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.

 Part of this post part is of a reseearch that I published in venture Magazine in July 2007 (I think). The article is called out of Sync. I have chosen parts of it for today’s post.This article was heavely edited… so don’t be surprisedif it looks professional!

            The question of labour rights is something that has been constantly on my mind lately. Mostly because I have recently joint the labour force in Jordan… well obviously I am not in the blue collar sector. I have a highly respectable position at a highly respectable sector. However being one of  millions of people who earn their living by doing actual work,  makes me wonder what the situation is in the blue collar sector if this is how it is in the white collar sector.

           I have several thoughts that I would like to share in the coming few months,  but today I would like to start at a very safe place: the culture of shame.

           I am one of those who don’t believe in the culture of shame. I add my voice to those who claim that this is an expression invented by the government to cover their failure to solve concrete problems, such as unemployment, low wages and human rights violations; and what better exit  than blame the people?

Picture taken from my window

Decoding the “Culture of Shame”

           In a study conducted by the Ministry of Labour a few years, the disconnect between available Jordanian jobseekers and vacant jobs is addressed partly as a logistical challenge, and partly an entrenched social reality.

            “This mismatch comes from the geographical distance between job opportunities and job seekers,” said Ghada Salem, (She was an economic researcher at the Ministry of Labour, as well as a Procurement Officer at the World Bank when this article was originally wrote). The research also shows that the general impression is that the productivity of Jordanians is lower than the productivity of foreign workers. Not only that, but that Jordanians have higher expectations from job opportunities in terms of benefits and positions. “Sometimes even if there are opportunities, it is difficult to find Jordanians who are willing to take up these jobs, partly because of their expectations and partly because of the culture,” said Salem.

           In one of the projects that I managed a few years ago; I was faced with a situation that almost  made me fall in the trap of believing in the culture of shame. The project was  a 24-month experimental initiative aiming to link unemployed women with work opportunities through helping them understand their own skills using the portfolio of competences model.  

            The project hasn’t been simple. Local training coordinator Mrs. Ibdah from Wadi Al Rayan in Northern Ghor told Venture, “These women do not want to work. Don’t waste your breath on them.”

           The program had administered an eight week skills training to 30 women for jobs in local textile factories in Irbid, and I couldn’t understand why the women declined jobs after completing training. “They all were very excited about the possibility of steady income less than a week ago,” Ibdah  said. “Now that we have found them opportunities in the textile industry, most of them used their male kin as an excuse for not working in the factories.”

            The negative perception of working in factories is not uncommon; as research conducted by the Economic Research Unit at the Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) of the University of Jordan showed that Jordanians refuse to work at a number of jobs.  69 percent of the unemployed in Jordan refuse to work as agricultural workers, 82 percent refuse to work in construction, 79 percent as building guards, 71 percent as messengers for companies and 75 percent would not work as waiters.

           Whilst these attitudes may seem arbitrary, the research shows that a clear majority of the unemployed males would accept these jobs (with the exception of cleaning) at a salary of 200JD per month. The study suggests that the primary aversion of these jobs is not the commonly referenced Jordanian “culture of shame,” but the meagre financial returns associated with these sectors.

           This is one important explanation for the challenges presented by the women of Wadi Al Rayan. After internal research, participants admitted that some of their reluctance to work is related to transportation fees that they have to bear in order to travel to their work places in Irbid. “I will take home about 100 JDs after all the deductions, the bus from al Wadi to Irbid costs around 120 Piasters everyday. This leaves me with about 70 JD at the end of the month,” said Mrs. Khateeb, one of the target women. “It is just not worth it.”

Insecurity Kills the Economy

          Low wages alone don’t tell the whole story. Poor benefits, a perceived lack of stability and difficult working conditions also drive a wedge between Jordanians and growth industry jobs. Many unemployed simply don’t have faith in the private sector’s ability to provide for them and their families.

            Construction is such an example. Despite the fact that 23.8 percent of the labour force is in construction, Jordanian participation has declined almost 50 percent between 1987 and 2003, due to unattractive salaries and working conditions. Today, the vast majority of those currently working in this sector are non-Jordanians.

