This post was contributed by Amany Mansour, FoEME’s GIS and youth coordinator at the Amman office
On the 1st of August 2010 a large group of Jordanian girls arrive to the Sharbabil Bin Hassneh EcoPark. They come from eight different Good Water Neighbors communities across the Jordan Valley, to participate in the first of a series of educational summer camps organized by Friends of the Earth’s Amman office. The aim of the camp is to raise environmental awareness in the region. All participants arrive with high spirits despite the hot weather and the long journey to reach the park.
The camp lasts four days and three nights. The girls are divided randomly into four groups named the Dead Sea team, Sharbabil bin Hassneh EcoPark team, River Jordan team and Water team. Tasks like washing the dishes after the meals and cleaning the bathrooms are distributed on the teams evenly.
The camp program is full with interesting activities; starting with ice-breaking games to let the participants know each other’s names and become familiar with the other girls, to lectures about water resources and nature conservation. The girls are taken on many field tours and participate in a cleaning campaign in the park.
The most interesting and fun parts of the camp are the painting of the benches at the EcoPark and riding in the back of a truck up the hill to the Ziglab dam behind the park. The girls enjoy the ride, for many of them it is the first time. Unfortunately, on the third day of the camp the electricity cuts off. The weather is extremely hot and the power failure happens in the hottest hours of the morning. The girls will never forget that day.
On the last day everyone is sad to leave. All girls exchange telephone numbers and email addresses to stay in touch, and small presents and souvenirs to remember each other.
Related blog posts:
Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli youth elaborate environmental campaign during joint camp
175 Youth Celebrate Earth Day with FoEME in Jordan’s Sharhabil bin Hassneh EcoPark
