a w a k e n i n g s a b r o a d
Performing market and consumer research in the early years as a product designer had stirred an active interest in studying the world through the eyes of others.
And I also knew that things are best known when experienced for one’s self, which meant taking my query about the human condition outside my own culture.
Raised in a middle class, relatively isolated, American frame of reference, only through travels overseas could I begin to understand other ways of life, geopolitical influences, and those who were less entitled than I.
Thankfully, more than mere memories, those times would imprint a sensitivity to the challenges of others’ lives amid our mutually common needs, hopes, and fragility—our mutual humanity.
Immigrant street vendors I met in Rome taught how actions speak louder than words.
Setting off in early 1999 to backpack through Europe before hoping to head generally east around the world, I met people from various casts of life—from gypsies, to buskers, to street vendors, to working class singles, couples, and families.
Among them in Rome, Italy, were two or three Egyptian men selling yellow daffodils and washing windshields at a large, landscaped, traffic circle that offered a better living than the economy in Cairo could.
Spending a sunny morning with them, and wanting to work along my way, they let me join in their efforts, which was truly humbling.
And a further diffidence was felt around noon, as they insisted I stay for lunch with them since they considered me their guest. Sitting there together in the roundabout grass upon a spread of newspaper, sharing in their frugal picnic of canned sardines, bread loaves, and soda then evoked a penetrating humility.
While I could have pulled hundreds of dollars out of any cash machine around, these guys were feeding me.
They . . . were feeding . . . me.
A portion of the journal entry that day would read, “What understanding to gain! . . . I hope to have an ounce of their wisdom.”
Countless other people and experiences across Europe, through Türkiye, and into Syria and Jordan would continue to teach the realities of a world I never knew, and transform my personal and professional views. The journey would be far more informative than could have ever imagined, illuminating the profound importance of empathy within broader contexts.
i n i t i a t i v e
Returning to the States thereafter, fate would be filled with parenting and professional preoccupations for some years. Though it was all setting the stage and steering me towards doing more for those who have less.
Resettling in Amman, Jordan in 2009 then immersed us in the ideal place to practice those prior, altruistic intentions—with about three million of the country’s ten million inhabitants being refugees. We inevitably met people involved in charity organizations, which brought opportunities to support and participate in their projects around the city.
In one instance we adopted a disabled widow with school age children for a couple of years, paying their rent until other financing was found. And adding just a bit more to the original amount enabled them to move from a dim, cold, and moldy basement to a warmer, upper level flat with plenty of sunlight, which elevated their spirits too.
Witnessing the difference made through aid of any kind, I longed to do more, but didn’t know how until a happenstance in the fall of 2017. Our son’s Scout troop partnered with the international, non governmental organization, Helping Hand for Relief and Development, in cooperation with another, Jordanian relief and aid agency, the Jabal Zamzam Association, to raise funds towards a prefab home for a rural, Syrian refugee family.
During our visit to the camp for the delivery, the hosting representative mentioned that they used to bring bread to families on a regular basis, but instead had recently been reallocating their resources to larger projects.
Inciting my desire to help, that was all I needed to hear. Initiating an arrangement with Jabal Zamzam, on weekends I began driving over an hour each way and buying around 50 bags—500 pieces—of round, khubz flat bread and a few kilos of cookies to distribute to refugee families living in the agricultural camps along Jordan’s northern border east of Al Mafraq.
Prefab, caravan homes replace tents to provide refugees reliable shelter and security.
Expanding on personal bread deliveries led to community involvement, the donation of various goods, and thousands of dollars in relief infused into tenuous lives strewn abroad by Syria’s civil war.
Promoting the initiative to others, I soon became a channel for our community to receive and distribute donations of money, clothing, toys, and heating fuels.
And as I saw how grateful the recipients were—not only for the gifts, but for the chance to have guests in their tents and share endless cups of generously sweetened tea—I began inviting neighbors to join in the visits too. These were extraordinary moments for adults and children alike, as memorable, personal experiences of how powerful it is to serve.
It is my steadfast belief that, beyond the material support, it is personal exchanges that instill the most meaningful value to those living in dire conditions, having lost loved ones and being isolated for years from their home lands and from any sense of normalcy, while remaining ever gracious and trusting what the future holds.
Touched by the genuine gratitude and fortitude that such people consistently express, it is my heartfelt ambition to ever enhance my outreach to uplift those facing disrupted lives.
r e a c h i n g o u t
As someone who enjoys writing, the preparation of emails and donation outreach letters was a particular pleasure given their higher purpose. Story telling is an art when it touches a heart, which I long to ever improve upon.
As one example, I inaugurated a Wood For Warmth campaign to purchase firewood for refugee families in December 2019, which funded the equivalent of about 290 family months of warmth [145 families kept warm for 2 months] that winter.
The campaign’s email launch announcement follows here, while the button accompanying its header should display its attachment, titled Tea To Tears, recounting an emotive, camp visit to illustrate the circumstance and inspire readers to invest in the care of others in need.
It is not uncommon for winter storms in Jordan to damage or destroy the ad hoc, tent homes like this one that collapsed upon a displaced family one night in March 2020.
Subject : Wood For Warmth appeal . . .
To : Those with living hearts
Date : 21 Dec 2019
Attachment : Tea To Tears
Peace to you and yours,
Hoping everyone is well, inwardly and outwardly.
Thankfully, we've recently begun our seasonal, weekend visits to the Syrian refugee camps east of Al Mafraq.
Among the most prevalent needs is for wood to warm their tents and makeshift homes.
With a picture being worth a thousand words, we hope the images that come to mind from the diary excerpt attached here may entice your heart to share whatever you are able, in order to make your fellow, northern neighbors' winter a little warmer, healthier, and happier. If I gathered correctly from the visit mentioned, a camp of about 35 families requires about one ton of wood per week at a cost of about 125 JD.
As in past years as well, you're welcome to contact us a couple of days in advance if you'd like to join one of the Friday trips north to provide some bread for the families and cookies for the kids. And trust me . . . their smiles make the whole trip worth it. Nothing compares to the happiness of knowing that someone cares.
Shukran wa salaam . . .