Trial-and-Error Bazaar

In mid-November, a bazaar was held at a JEN community centre in Za’atari Refugee Camp. It was the third bazaar organized by the Women’s Recycling project, first mentioned in this blog in August. This event, the first one since May 2016, aimed to earn revenue through selling hand made products including carpets, winter clothing, toys for children and decors, all constructed out of old clothes over the course of the last six months.

On the event day, the Recycle project members prepared for the bazaar with support from the JEN staff. Thanks to the effects of flyer distribution, word-of-mouth advertising, and email the bazaar had a total of 100 visitors including more than 90 Syrian refugees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[All set for the bazaar.]

 

 

 

 

 

[Visitors examining products.]

 

 

 

 

 

[A variety of products for sale.]

 
Although the previous bazaar had more than 100 visitors, a majority of them did not purchase products. Reflecting on this, the Women’s Recycling project members exercised their ingenuity and flexibility in setting prices to suit visitors, making products to more precisely meet the need of customers, and advertising the bazaar more actively based on their own ideas. These efforts saw a revenue of 100 Jordanian dinars (about 15,500 Japanese Yen), almost four times more than last time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Support organization staff selecting recycled carpets.]

 
The main goal of the Recycling project is to improve quality of life in the camp through the refugee women’s making and selling goods crafted from old clothes. There are very few chances to generate income in the camp. Thus, supporting the women who are taking these step towards independence by gaining an income, albeit not very much, provides the JEN staff great pleasure.

We are considering holding the next bazaar at the JEN community centre in the third district of the camp, not the fourth district where three bazaars have been held so far, because we would like residents who live far away from the district to be able to come to the bazaar. Looking forward to witnessing the further creativity of the women, JEN will continue to support their income generation.

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Behind the scenes of the cultural exchange between the U-17 Japan Women’s National Team and the female students

Behind the scenes, this cultural exchange between Japan’s Little Nadeshiko women’s football team and the female students belonging to the football club of a girls’ public school from Amman was organized in only 3 days from the time that agreement was reached with the Japan Football Association.

Since the original plan was that the cultural exchange was to be held at the public school, permission for the exchange was required from Jordan’s Ministry of Education. After receiving the approval of, and a letter of recommendation from, the manager of the physical education department of the Ministry of Education, preparations for the event proceeded from the next day with unprecedented speed.

While the plan was taking shape within the short time-frame, dozens of people agreed to help and did so with a positive attitude. Although it was all very sudden, the principal of the secondary school promptly talked with the students participating in this cultural exchange.

Furthermore, despite the sudden change, the night before, to the time and location of the exchange, the principal patiently explained the reason for this to the staff of the sports section of the Education Office, to the principal’s co-workers, and to the students.

The female students needed permission from their parents in order to participate in this event and this was also difficult to get. For example, one of the students coming to the bus station seemed distressed, a separate student’s mother drove her daughter to the bus station and angrily asked the teacher, “What is this about? ”, and another parent said, “I can’t let my daughter go until you give me a contact phone number”.

There were some dramas, but in the end, we are grateful to all of the parents for entrusting their daughters to JEN and the teachers.

For the JEN staff also, this adjustment was a hard challenge. It was only decided that the cultural exchange would be held with three days’ notice, and everything else was uncertain. Since the plan was almost changed on the day, they couldn’t relax until the safe end of the cultural exchange.

JEN’s staff had many tasks to do, including negotiating with the school, with the local government, and with the central government. Furthermore, they made great efforts to deal with the sudden change of plan.

Similar to Japan, public schools in Jordan don’t have their own school bus. At 6:30 a.m. on the day of the event, it was still uncertain whether we would get the permission from the students’ parents.

However, we let the school staff know that, if we get permission from the students’ parents by 1:30 p.m., we would like to rent a bus for 21 students and asked for permission to do so, which they gladly accepted.

With every step uncertain, this cultural exchange was nevertheless successfully realized thanks to the cooperation of the staff and everyone who helped with our plans.

We would like to express our gratitude to the women’s division of the Japan Football Association for gladly accepting this cultural exchange and giving us this wonderful opportunity, and to the Japan Women’s National Team for participating in this cultural exchange and sparing their time for us.

We are as well grateful to UNICEF’s Jordan office for their cooperation.

 

[Beginning of the cultural exchange with the Japan National Team and greetings]

[The Little Nadeshiko team and the Amman students]

[All of the girls]

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Cultural exchange with the U-17 Japan Women’s National Team

Wednesday, October 19, 4:00 p.m., a charter bus with 16 female students, 11 of them belonging to the football club of a Girls’ Public Secondary School from Amman, departed for the Amman International Stadium. That day, from 5:00 p.m., they had the opportunity to participate in a cultural exchange with the U-17 Japan Women’s National Team players who participated in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Jordan 2016.

The “Little Nadeshiko” team from Japan had defeated Spain’s Women’s National Team in the semifinal match two days previously and now they were training for the final. Despite that, they gladly spared their time for this cultural exchange.

 [Mini-game between the mixed teams with local female students]

After training, the cultural exchange with the students started.
Presently, JEN and UNICEF are cooperating to carry out a water and hygiene support program for those public schools throughout Jordan who accepted Syrian refugees.

This Amman girls’ public school is one of the schools that supported the program. This school is located in the Amman old city next to the stadium where the U-17 Japan Women’s National Team played the semifinal match. Even though it’s not common for public schools in Jordan to have a football club, this school has one. The members are 15 to 16 years old girls and include Syrian refugee students who participate as well.

 [We are all friends of same age]

Fortunately, the rush-hour traffic was avoided and the students arrived at the stadium early. Therefore, they could watch the Japan Women’s National Team’s training session. At 5:00 p.m., the Little Nadeshiko team and the students greeted each other and everybody was divided into 4 groups and played mini-games.

They played for about 30 minutes until the end of the first half of the cultural exchange. Getting over the language barrier, the girls became very friendly with each other, they high-fived and laughed together.

[They practice dancing seriously]

During the few minutes break, music played and the students started to dance. This was a traditional dance that is well known in oriental countries, in particular Syria and Jordan, as “Dabke”. “Dabke” means “step”, “kick”, and “foot tap” and it is a kind of line dance performed by stepping but without much hand or arm movement.

Holding hands with the National Team players, a student at the right-hand side of the line lead the steps. Since the National Team players are good at football, they are also good at step-dancing and easily learnt how to do the dance. Therefore, they enjoyed dancing with the students.

[Memorial photograph]

The approximately 1 hour cultural exchange passed quickly. The players and the students looked like they had a good time. They would like to have had the chance to spend more time together and took pictures until the bus carrying the students departed.

The Japan Football Association’s webpage also contained an article regarding this cultural exchange.

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Culture in Za’atari Camp

On October 5, the Arts and Crafts Center opened in Za’atari Camp. The Center is located at the NGO’s International Relief and Development Corner in the 2nd district of the Camp and to mark its opening ceremony JEN exhibited handmade items.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Arts and Crafts Center]

We lined up a variety of handmade items, such as bags, carpets, children’s clothes recycled from used clothes, porches made from plastic bags, and interior ornament from used papers. These items were handmade by women who joined the Upcycling (Recycling) Project and who are actively trying to create new products out of used materials from Za’atari Camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JEN’s Exhibit Area]

Though most of the displayed items were made of recycled products, they were very well made and looked impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Petra]

Many of the paintings displayed show the scenery of Syria and the grief of conflict. The artists were trying to express their strong feelings through art.

Za’atari Camp has become a place of culture and creation.

 

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[The Media Project]No.13 Good Morning Za’atari

See more the videos

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