‘Few hours in Amman’ by Hamze Awawde, Palestine

How amazing that I crossed the three security checks (first the Palestinian one, then the Israeli, Jordanian the third) in 4 hours only. I couldn’t believe that in none of them nobody questioned my purpose to travel to Jordan. Not all days are bad days in our Palestinian reality.

The first thing I noticed, upon my arrival, was that our dialect in West Bank is really different than the Jordanian one. The words I use when I speak are quite different than theirs. Probably they have a more correct Arabic. Like: Mazgan is the Hebrew word for air conditioner and this is the word we got used to saying in West Bank.

Amman is a big city, a city that you can see different people and many attractions. I saw Arabs from the Gulf States and from Yemen, but who I wished to meet were the Syrians! That wasn’t really an impossible dream. Since the civil war broke out thousands of Syrians have fled to Jordan, I just didn’t have a clue how to reach them. I truly didn’t know what help I could offer to them during my less than a day stay in Amman.

Here I am, on a fantasy café near the Jordanian University. I’ve just ordered my double espresso. I tried to drink this little espresso they gave me as slow as possible to get the chance for longer time using the café’s internet service. I needed to reply to my emails and have the pleasure to text my beloved friends. A 9 year old girl came into the café, trying to sell children books. The café man ordered her to leave. It seemed that she was used to people rejecting her so she ignored him as if this person said nothing to her. She wondered around, asking people to buy her books. I told her that I don’t need children books and she should be at home taking care of her studies or having fun reading those books.

She was one of the cutest children I had ever seen. She was dressed nicely and elegantly, she didn’t seem to be poor. I asked her why she was doing that and if she was going to school. Once she started talking I felt so happy! She was a Syrian refugee. She was doing it to help her family pay the expensive rent. I gave her some money and told her that she should find a way to take care of her school studies at least. She said that she always takes care of her studies and left the café immediately. I asked myself what if somebody was taking advantage of her and the money goes to a greedy person, who doesn’t care what kind of future this girl is going to have? Such things happen, right? But how could I know if I really helped her or on contrary invested some money in a criminal project of abusing children? I didn’t want to feel guilty but I really did. I should have bought her a cake and make sure she eats it at least.

I want to accept these smart politicians around the world who claim that their free countries can’t do anything to stop the war in Syria. I really want to believe them. Should they help Syrians without gaining any interests for their countries!  Unfortunately our world is driven by interests. But I can’t believe that in the 21st century the civil society can’t work independently to make our world a better place to live in.

Hamze Awawde,

YaLa Young Leaders