One Ordinary Day of A NGO staff

At 6 am in the morning. Early dawn light leaking from the window. I push the snooze button twice to shut down the attempt of an alarm clock to wake me up.

At 6:20, I give up finally and wake myself up. A few minutes for tiding up, another few for quick breakfast with yogurt. 20 minutes later, I’m at the parking lot of JEN’s branch office in Amman, which is five-minute walk away from my apartment.

At 6:45, I climb up to a van with 3 other international staff, which is heading up for north, picking up 2 more local staff on the way. A 90-minute drive with bright morning light beaming through the car windows makes me drowse for a while.

At Zaatari at 7:50, show up the ID cards to Jordan police to pass through the entrance gate. After putting the bags in the office, a small module house located in the base camp surrounded with UN and other NGOs’ offices, I’m on the way to a tiny coffee shop run by a refugee family. With colleagues gathering in front of the shop, one after another, exchanging “Good morning” and “Sabah El Kheir” each other. Going back to the office with coffee, I check the mailbox on my computer.

A meeting at 9:00, with local colleagues on the inspection sheet. The inspection is aimed to evaluate how much impact our previous projects has made so far, and to make a plan for next ones.

At 10:00, wevisit to an office of other organization for a meeting. We talk about the collaborated project, which is about to end at the end of this month.

Another meeting at 11:00, with local at JEN office.

At 12:30, I visit the construction site for a JEN community center. That used to be made of tents, which have been worn out for 5 years, so we decided to rebuild a new makeshift house with sandwich panels and galvanized iron sheets.

[construction of a new JEN community center]

Later on, I walk back to the office in the base camp. I find the spring warmth surrounding the neighborhood these days, while it’s been very cold just till last week. Now some people get out of their temporary houses, enjoying the coffee time sitting on the blanket, with old people sunbathing in the chair. On my way back, everyone inviting to come and join them.
Dropping by to Champs-Élysées. The street, named after the famous Parisian avenue, were filled with many shops alongside, but now has been deserted. As the camp has expanded, the commercial part has moved to the other place called “Market Street,” much busier with more traffics and trading. The phrase of “Vision of a Torn World” comes up in my mind; “The flow of the river is ceaseless, and its water is never the same.”

[the present day of Champs-Élysée]

 
At 14:00. A phone call from a colleague in Amman. I’m supposed to return there by 16:00 for a meeting, but he says he wants me back earlier. I book a car and set off at past 14:00.

Arrive at 16:00 in Amman office for the meeting. 

The meeting ends at 18:00. We’ve talked to go to Yoga class if the work has done earlier, but we give a raincheck to it. Walking back home. I share the apartment with 2 other staff but have the dinner alone tonight. Catching up with them at the after-dinner tea time, chatting for a little while, then I go back to my room around 20:00. Before sneaking into the bed, I remember there’re 2 emails waiting for my reply within today. And I say to myself, “Oh, I’ll have to write a new post for JEN staff blog,” which I’m working on right now.