           According to a study by the European Training Foundation, the overwhelming majority of business enterprises in Jordan are small: 94 percent have four or fewer workers. And few small companies can match the benefits of being employed in the public sector. “I can be sacked any time in the private sector, but in the public sector, I have both the stability and the benefits,” said Mahmoud Abdallah, an unemployed young man from Irbid.

            Insecurity is one of the most prominent reasons cited by the Wadi Al Rayan target women. In order to take a job in the Irbid factories, the women needed to surrender a significant portion of their guaranteed National Aid income. In the end, this proved unattractive.

             Dr. Ahmad Kafawen (was the general manager of the National Aid Fund at the time) explained that a household of five or more receives a monthly allowance JD156.  If the head of the family starts working, this allowance will be decreased by the amount of the monthly salary. This means that if a woman heads a family, she will actually take home less money—after transportation costs—than if she stayed at home. Furthermore, there is a clear government policy that if a woman refuses a job opportunity, she would lose her national aid anyway. The result is that most women do not attempt to look for jobs. 

             Perhaps this helps explain the appeal of the public sector and the Armed Forces. The jobs are considered very stable, and the benefits offered are attractive; including social security, retirement plans and health insurance, for both the worker’s nuclear family and parents.

               “Young men work at the factories temporarily, they stay around till they get a job in the public sector, and they take them, even if the payment is less,” said Mohamed Injadat, General Manager of a textile factory in one of the QIZs in Al-Ghor. “They feel that jobs at the public sector are more secure.”

 Domestic Disturbance

              The vast majority of domestic helpers in Jordan are non-Jordanians. According to a new report by the Ministry of Labour’s information and studies department, the number of legal domestic helpers in the country is just over 38,000, of which some 18,000 are Indonesians, 11,000 from Philippines, 8,000 Sri Lankans and 350 Egyptians. Jordanians avoid this growth sector for many reasons, but most prominent are deep-seated concerns about working conditions. (I wonder how relevant is the resistance from several countries, such as India, SriLanka, Philppines… etc to send domestoc workers to Jordan related to the working conditions? I think, this was coming eventually)

             As current Jordanian labour law excludes domestic workers, plentiful circumstantial evidence suggests that they are rife for mistreatment. Article Three of the National Labour Law states that “servants who are working for houses, their gardens, their cooks…and those of similar capacity,” are excluded, explains Mr. Amjad Wishah, Director of Migrant Workers Directorate. 

            He says the exemption aims to preserve the private nature of the home: “It is difficult to send inspectors to supervise the labour in private houses. However, we are aware of the problems that rise from the current situation; we are working on a mechanism to include them in the law while respecting the home’s privacy.”

            The exemption has understandable impacts on Jordanians’ willingness to be domestic workers, says Assem Rababa’a, Head of Aballah, a human rights organization advocateing for Arab rights in Israel. “The nature of work, which requires women to sleep at the employer’s house, long hours, low financial returns and the fear of abuse are all reasons why Jordanians don’t allow their daughters to work in this sector.”

             Faced with low salaries, the home governments of domestic workers in Jordan are stepping in. The Philippines Ministry of Labour has increased the pay scale of domestic workers to $400 a month effective March 2007. Louisa Reyes, a Welfare Officer at the Embassy of Philippines in Amman, pointed out that when the salaries were first increased, the government hoped that families who could afford a larger salary would be more educated, thus decreasing the likelihood of abuse of Filipina workers. 

           Physical, psychological and verbal abuse is alarmingly common, according to Reyes. “Of the complaints we get [from domestic workers], 40 to 50 percent …are about physical abuse. And another 10 to 15 percent are about sexual abuse.”

                 To investigate the life of a foreign domestic worker is to delve into unpleasant stories. The Embassy hears complaints that live-in domestic workers are rarely allowed to leave the house, visit their friends or go for a walk. It’s not unheard of in Jordan that they are even locked up in empty apartments. In some cases, families (and/or employment agencies) go as far as confiscating the domestic worker’s passport, further hindering their ability to defend themselves.

