Monthly reports Sept. 2016 Feb. 2017
September 2016
with you, which is really interesting in terms of learning about interculturalism and not only about multiculturalism. Talking about the Jordanian culture, I really feel the need of learning Arabic as soon as possible and will try, starting now, to study On September 1st, 2016, hardly arrived in Jordan, and focus also on that objective because I want to be I directly got the chance to eat my first mansaf ’ able to communicate with the local population and and to get to know the other volunteers with whom be able to build trust between them and I. I will have the opportunity to exchange in I-dare. I think that the richness of that organization is On another hands, an other really good point probably its human side and its team: a mix of of my EVS journey until now is the presence Jordanian, mostly volunteers, and European, of Nader, our mentor. Effectively, I think volunteers as well, working and debating together, that having Nader is a chance; from the putting all of our efforts to reach common goals, first weekend I was there he made me feel totally secure, mentored and between how amazing is this?! I love it. good hands in case of need. I don’t feel left Personally, I feel like my integration in the flat as in alone thanks to his presence just as thanks the association was quite easy. I didn’t really face any to the presence of the people working or problems with the people except some self-reflection volunteering in I-dare and that’s a big plus. I sometimes but this is part of the program: to learn have the impression that Suha and Iyad are about ourselves as much as we learn about others. really there to help us when we need it, almost at any time in the limits, of course, of their availabilities. About the city, Amman is a really big/noisy/chaotic They have shown me that they are really flexible and city but at the same time, there is a lot of things to open to any new suggestion and willing us to have do and no time to get bored with all the cultural the best experience possible here in Jordan, allowing and sportive events organized everywhere and all us to totally choose what we want to do and to the time. Moreover, the Jordanian in general are change if we want to discover something else or if probably one of the most welcoming population what we thought we wanted to do is in reality not and are always ready to help you and exchange why we are here for.
And that’s my situation. Before coming to Jordan, I was convinced that I wanted to work on research and learn more about Violent extremism, as it’s a subject that affects me particularly. However, after having started to work on two different researches, I questioned myself and realized that it’s probably not what I’m made for and therefore I don’t really have the motivation to do it as it deserves to be done due to its importance and interest. I realized that I was here for the exchange but also to acquire professional experience and skills more practical than theoretical for my future and giving the fact that I don’t want to work in research, I don’t really see the point of spending 6 months doing that especially here, where there are many other things that also need to be done and that are as important as the research. In particular, I faced many problems with the first research because I didn’t feel capable to write that chapter about communication strategies, just because I don’t know anything about communication and don’t have the necessary basic knowledge to understand the texts and reports that I was reading, and moreover, I fell like it wouldn’t satisfy their
October 2016
expectations and would never be good enough so I decided to stop it, even if I don’t like to give up, it would truly have been a lost of time to keep working on this. Apart from these reasons, I also think that the fact that I had just arrived, didn’t really understand the projects yet, and didn’t know what had or didn’t The first week of October, I had the chance, with Luis, Paula, Stijn, Oriane and a lot of other volunteers have been done already was also a big obstacle. to participate in the EVS On-arrival training and Now, I’m working on another research about the role to meet new people from different backgrounds. of male and female in prevent violent extremism Personnally, I loved the part about cultural questions which is more of my level of knowledge and even because that’s what was missing in the pre-departure if sometimes it’s difficult to find relevant documents training in Belgium and the meeting new people. about the subject, it’s part of the challenge and I’m After having came back from the EVS training, I ready to face it, even if it requires some efforts due to now realize the chance I have to be in a pretty well my lack of motivation, I don’t understand why really organized association where the projects are well because I’m usually a pretty motivated person but oh defined and where I think I start to find my spot. I now have a good overview and general idea about well, we will see. the work that’s being done in Idare and about the different projects and am more than motivated for the rest of this adventure. I’m ready to move on and work on something more concrete and to improve my Arabic skills to get to know the people around me better. Apart from the first week, the month of October has been a tough month because it’s been sort of a transition month between the volunteers leaving (Iker, Valeria and Imma) and the new volunteers coming in so after being barely set up and starting to find my spot in the group, etc. I had to start all over again with new people, getting used to them, etc. so it was not always easy and even really hard saying goodbye to the amazing volunteers that left because relationships and friendships are usually strong for me, and especially when I’m in such a new environment because we understand each other and we are living the same kind of experience. Morover,
to make the most of the last month with nice weather, and to enjoy the time left of Imma and Valeria, we tried to travel a lot on the weekends so it was also tiring in this way. Regarding the work, Paula and I finished the litterature review for the new research and elaborated the questions for both the focus groups and the in-depth interviews for the field analysis part. By doing that, I litteraly realized that research was not something for me, that I didn’t enjoy doing it and probably partly because I felt really frustrated to not being to take part in the field study because of the language barriers when it is, to my eyes, the most interesting part of the work. Therefor, I took it really as a challenge to finish the litterature review and to do my best, even if I didn’t really like it, because perserverance is really important for me and I need to work on it. At the end of October, I helped Ahmaro to design a puppet theater frame for the Artivism projects, using the techniques of « papier maché ». It was fun and nice to do something creative and manual. Also, I’m really happy to now work on the blog and on campaigns because it is way more concrete than the researches and until now, I like it better. I can put my personal touch and I learn a lot by doing this because I teach myself how to use diferent programs, which can be interesting for my future also. Finally, I’m happy to have met the new italians with who I will spend most of my EVS, Maddalena and Andrea, so that we can start organizing ourselves and our daily lives and habits and have more stability in the flat, which is starting to become my home !
November 2016