"Welcome to Jordan” – after 4 months
here in Amman I’m still being greeted in the streets, in the caps and when
meeting new people. Jordan is an uncharted country to many people, kind of a
secret place with hidden treasures. Also hidden treasures in the way, that is
seems to be a motto in this country; “That what ever we do not see- do not
exist.” This means that the streets are being kept tidy, but behind every wall
is a great amount of trash.
Anyways, the
Jordanian climate responsibility is taking steps forward– but baby-steps.
Having brought old habits from Denmark like assorting trash, conserving water
and recycling is something that has turned from a simple to an uphill action in
Amman. But still we try. Here is one example:
My
apartment, which I share with two other interns at the MS ActionAid regional
MENA office, is located in an upper-class neighbourhood and we tend to shop for
groceries in a nearby mall. Ever since we arrived, we have had this kind of
tug-a-war with the mall-boys over use of plastic bags. They have an extreme use
of bags. If you buy just one pomegranate – it gets a bag, one chilli – a bag, a
ginger – a bag. And the bags go in to other bags when the service boy packs all
the groceries. So now after being consistent about asking them to put the price
sticker directly on the pomegranate and mix the vegetables with the shampoo and
rice when packing, we have become more than just the
pale-weird-speaking-westerns-girls. We are now the pale-weird-girls-that-re-pack-their-own-bags.
And I feel we are closer to an end of the war, since last time I bought a
pomegranate, the vegi-guy put the sticker directly on the pomegranate without
me insisting.
Who said
baby-steps… ;)