Clever Can Go a Long Way

           The labour crisis in Jordan is forcing organizations to find innovative solutions. One example comes from the NGO community. In response to the difficulties presented by the Labour law exemption, one project is training Jordanian women to be domestic workers, but avoiding private homes altogether. Izdihar, funded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, focuses on professional office cleaning. By avoiding domestic settings, the project faces the “culture of shame” that hinders the free movement of women from conservative areas and implying disrespect for manual and blue-collar work.

              Izdihar attracts unskilled women, trains them for 4 months and then certifies them. “We are starting training course number twelve,” said Nawal Khalil, the Project Coordinator. “85 percent of our trainees find jobs, mostly in hospitals and hotels, however families still do not allow their daughters to work in houses,” she said. Once these women were given favourable wages, social security and health insurance, resistance from their families faded.

              The Greater Amman Municipality found an ingenious solution to workers’ reluctance to work in the sanitary sector. Mr. Ali al-Askar, Deputy Manager for the District Affairs at the Municipality pointed out that the Municipality needed new strategies to encourage Jordanians to work in the sector. First, the city changed the job title for sanitation workers, from Cleaning Officer to National Officer. By locating employees’ regular routes neighbourhoods other than their own removed much of the stigma of their work. These changes, coupled with a small increase in salaries and monthly productivity awards dealt with a major taboo. 

            Mr. al-Askar said that the Municipality does not have exact figures, but he says the shortage in the number of sanitation workers has eased.

            GAM’s successes don’t discount the notion that big initiatives may be required in other sectors. With efficient implementation, the impact of the Ministry of Labor’s new plan to recruit 30,000 unskilled workers—via the Army—for training in the construction sector could make waves throughout the industry. The plan calls for trainees to receive all the benefits afforded to military personnel during the project’s duration.

              This will provide Jordanian unemployed youth with the sense of security they search for, when they are seeking employment, and in the long term, they will have more benefits if they stayed with the armed forces,” said Shawkat Ababneh, the Deputy Manager for the National Training and Employment Center.

Source:  Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) of the University of Jordan

I decided to write about this now, because after leaving a comment on Smokes Blow’s blog, I had received many emails from different people around the world wanting to adopt a child and not knowing what the process was… I will put everything that I know here… and hopefully it will be useful to these people who want to adopt a child. Special thank to Naser for a great initiative.

As an orphan, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) paid special attention to orphans. He himself adopted a child and raised him as if he were his own son.

However things are not simple. In the Islamic Law, there are specific rules about the guardianship of an orphan. Mainly,  the child has always to know who his biological family is and he/she can’t change their last name to match that of the adoptive family. If the biological parents are not known, then the child has to know that he is adopted.

He/she inherits from his/her biological parents, and can inherit up to one third from his/her adoptive parents (in a will). Also if the child was rich or has inherited anything from his/her biological parents, his adoptive parents can’t use that money. There are many Ayas in the Qura’an that insist on protecting the orphans’ rights and property. (this site provides more details)

“…Nor has He made your adopted sons your (biological) sons. Such is (only) your (manner of) speech by your mouths. But Allah tells (you) the Truth, and He shows the (right) Way. Call them by (the names of) their fathers; that is juster in the sight of Allah. But if you know not their father’s (names, call them) your brothers in faith, or your trustees. But there is no blame on you if you make a mistake therein. (What counts is) the intention of your hearts. And Allah is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.”(Qur’an 33:4-5)

I need to explain, if these rules are respected, and the child was treated with love and respect, guardianship or kafala of an orphan child is something that is seen on top of the good deeds that any Muslim can do in his/her lifetime… it is a guaranteed way to go to heaven.

I will not go into explaining the rationale behind this, as it makes perfect sense to me… in Spain, a story made the news a few months ago about an adopted child who doscovered that his wife was his biological sister… but they did not know before because they were both adopted… and they only found out later when one of their children needed medical care and they both had to go through thorough medical testing… The case sparked harsh debate about the ethics involved in this case… everyone had an opinion…

In Jordan, there are laws that govern adopting a child. Jordanian law does not allow for full adoptions of Jordanian children. However, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) may grant guardianship of children to people who are not the child’s biological parents. However under specific rules.

