Daily Dispatch: March 13, 2010

By Mariana Cristancho-Ahn

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AMMAN, Jordan -– When our classmate Jose was introduced to Prince Hassan of Jordan on Saturday, the prince spoke to him in Spanish. When Sanaz met him and told him she was born in Iran, the prince joked about the tense relationship between the countries. When he met me, he spoke about how Jordan had copied some Colombian economic policies. When he met Omar, he kissed him on both cheeks.

Prince Hassan, the crown prince during most of the reign of his late brother King Hussein, proved himself to be a man of diplomacy and charm during our two hour meeting with him Saturday morning. He did his best to put everyone at ease.

He greeted us at the door of King Hussein Club, about 15 minutes by bus from our hotel. Professor Goldman, Cynthia and Yaffi, who are Sabbath observers and walked to the club, beat the bus by two minutes.

After introductions, the prince ushered us into an elegant glassed-in room and invited us to partake of a lavish breakfast buffet. We sat at a huge round table with Prince Hassan at the head, Goldman on his right side and members of diplomatic team on his left. While we ate, Goldman briefed the prince on the purpose of the Covering Religion seminar and our travel plans to sites of religious importance in Jordan and Israel.

Prince Hassan spoke about his experience in interfaith dialogue and the importance of “learning by putting yourself in the shoes of others.” He made reference to many scholars that he knew and conferences that he attended.

Prof. Goldman asked each of us to talk about the religion beats that we were covering, making the point that some students were covering faiths that were not their own. He asked Omar, a Muslim who is covering Jews, to begin.

Prince Hassan did not seem surprised by Omar’s choice. He is a good friend of Omar’s father who for many years served as a Jordanian diplomat. As he went around the table and heard from each of us, he would often add his own observations about the various faiths. He seemed to know about everything from Catholics to Druze and from Sufis to Jews.

After the brunch the prince, who is 62 years old, lead the group on a quick tour of the Islamic Educational College, a school for children from kindergarten to 12^th grade, across the street from the King Hussein club. He kept calling it a “madrassa,” a word that has taken on a negative connotation in many circles as a training ground for terrorists. Instead we saw another kind of madrassa, one that had a swimming pool with laughing girls taking lesson, playgrounds and brightly colored classrooms.

After our diplomatic encounter we left Amman and headed to Madaba, a town about half an hour southwest of Amman and the home of a small Orthodox Christian community.  We visited the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, famous for its VI century floor mosaic map with depictions of biblical sites. It is considered the first mosaic map in the world.

“When I saw that map in the ground it was my first interaction seeing something that old that I can connect with being a Christian,” said Tammy. “Those icons really spoke to me.”

For others the experience was closer to visiting a secular rather that a holy site. “It felt very touristy,” said Sam. “The icons were reproductions and you didn’t really feel the history.”

“I felt disconnected,” said Jose. “I didn’t have the religious experience that I was expecting.” Sommer missed the worshipers, “It is more important to me to see the people living their religion that visiting the place.”

We continued our journey heading to Mount Nebo, a series of peaks considered to be the site where Moses saw the Promised Land but was forbidden to step on it.

Upon our arrival shepherds and a big herd welcome us.  A monument in honor to the 2000 visit of Jean Paul II stands at the entrance of the site. A Roman Catholic Church stands at the top of the hill but was closed under renovation.

The astonishing views from Mount Nebo generated different reactions among our team.  “It reminded me of the movie ‘The Ten Commandments,’” said Tammy. “You can imagine what happened here and you feel connected with the history,” said Sam.

According to the Jewish and Christian traditions, God kept Moses’ burial site a secret but it is believed to be in the area of Mount Nebo. After hearing some biblical stories from our tour guide Jose said he would like to have a better understating of biblical history. “Now I want to learn more about the Judeo Christian perspective of history.”

After visiting Mount Nebo, we head to Petra via the Desert highway. Professor Goldman, Cynthia and Yaffi joined us at our hotel after sunset.

The two royal encounters that we had today taught me a couple of lessons. The meeting with Prince Hassan reminded me of the art of diplomacy and how I should be aware about it when reporting stories. The visit to the final dwelling place of Moses, Prince of Egypt, reminded me about the importance of having a better understanding of biblical history when reporting about the faiths of the Holy Land.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 3:59 am and is filed under Daily Dispatches and tagged with Mariana Cristancho-Ahn. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.