House of Flowers from their home in Umm Qais. A grant of just under $3,000 US allowed them to triple the area of the plastic greenhouse behind their house. The couple has been growing plants for 3.5 years, selling to relatives, nearby neighbors and people from nearby villages. Clients come to their home, and they deliver plants to people’s homes. Before they opened the business, their neighbors were driving 15 km (about 9.3 miles) to a neighboring village to buy plants. Wijdan (right) and Osama al Masri in their backyard They currently greenhouse grow 400 different vatables and chairs so he can hold spe- rieties and are planning to add more. cial events at the site. He has hosted Most of the plants they grow, including one birthday party but lost out on flowers, spider plants and Aloe vera, hosting a wedding because he didn’t are ornamental. They are expanding have all the needed equipment.
Wijdan and her husband Os-
sama al Masri operate Bait Al Ward
into more functional varieties. A grant from MEDA will help them to build a second greenhouse to grow thyme and a home showroom where customers can buy plants. Za’atar, a popular herb blend in regional cuisine, features thyme as the main ingredient. It is a staple in Jordanian breakfasts. Expanding their operation will result in some seasonal job creation. They hire daily and hourly workers to bring sand to the greenhouse. They are also teaching a friend how to garden in exchange for helping at the greenhouse. House of Flowers also has environmental benefits for the community. They use neighbors’ food scraps to compost and make fertilizer for their plants.
Tareq Massarweh, 27, runs a water filtration business. He is single and supports his parents. Umm Qais residents like to buy bottled water to avoid unsafe salts and minerals and the sandy debris that sometimes comes out of taps. Massarweh started the business in 2014. He sells water that people use for drinking, ironing and cooking out of his shop and delivers to customers’ homes within a four-mile radius of his main street storefront. He has two employees. After learning late last year about MEDA’s work, he applied for and received a $3,900 (US) grant. The money helped him to buy a new water purification system and an icemaker. He also hopes to get new signs, do some marketing for his business and introduce glass jars as an alternative to the blue plastic jugs. Selling bags of ice to passing tourists will become a new line of business. Before getting the new equipment, he had to sterilize plastic bottles by hand. Now in five minutes he can clean bottles that previously took a day to Tareq Massarweh sells purified water to sterilize and dry. This helps him Umm Qais residents and bags of ice to visiting tourists. keep bottles in circulation. ◆ 7
The Marketplace September October 2019