•  To start with, the parents must be Muslims. Because every child is deemed Muslim if his parents are not known.
•  The husband must be between 35 and 55 years of age and the wife must be between 30 and 50 years of age. And they MUST be married. Single parents can’t adopt children.
•  Parents must be medically certified as infertile. They may have up to 2 children, including adopted. If they have one child then, the adopted child must be of the same sex. The reason is that in the Islamic Sharia law, there is no blood bond between them and so they are muhram.

Now to go back to the origin of the this whole research… what are the rules in Gaza?

Gazans feel very sensitive about sending war children outside Gaza, they have a sense of attachment to the land and the place. They feel that these children have already paid a lot for Gaza and it is not right to uproot them. They are home and should be brought up at home.

Also these childrem usually have relatives, sometimes too poor to raise them, but they are still loved. Relatives feel that they have btrayed the children’s parents if they put them for adoption.

However, there is only one category of children, on which the rules don’t apply. Children of incest, rape, outside wedlock… abandoned children… the problem is that no one wants to adopt them. With this category there is a room to listen, but someone needs to know someone inside.

There is a home for abandoned children in Gaza… only one place, in which all these children go. If someone got to them, then maybe… maybe they can adopt a child.

I read AlGhad’s scathing article a few week ago on online journalism, and it surprises me that it would stoop to the level of pulling that prank on its readers after writing that article. Worse yet is the excuse it used “ Alghad  wanted to bring joy to people’s lives”… yeeeeeeeey!

I thought about why the whole thing rubbed me the wrong way and among other reasons I name the following:

1-      How do we know that what AlGhad writes from this point on is true… what guarantees do we have that it is not pulling a prank on us? I feel that AlGhad has put its credibility in a bad spot.

2-      April’s first tradition day has nothing to do with our culture.  I am sick of people importing things from the west without critically examining them. Especially at this level.

3-      Stories like this create panic, especially to the majority of people who don’t even know what April fool’s day is. I am wondering who was al Ghad thinking of when pulling this prank… West Ammanis?

4-      I wonder when fabricating news and toying with people’s emotions became part of responsible journalism. Regardless of how many major news agencies around the world tried it before. I bet that if something like this happened in a country that has better journalism, people would have sued the newspaper.

5-      Where is the line that separates yellow media from responsible media… for me this is sensationalism…

 I asked a few people about the article and here are the responses

 Ghada, 39, Project manager

“It must be some meteoroid, and people mistook them for UFOs”

Arrej, 19, student

“It is impossible, Alghad must be pulling a joke”

Mariam, 59, house wife

“look for them and you will realize that it is some spying tools but the Israelis

Mohammed, 27, IT

“It is the government trying to raise something’s price, so they pull that prank to sidetrack us”

 Rami, 14

“It is exciting, I want to drive there and take pictures there.”

I conclude by saying: I am disappointed!

Photo courtesy: Jordanians united against bad internet services

I would like to start by expressing how it truly does not surprise me that many people complain about Orange’s services… but seriously, you would not know how bad the service is, until you have been subjected to their customer services yourself.

When the government gave Orange the license in 1999 or 2000, the aim was to build a new, highly advanced network to serve Jordan. Jordanians were skeptic, we still did not know what that really meant, but now a decade later, we know better, and we wonder… what is the value of advanced if it can’t sustain a decent basic level?

My internet was mediocre last week. However, this was not my problem. My problem was that some setup changed on my computer, and i could not connect to the Internet.  I called to seek the advice of the experts…

Ohh how I wish I did not call!

I called at 7:45 AM.  A technician answered the phone, he asked me to call back in fifteen minutes because they needed to restart some server in order to sort out my problem. He promised that he will help me then.  I called as requested and asked about him. I was told that his shift ended and he left home!  I think he was just not in the mood to bother with customers’ problems. 

 The person who answered the phone next, had no clue what I was talking about… she asked a few questions, and finally said that she did not know and will record the complaint, and that they will get back to me within 72 hours. 

