Back to Work

I love the hats of the traffic cops/police here. So fancy. You would never find an American cop wearing a hat like that, that is for sure. I was waiting for a taxi after class to head to Mercy Corps and this cop was just standing in front of me the whole time, blowing his whistle at all the cars going in and out of their lanes or going too fast or driving crazy-like....so basically his whistle never stopped blowing.

I had class as usual and then headed to work where I spent 5 hours working on a specific task for the Country Director reorganizing all of his current project files so that I can sort them which he needs but also learn about all of the projects that the organization is working on to get caught up. The Jordan office is expanding quickly due to the Syrian influx. Mercy Corps Jordan has many projects currently going on right now, but the majority of them all focus on the Syrian refugees and the water related issues with Syrian refugees and Jordanians.

These are two very broad subjects, which is why the organization then works with/partners with many organizations globally to help ensure enough funding and resources in order to get the projects done well and efficiently. The projects are all tailored to a specific purpose within the broad scope of the two overarching needs. For instance with the Syrian refugees, Mercy Corps Jordan then has projects targeted towards helping children through education, play spaces and counseling in and out of the camps to help them adjust to a new life and deal with the horrible violence they have been apart of.

Another project is to help build water wells in the camps to ensure enough drinking water for the newest members of the Jordanian populations, as Jordan is already one of the 10 countries in the world that is water poor (lacking renewable water sources and unable to provide water for the country already). Other projects include helping provide the camp with proper winterization supplies to keep people warm, helping train new host communities in Jordan so the Syrian/Jordanian tensions can lower without violence, water wells in host communities, etc.

Its al very interesting to me. I'll keep doing the reading/filing for a few more days next week and then the Country Director mentioned that I will help him work on a Program Management Project after, which would be great. Learning Program Management would be extremely beneficial and interesting to learn more about.