The last few weeks were filled with events and accidents that forced me to write such a post especially after a very weird meeting I had with someone who drove me nuts yesterday.

On the 27th of November, it was 10:00pm when passengers were stepping out of the bus at Cairo International Airport to get into Royal Jordanian flight to Amman. I was one of those passengers and I wasn’t shocked at all when someone stopped me in front of the plane’s door for security check, that was the first time ever but it didn’t need a justification; 15 min earlier I passed, with a bag that was full of electronics, through the x-ray machine at the gate for 5 EGP that I have been asked to give as tip to the one who’s supposed to make sure the flight is safe and secured. A Jordanian woman next to me was totally frustrated and wanted a proper justification on why they’re checking our luggage at the plane’s door, she considered it a way of showing off. Usually I don’t interfere in such situations because it’s none of my business.

Friday, the 16th of December, a delayed flight to Beirut from Amman and finally a call for boarding; I stood in the queue for the security check at the gate and heard a Lebanese priest complaining to a Jordanian journalist because he didn’t find it suitable for him to be asked by the security men to take off his shoes and he knows very well that his “Ecco” shoes has some sort of metal, this actually happened again when he reached the next security check in front of me. I think everyone is familiar with such a procedure nowadays and it never annoyed me as long as it’s for security purposes but the priest was offended because he was wearing his vestments, I was wondering what would be his reaction if the security men allowed a muslim clerk with a beard to pass without taking off his shoes. That Jordanian journalist started to apologize to the priest on behalf of the security men and said: “It’s ok, we know they’re rude and lack the basic communication skills in addition to their frown”. I bet you, both of them would take off their underwear if the American security forces asked them to do so when they fly to USA.

Yesterday, a meeting with a girl who claimed being a proactive citizen and wants to help youth overcome their issues and decided that she doesn’t want to work with one of Nakhweh’s partners because they are corrupted and racist based on an article she read ages ago.

From the above I reached a conclusion, Jordanians love showing off, security men lack basic communication skills, Jordanians are well-known with their frown and one of the most respectful organizations in Jordan is corrupted and racist. Seriously people? how do you give yourself the right to label those who are serving us? Who on earth told you that stereotyping, rumors and labeling are hobbies to adopt? Can’t we find something of more value to do?

If you can’t find a hobby, I’m giving you some suggestions and I’m not going to say swim and play chess, I will make it different:

1. Positivity: it’s a very nice hobby and helps you to overcome your day-to-day problems in a very simple way without taking them to another level. Always look at the full half of the glass and take it from there and see how your life will become easier and smoother.
2. Curiosity (in a good way): if you see, read or hear something for the first time from someone, try to ask around to double check on the information you got. Google helps you a lot, communicate before you believe because we’re living in a virtual space where information flow from everywhere and we can’t verify what’s right and what’s wrong unless we make some effort.
3. Pride: this is another hobby that makes you proud of your country, I don’t think Lebanese would do the same if it was the other way around between the priest and the journalist. You have to cover up for your citizens, and don’t stab anyone in the back.

During my visit to Egypt two weeks ago to attend the regional panel of Ashoka, many things happened and encouraged me to write this post. I used to get one question from everyone in Cairo, “how’s the situation in Jordan?” sometimes it’s being asked differently as in “how’s the revolution in Jordan?” definitely such questions didn’t surprise me; the norm in Arabia now is to have a revolution, otherwise we’re behind. My default answer was “No Jordan is totally different”. Usually I’m not a fan of politics and I don’t really understand that dilemma and I didn’t actually want to get into an endless conversation to explain why Jordan is different.

“I’m a candidate for the upcoming elections because it will help me to meet the minister”, an Egyptian friend said in front of me, “Do you have to be in the parliament to be able to meet a minister?”, I asked, “Yes, it’s not that easy”, he answered. I’m very thankful for such a conversation which made it easier for me to answer their questions of “Why Jordan is different?”.

