Jordan Facts

I was recently reading that the city I grew up in, Jordan, Minnesota was recorded as a settlement in 1855 and named Jordan City. Yes, named after the Jordan River in Palestine/Israel. Later consolidated with another city, hence forth the name just Jordan.

Currently, the City of Jordan is in the 6000 range of the population. Well, the country of Jordan has somewhere around 10 million people. Of the 10 million, at least 1 million are considered refugees from primarily Syria and Iraq. Amman, where I am currently living has around 5 million of the people in this country.

There are various non-profit organizations that are working here with these refugees who have relocated and lost everything. When they come here they are not able to work by law.

My daughter, Mary has a servants heart and has taken on coordinating with others to distribute second hand furniture, clothes, diapers, you name it for the refugees! She recently did a back to school drive on short notice. Between herself and others she collected 13 back packs and lots of school supplies. Christmas is around the corner and should you feel the need to share in your blessings, just let us know and Mary will find a place/people to share it with.

Fortunate for people in the USA we have mail delivery and all that goes with that. Here in Amman, Jordan it does not work like that. No door to door delivery here and there are no post offices on every corner. I will say that I do see virtually everyone seems to have a cell phone and speaking to a local Jordanian he said he did not feel the need to have mail service.

You might wonder what sort of leadership Jordan is governed under and that would be a King. The king exercises his power through the government he appoints which is responsible before the Parliament. They have a Prime Minister who heads the government and they then have a multi-party system and all this trickles down to mayors, etc. Jordanians do vote to elect their House of Representative, city and town councils. So much like Jordan, MN the people have a say. The current King and his family are well respected in Jordan.

Religion is somewhere around 92% Muslim and 6% Christian. I have seen these numbers vary a little depending on which site I google. I do hear the call to Prayer over the loud speakers several times a day. There are Christian churches as well as many mosques. There are several Christian universities in Amman as well.

When traveling in Amman you can see the hill sides with homes, vacant lots, laundry hanging off their patios, and people out and about. Probably what you would see in my hometown of Jordan. Lives are really no different in other parts of the world it seems. People that are trying to provide for their family and have a future.

Grocery stores provide the usual items and some not so usual. Like a honey stand with up to ten different types of honey. And, one large grocery store is located at an upscale mall and I found that fascinating. We went to a wonderful place called The Meat Master. Beautiful tasty meats from around the world and we purchased some chicken for a dinner party. The quality was superb and I had to compare it with the Pekarna Meat Market in Jordan, MN. Across the street there is a store called “Cheese and More”. Bought several cheeses here and one was a Blue Stitlton blue cheese. Have been back two times for this cheese alone.

I am behind on letting you hear about some of my interesting trips to Mt. Nebo, Jesus baptismal site, Jordan River, an amazing restaurant in Madaba carved out of a cave, etc. I will get caught up on that next week. So much to share and tomorrow I am actually getting to go back to a museum I had wanted to return to at the Jordan Citadel.

Thank you for touring with me on this once in a lifetime opportunity. Meeting so many interesting people and seeing so many fascinating sites. Till next time, masalama (goodbye).