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In 1997 Allison Freedman was among the Peace Corps’ first group of volunteers to be sent to Jordan
In 1997 Allison Freedman was among the Peace Corps’ first group of volunteers to be sent to Jordan
In 1997 Allison Freedman was among the Peace Corps’ first group of volunteers to be sent to Jordan. She found her experience challenging, often daunting, but, nonetheless, she knew she’d made a difference.
I joined this apolitical, irreligious organization to save the world, but I returned home before my service was completed for political and religious reasons. Like many, I joined the Peace Corps with idealistic intentions. I imagined I would accumulate a wealth of experiences to make me a better educator, able to understand the increasingly globalized world my students and I would encounter. I would offer my teaching experience, interpersonal skills, wanderlust and spirit of adventure in exchange for a cross-cultural experience, learning another language and a roof over my head.
Growing up sandwiched between two sisters, I learned early that every issue had two sides. Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy later provided intellectual discourse and an academic foundation. So equipped, I formulated my own philosophy of education: a two-way street of give and take and sharing. In the Peace Corps I would teach, while the people of Jordan would share the richness of their language, culture, traditions and beliefs.
After three months of training, I was assigned to work in a school for hearing-impaired students. Here I struggled to understand a system that seemed at odds with educating deaf students. Only a handful of teachers knew sign language, requiring the students to rely on lip-reading alone; yet many lectured while writing on the board with their backs to the class. Most carried a stick to keep students from acting out. I knew I would need to be patient to earn the respect of the students and teachers so that I could effect changes.
But one morning in February of that first year, I had an encounter that nearly led me to give up. A taxi driver from my neighborhood began talking about the gloomy weather and gradually shifted our conversation to more global issues. He spoke of the Israelis as a cancer expanding to take over the world. I sat in silence. Since I am Jewish, I wanted to defend myself and those he spoke of, but I had concealed my religious background from the community. The precariousness of my situation was something I tried not to think about every day, but that day I was starkly reminded.
I continued my service because I still had much to accomplish, and by the end of the school year I was proud of my contributions. With the kindergarten teachers, I had drawn lifelike pictures to help teach sounds to the youngest students. I had received donated art supplies from a local store and spearheaded a multidisciplinary, giant map project for the older classes. I had organized a field trip to Dana Nature Reserve in southern Jordan, where none of the students or teachers had ever visited. On the ride home, the principal turned to me and said, "Thank you for showing us our country."
By modeling alternative techniques I eventually convinced at least a few teachers that a stick was not necessary to earn respect and keep order in their classrooms. I tried to be everything my own favorite teachers were for me: attentive, motivated and visionary.
However, despite the rewarding work and developing friendships, I knew I then that I needed to leave. Volunteering had seemed positive and straightforward, but my daily life was increasingly politically charged and complex. While my idealism could not protect me, I set out to help people in Jordan, and I know I accomplished this goal.
Three years later, with a sense of perspective from this challenging experience, I have returned to the classroom— as a graduate student in Middle Eastern Studies. The idealism that led me to become a Peace Corps volunteer in the first place energizes me. Now I am finding a way to juxtapose the problems and methods of this academic field with my unique Peace Corps experiences to share with others the perspective and inspiration I have gained.
Allison Freedman received an Alpha Phi Foundation Scholarship and is pursuing a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from New York University. She has begun writing a book about her Jordanian journey.