggerating slightly here ! But in May we moved into our house, and our journey as home owners started… I am still struggling with creating a balance between my career, my marriage and my family…

Truly, no amount of fun would come close to shopping for the house… it is the ultimate pleasure! I can think of one or two things more… but seriously living an independent life is seriously fun!

June: Nothing to report!

But i will leave you with Adele’s song Set Fire to the Rain, a song that i was addicted to, last year (wow, 2011 is already last year!!!)

July: 7iber

7iber is my home, I would always be in different places, but 7iber will always be with me. I guess the 7iber team is composed of very special people, which makes all the difference.

I continue to do accounting, which is still something that I enjoy tremendously. This year we started the hashtag debates, a forum that gets people together along with a couple of speakers to speak. I really enjoy it, and will try to become better at it.

In July, we went to a camp in ajloun along with around 25 people. It was so relaxing and inspiring. I loved it. I can’t say more than I love them… They are my true lovely friends.

August: Losing my grandmother

My grandmother passed away in August… it was too painful to write about losing her then, and it still is… I will only say one thing… she was an amazing amazing woman…an example of how powerful and strong women can be…

In her memory I would like to listen to the song amazing… in a parallel world, I think she would have appreciated it.

Amazing

September: World Bank and the IMF conference
This probably was the most intellectually stimulating exercise of the year. I was invited to the IMF annual conference. The conference was eye opening for me, I learnt a lot.

The world bank and IMF main objectives thus far were to encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network that promotes US commercial interests. Eventually leaders become trapped in debt that ensures their loyalty. This is reflected in control of UN votes, the installation of military basis, access to precious resources such as oil…etc. In our first meeting, Jeremy Mark, Deputy director at th IMF, said that when a country receives AID, it must surrender some of its sovereignty to the IMF.
In Jordan, they played a major role in removing subsidy on bread and oil. They tampered with the Social security laws and they were behind the constant increase in taxes. It was their way for securing their money will go back to them (this is described in very simplistic terms) in other countries their work led to destruction of rain Forests, pollution, disappearance of cultures, increased poverty rate around the world, environmental disasters to name a few.

This visit made me want to know more. I started reading the book “confessions of economic hit man” which is a truly good book.

On a different note, I truly enjoyed Dc, especially that my parents were with me. We walked a lot and bonded. I needed it after moving out a few months earlier.

I leave you with Linkin park’s what i’ve done

October: Zia, Jerusalem

Baby Zia was born this month, she is the first baby girl in our family… she looks like me well at least i think so. Looking at her, I knew I am forever in love! Zia is the 6th niece… the five before her are extremely naughty boys! But we love them all the same.

During October, I went to Jerusalem. It was a life long dream that was finally fulfilled this year… I think there is no place quite like Jerusalem… It was, is and forever will be in our hearts.

November: Celebrating Friendships

The highlight of November was the 10 day vacation… it came in a very needed time. I can’t explain how good I felt about staying home. We spent a couple of day at Al Ghor with some friends. And I realize that these simple pleasures are what give life its flavor. The person I would like to celebrate this year is Sarah, who had recently become a mother… It is very sweet to watch her interacting with her son. She is a lovely woman who manages to make me smile whenever i see her.

December: The great women of Ruwwad
Ruwwad, Ruwwad… I will not say anything here, I will simply dedicate this song to the beautiful young women of Ruwwad… they are all full of life and hope.

Paradise is a nice song for all the women who expect the world

I was informed that I was to meet with him on Sunday.  Every delegation was too meet with their own representative at the IMF, and since my delegation is made up of one person, I ended up meeting with him and his team alone. I was later joint by Nancy Fashho. A young lawyer from Amman who works with human rights. They all were very charming and impressive, and they generously accepted to take a photo with us.

It was an interesting meeting to say the least; it was definitely very informative and I did learn a couple of things, even though, I still think that economics is Martian!  I had the opportunity to introduce Ruwwad’s comprehensive model and talk about its achievement and its mandate.  I also had the chance to talk about 7iber and its role in giving the chance to people in expressing their opinions and feelings, especially in the Arab Spring.

This post will be very incoherent and probably everyone who is interested knows the information here, but, I still found it intriguing.  I will add some of what I learnt in snippets.  They are not distributed in any particular order, but only by the order of which I learnt them during the meeting.

Here we start

The role of IMF in Jordan is advisory, they do two checks in Jordan, a small one in May and a thorough one in December. When they come to Jordan they interact with the Minister of Finance,  the head of the Central bank and other ministers. They meet with donors, delegations and they definitely meet with the Department of Statistics. (They love the Department of Statistics!)