Did you see the tweet of my friend @GhadaSaba last Friday? Or the comment of @QueenRania on that tweet? I’ll get back to this but let me share with you a story first, a story that came back to my mind when the Ashoka panelist from the United Kingdom asked me: “how did you build your contacts?”

by @GhadaSaba

Back in 2006, I was an ambitious computer science student from Princess Sumaya University for Technology (I’m still ambitious but got over the computer science phase), I heard something about the award ceremony of Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania. I was already fed up of the educational system and trying to figure out my options as a proactive citizen, thus, I wrote a small proposal on a paper, put it in an envelope and stood right behind the girl who’s giving the flowers to the Queen so I can give her the envelope directly. 2 weeks later, the office of Her Majesty contacts me and I took it from there. I thought: “if it was that easy to reach the Queen why would it be a problem to reach anybody else?”. Please take into consideration that I’m not the son of an ex-prime minister, a famous business man or a millionaire. I was born in Kuwait as a Jordanian from Palestinian origins and lived a life with a lot of downs and some ups, nothing was special about me or any member of my family except that I’m very stubborn by nature and my English language was a disaster when I entered the university.

Do you know now what makes Jordan different? Where on earth leaders would be closer to their people? Where on earth someone like me would see the Queen and have a conversation with her many times? Where on earth someone like me would be invited to a dinner hosted by the royalties to have a conversation with the King? Where on earth someone like my friend Ghada would be able to take a picture of the king and the queen at a public place having lunch? Where on earth leaders would go to have dinner at the most traditional place in their city?

For me that’s more than enough to make Jordan totally different…

في أول أيام شهر رمضان المبارك أعاده الله علينا و عليكم، خرجت من مكتبي القريب من شارع الوكالات في الصويفية بإتجاه مخابز بردايس لشراء الخبز المنقوش “موضة رمضان”، و للذين لا يعلمون؛ المخبز عادةً ما يكون مزدحماً بسبب القطايف. دخلت المخبز و لم أجد من الخبز الذي ذهبت لشرائه فكان علي الانتظار لبضعة دقائق حتى ينتهي خبزه.

في هذه الأثناء؛ خرج ثلاثة عمال يحملون وعاء ضخم يحتوي على عجينة القطايف ليوصلوها إلى مكان التحضير، استطيع القول و ببساطة أنها تحتاج لأربعة رجال على الأقل لنقلها. خرج العمال و وصلو إلى منطقة الدرج و فجأة لم أسمع سوى “الله يلعنكم، الله يلعنكم دنيا و اخرة… لو أنا صاحب محل ما بوظيف حمير متلكم… الله يلعنكن، ما بتعرفو تقوللي زيح شوي؟”، قبل أن أحاول أن أعلم تفاصيل الموضوع لم يخطر ببالي سوى أنا ذلك الرجل ما هو إلا واحدٌ من أولئك الذين طالما كان افطارهم أفضل من صيامهم.

اقتربت من الموقف قليلاً و لكن لم أتخيل أن الموضوع ممكن أن يكون بهذه الدرجة من الجدية، يالها من مصيبة، هل يعقل أن يفلت الوعاء من يد أحد العمال لكي يؤدي ذلك إلى اتساخ بنطال الزبون قليلاً (الله يجعلها أكبر المصايب). طبعاً لا مجال لتفسير الموقف هنا سوى أنا الرجل هو فعلاً صائم ولكن صيامه يعني “تحميلنا جميله” و كأننا نحن من فرضنا عليه الصيام فعلينا تحمله.

دخل الرجل و هو “يبرطم” في محاولة لتنظيف البنطال و استمر “بالبرطمة” حتى إضطر العامل أن يقول “ما قلنا آسفين، خلاص بأى”… ثارت ثورة الرجل الذي قرر أن يتصل بالشرطة و المحل بكامله يحاول التخفيف من حدة الموقف، ولكن الرجل صائم. إستمر النقاش الحاد حتى قرر مدير المخبز إنهاء خدمات العامل الذي “كفر” عندما زلت يده و أوسخ بنطال الرجل، و فعلاً بدأ العامل يخلع ملابس العمل و لم يطمئن قلب الرجل حتى أقسم له المسؤول أنه “روح” العامل.

