Introduction to Antiquities

One Week in Jordan

The Petra Kitchen

Voluntourism in Jordan

Islam, in a Nutshell

Voluntourism in Jordan.

What is Voluntourism?

Just as it sounds, “Voluntourism” is the combination of volunteer service with tourism.  Chances to volunteer are abundant, ranging from a well-know service program like the Peace Corps to something as simple as spending a few hours working with children in a special education class.

What better way bring you together with ordinary Jordanians, in a setting completely outside the well-worn “tourist trail.”  What better way to help Jordanians understand who you are and how you live?  What better way for you to understand that your Jordanian hosts are people who share the same hopes, dreams and daily problems as yourselves?  What better way to start tearing down the walls of suspicion than by fostering one-to-one interactions, in a setting which benefits all concerned?  What better way to see the truth that people are people wherever you find them, and to give your time and your effort is a gift beyond price.

Voluntourism can be many things—it can be conversing with a third-grade English class, or helping a handicapped child with his finger-painting, helping Habitat for Humanity put up new shelters or cleaning the litter from a hiking trail.  There are many opportunities to take from a few hours to a few days from your touring program to contribute from your time, your experience, your muscle power...and your heart, to help make life easier, to help make this small world of ours a little smaller, and to make new friends. And to have an experience “on vacation” we guarantee you will always remember proudly.

There is a wonderful opportunity to help that’s very close to the Petra site. About 600 members of the Amareen Bedouin tribe live in a small government-built village called Baidha Housing, which sits about 12 km north of Wadi Musa on the edge of the Petra National Park. Because this tribe traditionally herded in areas outside the bounds of Petra, relatively few members of the tribe have become involved in the financially rewarding benefits of tourism in the way that other local residents of Um Sehun village and Wadi Musa have done. Members of the Amareen tribe, many of whom lived in hand-woven Bedouin tents until little more than a decade ago, lack the resources and the expertise to make some of the basic repairs and improvements that would greatly enhance the quality of their lives.

Current projects available in the village are:

• Build a gray-water irrigation system for the vegetable gardens and orchards that each family has. All the needed equipment will be donated, but laying the lines requires some elbow grease. Too much water is wasted in this desert climate, and a rudimentary recycling system will save money and help with the local crops.
   

• Go back to school and help the children of Baidha to have a nice school. The simple cement-block schoolhouse badly needs painting, repairing plumbing, wiring and foundation cracks, replacing broken doors and windows and making the school a more inviting and safe place for the village children.
   

• Calling Mr. and Ms. Fix-it to help villagers make many repairs and simple improvements in their cement-block houses. Many houses have cracked walls, and in most there are needed plumbing and electrical repairs.
   

• Show your green thumb and plant trees in several places around the village including the schoolyard and roadsides. Baidha was largely de-forested during the early 20^th century, and climate-suitable trees would provide welcome relief from the summer sun and the brisk winds of the winter months.

This is a representative project list of what this village needs now. This list will change as different needs are identified. Please write or call Joyce for complete updated information.

If you’re interested in adding Voluntourism to your stay in Jordan, we will send you a list of the current available projects about 6 weeks prior to your arrival, indicating a 1-10 degree of physical challenge and any special skills that are required for the project, and then ask you to rank your project preferences.

We have developed a standard itinerary for a total of 8-days in Jordan, with 3 days of voluntourism included, which you can read in full detail at Tour Jordan. If you have more or less time that you’d like to spend we will be delighted to put together a custom program for you.

There’s not much that can equal the satisfaction of helping where help is needed...and we guarantee that the photos you’ll have of huge Jordanian smiles will be the first ones you show of this unique travel and life experience.

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Page head and foot photography courtesy of James Carnahan.