Malcolm and Charissa took us to the
Anglican Jofeh Rehabilitation Centre in the Jordan Valley. Started in 1994 in
an area where there are no known Christians this centre provides schooling, speech
pathology, physiotherapy and sheltered workshops for children and young people
with a whole variety of disabilities. We met the centre’s director, a Dutch Anglican
monk named Brother Andrew. That morning he’d been showing the Archbishop of Canterbury
the plans for a new Anglican church at the Baptism site on the Jordan river; he
was of course keen for the Archbishop’s support, and was only too happy to show
us the plans as well over tea. We enjoyed joking around, especially about the
plan to include an Isaac chapel in the design.
Eventually
Brother Andrew was finished and the manager Yousef showed us around the centre.
The rooms and equipment were basic, but the work they are doing is amazing.
Many of the children with disabilities were previously shunned by their families
and their communities, being shut up in separate huts, and the local schools didn’t
cater for their needs at all. Now the children are educated in the centre’s classrooms,
and the centre has even encouraged and practically supported the integration of
children into the local state schools. Plus the centre provides work
opportunities in recycling paper, sewing, needlework and woodwork, enabling
them to support themselves and their families.
 |
| recycling paper for gift cards |
 |
| sewing cross-stitch for gift cards |
Some of the children who were
first helped by the centre now work as teachers there. Malcolm and Charissa’s church
have an appeal once a year to purchase a new piece of equipment for the centre,
and Charissa and a couple of other women teach English to some of the older women once a week.
Two other
highlights of our visit – an abundant Jordanian brunch, and the ingenious water
cooling system.
 | |
| the pyramid-shaped roof panels from which the water sprinkles down |
Water sprinkles down onto the centre courtyard of the building,
and the air flows across through the windows and is cooled down by the water.
The water is then pumped up to the roof and the process begins again. It’s more
complicated than that – I just can’t remember it all, but I can say that it
sure works. The Jordan valley is very hot, and yet it was beautifully cool in every room.
And the only electricity used is to pump the water. I told Brother Andrew that the
architect in my congregation is planning some passive cooling and heating
systems for our new building and would be positively buzzing to see this system
in action; he immediately suggested that my architect might be able to help
with his building project at the Baptism site and gave me his card. I said that
I wanted him for our own building project first, and then he could have him.
Isaac and I loved
the visit and enjoyed chatting through things afterwards with Malcolm and
Charissa.
On the way
back we did some shopping in one of the top-end shopping malls. Here is another side of
Jordan. We felt more at home than at the local chaotic souq, especially in the
supermarket, but almost all the shops were way above my fashion sense and price
level. On the top floor was the small roller coaster.
Almost all the customers
were Arab, but all of the advertising pictures were of glamourous westerners. And
though they said welcome as we walked in, the metal detector and touch down by
the security guard tended to weaken that welcome a little.
We enjoyed a sumptuous Arabic dinner together ...
... then I had a second glimpse of the Forrests' ministry here in Amman - Malcolm's bible study group. It was much like my group back home - we read Psalms 42 and 43, talked about what the original writers were saying, how its fulfilled in Jesus and what it means for us, then we prayed together and ate supper.
But there were three differences:
i) the supper was certainly better - fancy chocolates, marzipan sweets and pastries,
ii) the people were from all over the world: a dutch man working for an aid organisation, two Americans born in Lebanon but studying Arabic here, an Indian man who grew up in the America but is teaching French here at an International school, and a woman whose mixed background I can't remember but who grew up in the Sudan, and
iii) we paused half way through the bible study as the Muslim call to prayer dominated the neighbourhood; this doesn't happen during my bible study group in Kurrajong, but here it happens every week (or rather 5 times a day). No one else in the group was in the least bothered by it, they just paused and waited for it to pass before continuing on. Realising that was a novice at such things, they asked me whether I knew what was being sung. Of course I didn't, so they explained - 'God is great, I bear witness that there is no God except the one God, I bear witness that Muhammed is the prophet of God, Hurry to prayer.' (3/4 of which is terrific)
What a wonderful opportunity it has been to get some experience of the joys and challenges of the Forrests' ministry here -
i) the sometimes chaotic and frustrating way things work (or don't work)
ii) the dominant Muslim enviroment, where it is illegal to tell Muslims the gospel and for Muslims to become Christians;
and
iii) the expat community, where people are here to do a job for a short time and then move on, making it hard to keep on investing in relationships, to train leaders and to build bridges to share the Gospel.
How much the Forrests need our prayers and encouragement in such a context.
We've certainly been encouraged by their faithfulness. Hopefully they too have been encouraged by our visit and as we prayed together. They certainly seemed to appreciate the card signed by members of our church.
We enjoyed a sumptuous Arabic dinner together ...
... then I had a second glimpse of the Forrests' ministry here in Amman - Malcolm's bible study group. It was much like my group back home - we read Psalms 42 and 43, talked about what the original writers were saying, how its fulfilled in Jesus and what it means for us, then we prayed together and ate supper.
But there were three differences:
i) the supper was certainly better - fancy chocolates, marzipan sweets and pastries,
ii) the people were from all over the world: a dutch man working for an aid organisation, two Americans born in Lebanon but studying Arabic here, an Indian man who grew up in the America but is teaching French here at an International school, and a woman whose mixed background I can't remember but who grew up in the Sudan, and
iii) we paused half way through the bible study as the Muslim call to prayer dominated the neighbourhood; this doesn't happen during my bible study group in Kurrajong, but here it happens every week (or rather 5 times a day). No one else in the group was in the least bothered by it, they just paused and waited for it to pass before continuing on. Realising that was a novice at such things, they asked me whether I knew what was being sung. Of course I didn't, so they explained - 'God is great, I bear witness that there is no God except the one God, I bear witness that Muhammed is the prophet of God, Hurry to prayer.' (3/4 of which is terrific)
What a wonderful opportunity it has been to get some experience of the joys and challenges of the Forrests' ministry here -
i) the sometimes chaotic and frustrating way things work (or don't work)
ii) the dominant Muslim enviroment, where it is illegal to tell Muslims the gospel and for Muslims to become Christians;
and
iii) the expat community, where people are here to do a job for a short time and then move on, making it hard to keep on investing in relationships, to train leaders and to build bridges to share the Gospel.
How much the Forrests need our prayers and encouragement in such a context.
We've certainly been encouraged by their faithfulness. Hopefully they too have been encouraged by our visit and as we prayed together. They certainly seemed to appreciate the card signed by members of our church.
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