صياماً مقبولاً؟ الله أعلم…

Jordan River Foundation

My work with my friends at Jordan River Foundation (JRF) on many levels, one of which includes providing social media consultancy services by Ideation Box, gave me the chance to go in a visit with JRF’s team in Deir Alla – Al-Balqaa to live cover a follow up visit of Queen Rania on the foundation’s work there on Twitter.

At a certain moment, while we were collecting requests from beneficiaries to deliver to Queen Rania’s office staff, a quick flashback in my head took me back in time to 2006, when I heard news about Her Majesty’s visit to attend the awards ceremony of Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition at Princess Sumaya University for Technology. At a moment of courage I decided that I’m writing a paper and handing it out to the Queen once she arrives to the venue, that paper had one of my dreams that needed the support written on it and it’s the same reason why I’m working on Nakhweh or with JRF.

Honestly speaking, I had my own point of view about royalties at that time and thought: “such a paper will end up in a trash can, maybe a different trash can at the royal court” but it was worth the try especially for a big fan of Her Majesty like me.

Two weeks later I got a shocking call from someone introduced herself as a member of Queen Rania’s office team. I went the next day to meet with her and others who work at the office, we discussed what was written in the paper and figured out that they can’t support me for that one, maybe it was a little bit disappointing but on the other hand I was very happy with the recognition and the “royal” channel that was opened in front of me.

One of the most important highlights during those times was “Le Beirut” trip that was also communicated to Her Majesty’s office and they decided to put me in touch with the amazing Valentina Qussisiya (JRF’s Director General) who went with me through the details of the foundation’s work and decided to support the initiative.

Le Beirut

During the 5 years since I gave the Queen the paper until now, I passed through many experiences and challenges that involves a lot of work done with JRF, that was established by Queen Rania 15 years ago, I also kept watching very closely how Her Majesty is getting into social issues and trying to address many of them in addition to the help in putting Jordan on the map with the amazing image she’s giving about this country and its people. At some point Her Majesty became my role model who always inspires me when she launches new initiatives especially if they are technology or social media related and she made me think and work hard until I finally launched Nakhweh in August 2009.

My story with the inspiration of Queen Rania never stopped and it kept growing remotely until I had the chance to meet her in person few weeks ago for more than 2 hours with my fellow social activists to discuss many issues that face youth in Jordan especially volunteerism.

A lunch with Queen Rania

Today, after choosing Ideation Box to work with JRF on their social media & online communication strategy, I have to say that everyday I learn something new from more than 260 people who work with Her Majesty’s foundation, and I really think that the 1,000,000 beneficiaries they reached couple of months ago is not an accurate number, if they don’t count someone like me in.

I will dedicate another blog post very soon to tell you more about JRF’s work but I have to say that we’re the luckiest citizens on earth for having such leaders who are very inspiring and close to their people.

ممكن أن تكون صلاة الجمعة هي الصلاة الوحيدة التي أحاول الحفاظ عليها نظراً لأهميتها الدينية والعادة التي التصقت بي منذ الطفولة. فبالأمس دخلنا في نقاش حول أهمية خطبة الجمعة و هل بالفعل هي بالأهمية التي توجب علينا في أيامنا هذه حضورها؟ تلك الخطب التي لم يتغير مضمونها بالنسبة لي منذ 23 سنة أصبحت عائقاً بيني و بين الصلاة، حتى انني أصبحت اتفادى حضورها لأصل وقت إقامة الصلاة لتأدية فرض الركعتين.

بعد أحداث مصر بدأت أشبه أئمة المساجد بالرئيس المصري حسني مبارك الذي إتضح أنه بعيداً كل البعد عن الشباب و مشاكلهم و ظروفهم و انفتاحهم على العالم. لقد أصبحت خطبة الجمعة بالنسبة للشباب مملة لدرجة أن بعضنا يفضل النوم لوقت أطول عن الذهاب للصلاة  و سماع الخطب التي إلى حد ما تكون مستنسخة في جميع المساجد.