 

They find dealing with constant change of governments in Jordan to be challenging, because the agendas change from one minister to the other. They think that corruption is an issue, however, it is hard to uncover at their level, because their money goes into the central bank to sustain the currency and they keep a close eye on it.

 

They come to a county only when it is in crisis mode and reached a point where no one would lend it money, such as Greece a few months back, or Jordan in 89. However, whenever a country borrows money from the IMF, it surrenders some of its sovereignty to the bank. They place tough conditions on the country because physical collateral is deemed inappropriate, and sometimes these conditions do not take into consideration the effect on citizens. For example subsidizing bread in Jordan or taxes for example…  They claimed they have nothing to do with politics, except when it affects the economy.

Ok here is an interesting thought. Basically, the IMF does not believe in Food subsidies. Their studies believe that cheap fuel and food prices induce waste and overconsumption, it can lead to damaging the environment, inefficient investment choices and competitiveness problems.  However worse is that they encourage wasteful activities such as smuggling, black markets and corruption.  My first instint was when your house in made of glass, you don’t throw stones at people’s houses. Thank God, I never said this, because when I learnt that Energy consumption in the UAE is 50% more than in USA! It was staggering!

By the way, the constant increase in fuel prices since 2005 was part of one of these conditions. Fuel prices followed international prices by 2008. In order to mitigate any problems, the Jordanian government increased minimum wages, one-time bonus to government employees  and low income pensioners and increased allocations to the National Aid Fund.  It may seem that these conditions make sense, but people in Jordan suffered by these measures. No report in the world can show the suffering of  people in the winter, when parents watch their children while the imprint of cold scars them for life. I guess people in the IMF, who wear their elegant suites and sit in their fancy offices do not see this.

Anyway, this year and under social pressure, the government suspended the automatic fuel price adjustment and reduced taxes on gasoline, diesel and kerosene.

The unemployment rate in Jordan is quite high, particularly among young people and graduates. The outlook does not look bright as long as the GDP growth is very low. It is at 2.5 and is expected to   pick up modestly to 3% in 2012 as business confidence grows.  From their perspective, unemployment rate is high in the region is general because of high labor force growth, skill mismatches, labor market rigidities, large public sector and high reservation wages. The problem is particularly high among females.

The labor force participation rate  is much lower than in any other region in the world! It is below 50%, while in East Asis for example it is at 70%.

Fiscal and external sustainability in 2012 and beyond in Jordan will remain reliant on external grant support.- I guess we still need  support, especially that some of our main income generating pillars such as Tourism has suffered this year with the Arab Spring

 

They laughed when we asked about the GCC . They said that it will largely depend on the arrangement we will go, but the devil is in the details. They though it will be a long process, but hopeully will bring prosperity to Jordan.

I also asked him, how the average citizen can interact with them, especially that it seems that their policy making is very far from any average system around the world. He answered that when they will come to Jordan in December, they would like to interact with youth groups, if anyone is interested.

We started the day by listening to Jeremy Mark, who is the IMF Director’s deputy, jetlag-gedly explaining how things work at the IMF. I realized how ignorant I am in economy related issues. It was a grade above Martian for me. I could pick up a few things though, I would highlight what I found most interesting throughout the post.

I learnt : The IMF works as a shareholding bank, a simpler form of modern bank. Wealthier nations have more influence because they have more contribution, so the USA is the most influential country, it has 18% of the votes, next in line comes Germany and Japan and they hold 5% and 6% of the votes.

Of course, we had to discuss Dominique Strauss-Khan scandal. For those who don’t know it, he was picked out in a police lineup by the maid who says the Frenchman attacked her in a swank New York City hotel, a few weeks ago. This scandal had very negative influence on the image of the IMF.

I learnt: 25% of the IMF work goes into technically supporting the different members’ government. This means helping them in setting their own economic policies.

I learnt: The IMF has imposed unbearable conditions on countries that needed lending as collateral . These conditions were insensitive to local communities, poverty levels, social impact, basically, did not necessarily have the countries’ best interest in mind. That is why it is so unpopular.

In an answer to the importance of participative democracy when deciding the projects that should be implemented in any country, Jeremy explained that when a county becomes a member in the IMF, it has to surrender some of its sovereignty to the IMF in return of the money. The problem was that in the eighties and nineties, it was bureaucrats in grey suites, sitting in their fancy offices in Washington who made the decisions on behalf of member countries, even though they were not the most experts in those particular countries. They never took into account the impact of their decisions on the local societies. IMF claims that they have leant… did they really?

Educated citizenry is the essence of everything. Even though the policies that get discussed and created in Washington are very far from the streets and average citizens anywhere in the  world, they have real impact on what people would consume as food in developed countries for example. So, we should be aware of what policies get created there.

I will leave the post here for the time being, and come back to update it later. It has been  great to hear the other side of the story.