I did not trust her and therefore called again hoping for a different operator. The third one was even worse; she asked a few questions and said that they have a service where they send someone for ten JDs… I was not impressed.  Looks like orange has figured out a way to make money in solving problems that result from their incompetence.

I called a fourth time, this one was a bit better, she asked a few questions,  walked me through the process, but then she got nervous and told me her supervisor was making gestures because she took too long and apologized mid way…

So the result was that I started with a computer problem and a mediocre Internet service, but ended up with  the computer problem, but no internet at all.  

I got my internet back a couple of days later, and managed to solve my problem alone, without the expertise of Orange. 

Now, apparently many people have been facing problems with Orange. I  wonder why does  the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission refrain from bearing the responsibility of holding Orange accountable for the bad service they provide in Jordan?  This is the least they can do towards the tax payers, who pay their taxes when they can barely make it to the end of the month,  so that entities like TRC do what they are supposed to do.

I thought I have a problem, and blamed my diet, then I blamed my shampoo… but then I realized that a lot of people suffer from the same problem, and eventually realized that almost everyone around me suffers the same problem.

A friend mentioned how her hair falls when in Jordan, but when in London, it is relatively healthier. I wonder if this problem is connected to the location? Could this be a Jordanian problem?

Truthfully, I have no idea why we are suffering of hair loss in Jordan. And since I am still not ready to investigate it, I decided to ask several people about their perceptions on the subject.

Some answers truly surprised me… Maybe there is a need to actually look deeper into the subject?

Why are we losing our hair?

Enas, 30 years old, project manager:

 “It is the fall of course! In the summer, I did not face this problem…Look at nature around you, trees lose their leaves, animals shed their skin, and we lose some of our hair.”

Ahmad, 24, marketing officer:

 “It is the effect of all the weapons that have been used in Iraq and Palestine since 1990. Hair loss is only a symptom of all the changes that have been happening in our bodies for the last two decades. Did you know that cancer rate is very high in Jordan? It is because we have been exposed to different doses of nuclear radiations throughout these years”

Sahar, 47, Librarian

“Ahh you hit a nerve!  Things go way beyond hair loss…. there is sicknesses, infertility…

This is the result of food and products we export from the west.  They have a plan to reduce our numbers, because they see us as underdeveloped. A friend of mine is a lab technician. She told me that today, the number of men who suffer from infertility is much higher than before. Ten years ago,  from every ten men, two or three men suffered of infertility, today the number has increased to eight or nine.”

Samira 63, Retired

“it is gel, mousse,  creams…all the disgusting things young people use on their hair!”

Mona, 19, student

“For girls my age, it is malnutrition and unhealthy diets. We are all so conscious of our weights that we don’t eat properly… so I assume an imbalanced diet that lacks certain vitamins or minerals is often the cause of hair loss.”

Rami, 35, Engineer

الولاد، المرا و طلباتها ، الشغل… مع هدا  stressكتر خير الله انه لسا في كم شعرة

Grisly 27, writer

“Over treatment of water in Jordan. After water crisis in the nineties, they started over treating water. Calcium (also known as lime) is injected into water systems or be used as part of the water treatment/delivery process. When it attaches to hair, it creates an invisible limestone wall on skull. It looks like Dandruff, but it is not reallydandruff

Saad 14, student

“Climate  change for sure!”

Salam, 51, House wife

“Years of chemical treatment, colouring, heat and styling.  Think about it like this, we start fussing about hair colour in our thirties maybe?… for me this is about 20 years of harsh chemicals… I am sure it has not been healthy for my hair… but it is still better than the alternative”

 

 First day of Ramadan passed safely. It was extremely hot yesterday, but I did not leave the house all morning.  Therefore, did not get the chance to deal with the heat and the traffic… apparently Amman was jammed yesterday. A friend explained that she stayed from 1:30 till 2:15 standing still in the traffic jam in the new U-turn in Shmeisani. She realized that her petrol tank was almost empty, and therefore had to make a decision to cook slowly in the heat by turning off the car, thus the air conditioning, so that she does not get stuck there in the middle of that traffic if her gas runs out.  By the time I talked to her, she was almost in tears.