يا أئمة المساجد، يا شيوخنا… لا أدري كم منكم متصل بالشبكة و يمكنه قراءة هذا الكلام ولكن هذه رسالة من شاب أردني مسلم، و أؤكد لكم أنني هنا لا أعكس رأيي الشخصي فقط ولكن أسمع هذا الكلام من مجموعة كبيرة من الشباب.

لا أدري كم أنتم على علم بأن حياتنا أصبحت مليئة بالمغريات التي تلهينا عن ديننا! لا أدري إن كنتم على علم بالمشاكل الاجتماعيه التي يواجهها شبابنا كل يوم! لا أدري إن كنتم على علم أن جميعنا نعلم أهمية الجهاد و اننا خلال 18 عام من الدراسة حفظنا التاريخ الاسلامي الذي نحترمه أشد إحترام! لا أدري إن كنتم تدركون أن الشباب هم المستقبل و أصحاب القرار!

يا شيوخنا، إسمعوا و عوا، إذا لم تكونوا على علم أن خطبة الجمعة هي ليست بدرس دين، انما هي عظة أسبوعية تتناول في مضمونها واقعنا الذي نعيشه، فأنا اتبرع لكم بهذه المعلومة. يا أئمتنا الكرام، لقد اصبحتم سبباً أساسياً في تنفير الشباب عن دينهم. في أيامنا هذه يجب أن تعيدوا النظر في حديثكم معنا بما يتماشى و طموحاتنا و تطلعاتنا و حياتنا التي هي مليئة بالتحديات التي تستجد كل يوم.

أنهي كلامي بنفس طريقتكم: أقول قولي هذا و استغفر الله العظيم لي ولكم.

Developed under a joint venture of Genie-Soft and Reborn Industries, InsideJo is a GPS Map and Navigation System for Jordan. It is the first locally manufactured (consumer-oriented) hardware and software device, designed and developed entirely by Jordanians.

As InsideJo team say on their website:

“InsideJo is a promising company which aims to gain a competitive advantage and enhance the lifestyle of Jordanians through commitment and hard work. We hope to assure the highest quality of provided services, developing & pushing all the local & international standards; in order to satisfy your needs.”

I think that it’s a great job to do this joint venture in a country like Jordan and it will be a remarkable one if it works as desired.

Genie-Soft; a Delaware incorporated company, is a commercial developer of backup and security software solutions that was established in 2001. It has since been a worldly renowned company in its introduction of simple yet robust backup solutions winning many awards and being one of the top leaders in its industry.

REBORN INDUSTRIES are specialized manufacturers of low voltage switchboards, motor control centers, control panels, industrial control systems and automation systems. They started in Jordan and neighboring markets since 2005 and now they are one of the key players in automation and electrical switchgear market.

The only thing that I would say about the project, that might not be very good, is the branding and the design of their website.

Sometimes I feel like I care about people more that caring about myself. I always wanted to do something that keeps my touch in the society and I’m still trying.

Few months ago, I was talking to a lot of people about volunteering and how much we lack volunteers in Jordan. Most of them was like “yes, you are right. We hope to find somewhere to volunteer at”. I thought that it might be the miscommunication between the organizations that need the volunteers and the volunteers themselves. So I started to look around for those firms that need the volunteers in order to organize information so I will be able to get back to people with some helpful information.

From an organization to another, I contacted them and promised them that I’m the one who will be able to occupy your volunteering opportunities. But it was extremely embarrassing when I figured out that 90% of the people, who were talking about their interest in volunteering, they were only doing some sort of show off; “we are the ones who help people and develop the society”. Before figuring out this disaster I have decided to work on the first volunteering website in Jordan so people will be able to find the best place to volunteer! I need you people to tell me, is it worth it to work on such a website? Or it will be one of those websites that get around 10-15 hits a day by mistake?!