Following Moses

Wednesday, 2/10

It’s 11:00 a.m. and you’re all sleeping while we are traveling across the Jordanian Desert in Jordan now seeing the kind of terrain where Moses wandered with the Israelites. We have been blessed with sunny weather today and a good tour guide. Here and there we see sheep, donkey, and camel herds being tended by the Bedouin. The Bedouin settlements are small shacks made of scrap tin, boards, and cardboard on the side of the road. One wonders how they stay warm. I’ll share with you some info our guide has given us. Children go to basic school from the age of 6 to 16. Then the students take an exam to specialize for secondary school to prepare them for the university. Those who don’t want to follow that course can go to community college for skilled labor training. There are 20 universities in Jordan. They are not free but 99% of the students get scholarships. The girls and boys go to school together until the age of 12 and then not again until university. The military service for three months for boys became compulsory recently because the government believed the boys were becoming too “girly” and wanted to toughen them up. There are 6.5 million Jordanians with over 50% of them being under the age of 25. Ninety percent is Sunni Muslim although according to our guide there is freedom to practice any religion. He said 6% is Christian but that would be Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic. It is illegal to be a missionary. He says the women are liberated but I don’t believe him... The average age for marriage for a male is 28 and for female is 24. Jordan has no oil and it is predominantly a poor country. This country side reminds me of Mexico. Our guide is adamant that Islam is not about attacking other countries and spoke for awhile about the Sunni’s belief system. It is complicated but gave me a better understanding of the Muslim believes. I am really looking forward to going to Petra tomorrow. It has been on my bucket list for a long time. I saw a beautiful photo of it on the internet once and said I have to see that place. So, now here I am. I am so sorry that some of the older women won’t be going with us as it is a 5 mile walk. Seems a shame to come this far and not be able to go along with us. BTW, there is an armed guard on the bus with us. I’m not sure if he is here to protect us or make us behave. J