My experience was much nicer; I left the house at around 3:30… The roads had cleared by then… as a matter of fact, it was pleasant for me to drive around and see how people go about their Ramadan.

Yesterday Muslim families gathered together around breakfast tables for the first day of Ramdan. The tradition is to cook something green or white. (mloukhiya, waraq dawali, mansaf, shakriya …)… and while some families managed to cook several dishes, others had to do with the bare minimum since prices started increasing slowly two week ago to hit their peak yesterday.

Commodity prices increased by 20%-25% in Jordan this year, while this is mainly due to global surge in the prices of food and other commodities, citizens blame poor market control. As a matter of fact the high prices of fruits, especially dry fruits, and other popular Iftar items in Jordan have left this year’s Ramadan an expensive affair to the chagrin of 90% of Jordanians, whose monthly income does not exceed 200 dinars.

On this note, Ramadan Mubarak for everyone.

If someone wants to see all that un-cracked beauty, I should advise them to hurry south, and visit the area across the street from Movenpick Hotel without delay.

Now if you are expecting a romantic description of the beauty of the wadi, please go back to the first paragraph… because that was as far as my romantic side could take me… and please don’t read the rest of this post… since from this point on it will turn gruesome.

After I went back home from my trip, the combination of the hot weather, the cold water (as when we started I used to avoid getting my feet wet. By the time the trip ended I was walking in the stream, because it was cooler and easier) and the lobster that I had for lunch the day before was not kind on my stomach! I was gripped with cold and heat waves that kept alternating till today (3 days later)… and the pain in my stomach… Lord! How can something be this painful? This must be the promised hell!

At 2:00 AM in morning I was driven out of my bed by instinct to the bathroom, I am not sure how I found myself on the floor hugging the toilet and retching my heart out… and while I was doing this, my mind was focused on two things… I had not vomited since third grade, and what a fascinating process vomiting is!

I looked it up using my best friend the lovely Wikipedia… and now the only thought I have in my head is Subhan Allah! We are such complicated creatures……Even though we are mentally hurricanous (I just invented this word), when it comes to physiology… We are so perfect and we function so precisely…it is not even imaginable

Here is the process… enjoy… and my advice is don’t eat while reading this I specifically liked how the body tries to protect the teeth from all the acids… cool, eh?

I leave you with beautiful pictures taken by Ramsey  a few months ago of this beautiful place…

yup this is in Jordan

That brought to my mind a question that F. asked me once to make a point mind you, if you want to buy a shirt and you have two choices one made in France and one made in Tunis for the same price, which one will you buy? The question kept me puzzled because I really could not give an answer without being dishonest to him or to myself.  It also brought to my mind my cousin N. who came back to Jordan after he earned an MBA with this passion to buy local products such as CJC clothing and carpets made by Bedouins… he argues that the shirts are not exactly Hugo Boss but this is the way we build the economy in our nation! He asked me to look at the tag of any piece of clothing I buy anywhere in the west to see where it is made and my shock was when I started doing this that these items are made everywhere but the west! Including in JORDAN! That was a T-shirt I bought in Spain few years ago!

I took my conversation to Y. who is an Industrial Engineer. He told me there is one problem. In Saudi and Egypt the only good products are those that follow strict western standards, because unfortunately in other cases, the industries don’t bother to follow standards. They might start on the right track, but once people start spending money, the quality goes immediately down because they start cutting corners!  Is it because we don’t care about consumers? Is it corruption? Is it lack of professionalism? Or is it a desire to make quick money? Just one look at the restaurants in Amman… there is a reason why only some survive while the others keep changing.

With our self esteem, our brand sensitivity and awareness and with all this booming economy in Jordan, who needs to buy local brands??  The sad truth is that our brands stand NO chance in this fierce global competition. One of my uncles’ wives in Spain worked in Zarah factories for a while… the stories she used to bring about the competence of the working women in the factories was a mixture of horror and amusement… do we even imagine and those who make Zarah’s clothing are even remotely more efficient or more competent than our own women?!
Anyway…….It made me wonder if we could ever learn to trust our own initiatives and maybe the magic word to solve our own problem is indeed… self esteem!