Wadi Rum, Jordan

On Thursday, January 24 we arrived at Wadi Rum, Jordan after staying in Aqaba, Jordan for one night. What we had planned in Wadi Rum was a two night Jordanian Bedouin camp stay which included a three hour camel ride into the Wadi Rum desert. Once we arrived at the Bedouin camp we were able to choose our roommates, each tent was a double with the exception of one triple. My roommate was Michelle Mahia, who is a very good friend of mine. The Bedouin tents were not what I expected. When you are told you will stay in a Bedouin camp you expect to “rough it” (at least that was my initial thought) but these tents had indoor plumbing (toilet, shower, sink), indoor electricity which I believe is powered through solar power, beds, and even carpet inside. We were all so amazed at how incredible the tents were. After we settled down in our tents everyone went out to explore what surrounded us. Most people went to climb this huge rock that was behind the camp which gave you an amazing view of the area, while others walked into the desert to explore what else was out in the area.

The nights in the Bedouin camp were cold but not the coldest we’ve experienced. You definitely had to wear some extra layers going to bed. I wore a hat, gloves and two pairs of socks to bed apart from my usual sleeping attire. The next day, Friday, right after breakfast we had our camels waiting for us in front of the Bedouin camp. Most of the camels were sitting and ready for us.

– Brook Vazquez

Palestinian home stays:

Traveling constantly from place to place this past month has given me the opportunity to talk with lots of people but not truly get to know them on a deeper level past, “My name is Susanna and I come from the United States.” But the moment that Janaya and I stepped through our host family’s door, I knew that was not going to be the case with them. As soon as our host mom saw us she stated that she had three rules: we were to treat her house as our home; we were not allowed to be shy; and we were to speak in Arabic. She should have added a fourth rule that seems to be an unspoken one, which is to eat until you burst and then eat some more.

Food is their life, truly. Making and eating food is what they pour their energy into since there is little else to do for fun, and it is one of the few pleasures that is relatively unaffected by all of the constant changes negatively impacting their lives. They have good reason for the pride in their cooking and baking as each meal is a delicious cultural experience and history lesson. They talk about their food as old friends, calling it a particular name and then reminiscing when it would be made for different holidays. I had high expectations for food coming into this trip and I have not been disappointed whatsoever!

Home life is a constant reminder of how families are all together in spirit no matter how scattered they are around the world. Our host family receives calls hourly some nights from daughters, sons-in-law, aunts, and brothers from America and Cyprus. They share their daily life with their extended family, from showing each other what they are eating, to what they are wearing for an infant baptism to the celebrations of an engagement party. It is heart wrenching to hear my host mom talk about the good old days before her four siblings, daughter, and greater extended family moved away from Beit Sahour to live abroad. Some of them she hasn’t seen for more than six years and she doesn’t have a strong possibility of seeing them in the future.

And yet despite so much of the hopelessness that surrounds our host family, they continue to trust God and live life as normally as possible. They bolt from their seats the moment they hear their grand babies voices, they plan church retreats for the youth group to Greek Orthodox monasteries, and they moan over their school students failing theology tests which I think I would also struggle with knowing how my host mom is as a teacher. My host dad believes that I will forget about them when I go back home to the States, but that would be almost impossible as this place has become like a second home to me.

-Susanna Sewall