The summer was just around the corner and we sat in the bus leaving school for the day. By chance, we started to discuss the project work that we were supposed to do in the autumn as last year students of high school. That bus trip we found out that we both would like to work with each other and that we would like to visit some social project abroad. What we didn't know was that we would end up in Jordan for a two weeks visit thanks to Operation Mercy...

Our names are Klara and Kajsa and we are two Swedish eighteen-year-old students at the natural sciences program at Risbergska's school in Örebro. With a lot of help from the Operation Mercy we went to Jordan in the beginning of January. The purpose was to first of all visit the organization's family centre in Sahab where we did some teaching in the English classes and also helped with the Kids club; singing songs, play-acting and doing handcraft with the children.

One weekend we visited the hospital Abu Dhabi in Mafraq, where we got to see the hospital and the orphanage. At the hospital we talk with the patients and help with things like weeding the inner court. We also baby sat a little girl at the orphanage whose family we latter visited. That visit was a wake up for the both of us. That family lived in a very simple way, no glass in the windows, no clean water and no food. We felt fortunate but most of all we felt injustice.

During these weeks we met a lot of people, both working foreigners and local people. The workers really inspired us with their choices in life by putting others first, and the Jordanians showed us great hospitality by opening their homes for us. The hospitality was one of the most positive sides of their Jordanian culture. We learnt a lot about the Arabic culture and it was interesting because of the big difference between their culture and our own.

We didn't go home empty-handed, quite the opposite, we went home with a lot of new experiences and knowledge in our baggage and most importantly, with a new perspective of seeing things in life.