Our Life in Sweden

Jonathan & Sofia Morgan

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Wadi Rum – Exploring the desert

Due to language learning and settling into life here we haven’t really shared any pictures from the trips we’ve done. So here are some pics from when we stayed over night in Wadi Rum (desert area in Jordan) in September to celebrate my 30th Birthday. We rode camels, met shepherd boys on donkeys, ate tasty bedouin food that was cooked under the sand, listen to our two bedouin hosts playing arabic songs next to the fire, under a starlit sky. All in all a magical experience!

 

 

Här är några foton från en utflykt vi gjorde i September för att fira min 30 årsdag. Vi övernattade i Wadi Rum, ett ökenområde i Jordanien, ca 4 timmar från Amman. Vi åkte sandjeep, red kamel, åt traditionell beduin mat som kokats i sanden, satt under stjärnklar himmel bredvid en eld och lyssnade på våra guider som sjöng arabiska sånger, allt mitt ute i djupaste öknen. En magisk och oförglömlig upplevelse.

Snow Day

When we arrived back in Jordan we discovered that the government had declared Wednesday a public holiday because of the impending snowstorm. We were cynical at first – “how could they be sure that the storm would arrive on Wednesday?” – but it did.

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By the time we went out for a walk this afternoon, the snow had begun to melt.

Unlike countries that receive regular snow, Jordan’s 2-3 days of snow per year bring the whole place to a standstill. Very few have central heating, so there are queues to buy gas and the supermarkets were packed with customers.

Yesterday and today have extremely peaceful, with most people staying at home (as advised by the government!) and catching up on sleep.

We’ve had the joy of visiting some neighbours who we hadn’t seen for a while.

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Our local park

There’s an old Arabic proverb, roughly translated “choose your neighbours before you choose your home”. It emphasises that it’s more important to have good neighbours than that your house is in perfect condition.

We’ve been blessed with very good neighbours who are always ready to offer us hospitality, or help us with any questions or needs we have.

Happy New Year!

We’ve been in Jordan 5 months and finished our first semester of Arabic school just before Christmas. The photo above was taken from the rooftop of our apartment building.

One of our New Years’ resolutions, now that we’ve settled into life here, is to blog a bit more, with photos and experiences we’ve had here.

If you’d like to receive these updates via email, please head over to our subscribe page.


 

Nu är det 5 månader sedan vi flyttade till Jordanien och strax innan jul avslutade vi vår första termin på arabiska skolan. Detta foto är taget uppe på vårt hustak här i Amman.

Ett av våra nyårslöften, nu när vi landat och livet känns lite mer stabilt här, är att börja blogga lite mer och lägga upp foton på vad vi hittar på här.

Om du vill ha dessa uppdateringar via email, gå gärna in på denna sidan.

 

Wes Anderson – World Refugee Day

It’s World Refugee Day today!

Here’s is clip with one of our favorite movie directors, Wes Anderson, sharing a few wise thoughts on refugees. We recently went to see his latest movie, Grand Budapest Hotel, and absolutely loved it.

If you’d like to partner with us when we move to Jordan in August to study arabic and work with Syrian refugees please visit this site!

Why we’re moving to Jordan (and how you can be involved)

For a summary of this post, check out this video we made.

We’ve had refugees on our hearts for a long time.

When we lived in Sweden, we chose to live in Rosengård, a community mainly comprised of people from North Africa and the Middle East. We loved the variety of people we came across and the warm hospitality of each culture.

During our time working in Cape Town, we’ve gravitated towards refugees, befriending Somalians, Zimbabweans and Malawians in the township where we worked.
As these friends shared their struggles with us, we got to see life from their perspective. We got to see what it’s like to live on the margins of society and to feel that your voice isn’t heard.

This stirred up something inside us. Over time we grew passionate about standing alongside asylum seekers and refugees in the midst of the many challenges they face.

 

 

So when the war in Syria began, with millions of people becoming refugees, we started looking for a way to get involved with those who have been displaced.

 

At the moment, 9,500 people a day are leaving their homes in search of somewhere safer, somewhere free of gunshots and mortar bombs.

In October we took a trip to the Middle East to spend time with some of these families and to find out what opportunities there are.

We sat and drank tea and heard tragic stories of loss, death, and destitution.

We experienced the warm hospitality and quiet dignity of these people.

At the moment there’s a great need for relief, with essentials like food, shelter and heat. The children are bored and eager for games and spaces to play.

In the long run the need will shift towards development.

We’ve decided that this is a group of people that we want to work with for the foreseeable future.

While we were there, we realised that to be of any real use in this region, and with these people we will need to learn Arabic.

Nelson Mandela said:

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.
If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

We’ve seen the importance of communicating in peoples’ heart languages while working in the townships of South Africa and know that it’s essential if you want to be effective in grassroots community development.

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So in August we will begin 2 years of Arabic study.

Our studies will be full time and immersive, combining classroom learning with home visits. This is the best way to learn a language like Arabic, which is considered the 2nd hardest language in the world.

Our goal is to be able to have deep conversations, to counsel and even read and write in Arabic.

Jonathan will have to stop developing websites for the first two years, an income we have relied on for our living costs up until now. This is why we’re launching our fundraising campaign today.

Once we’re finished studying, we will use our newly acquired language skills to continue working with people from this region.

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Here are 3 ways you can be involved in our new adventure:

  1. Join our prayer team and pray for us every week by clicking here
  2. Give to us financially, on a monthly or one-off basis
  3. Share our GoFundMe campaign on Facebook and/or Twitter (click here)

Please don’t hesitate to email us if you have any questions.

Click Here To See Our Campaign

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