A Discussion with Obah, Student at the JRS Higher Education Center, Amman, Jordan
With: Obah Berkley Center Profile
June 8, 2016
Background: As a part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in June 2016 undergraduate student Jonathan Thrall interviewed Obah, a student pursuing the Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins (JC:HEM) online diploma in liberal studies, implemented by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Jordan. In this interview, conducted at the JRS Higher Education Center in Amman, Obah discusses her difficulty in accepting her status as a refugee, the challenge in juggling work and studies, and the tight-knit community of support she has found at JRS Higher Education.
Could you please introduce yourself?
My name is Obah. I’m from Somalia; I’m 26 years old. I joined the diploma program in 2014, and I’m in my second year. I’m single, and I’m here alone, without my family.
Could you tell me about your background, especially educationally or professionally?
Actually, I complete[d] my higher education in Somalia, and I came here in Jordan in 2013. After two months of my arriving here, I joined JRS, and I took two to three courses in English language, then I took another course [through JC:HEM Community Service and Learning Tracks {CSLT}], then after one year I joined the diploma program. Now I’m working as an interpreter in the International Organization of Migration [IOM] and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] from Arabic to Somali/Somali to Arabic.
What were your experiences upon arrival in Amman?
First, it was difficult because I was alone without my family, and that was my first time to leave my family and live alone, and everything was different and difficult. And after it took me like a year to get used to the society, the life, the people and everything, and it’s...living as a refugee in an Arab country is very difficult.
What were the main difficulties you faced in the first few months here after arriving?
It was difficult to find work, and it was kind of difficult to live with—like, when I first arrived here we were living, like, seven girls in one room, so the room was small and was not enough. And we couldn’t make a relationship with neighbors—with Jordanian neighbors or other neighbors—because we are refugee[s]. And the most difficult for me is, like, accepting myself as a refugee.
How’s life in general today?
Now it’s much easier, because now I have a lot of friends. I have a lot of family; I consider they are like my second family. I have, alhamdulillah [praise Allah], a good job, and I’m studying. I gr[ew] up, and I understood a lot of things, and I accept—I accept myself, the situation I am. So it’s much easier now.
So that acceptance of being a refugee at first was hard, but now it’s easier?
Before was, like, difficult because, like—I’ve been raised in the United Arab Emirates [UAE], and I consider myself UAE. Then when I go to Somalia, the same thing: I’m Somali. But when I came here, like everyone used to call me, "Refugee, refugee." And when I work for the first time, I work [as a house cleaner]. So it was difficult when I first came here. After two months they took me to a family house, and then the lady was calling me khadama, like "servant," and that was kind of weird and difficult...yeah. So I worked different works: when I [left] that house I work in school, I work in hospital, until IOM and UNHCR.
And how did you find that work?
Actually, one of my friends was working there. She was Somali, and then when she left she said, "If you want to, they need someone [who speaks fluently] in Arabic," and [the] Somali community, they are not fluent in Arabic, and they do not know Arabic language. So I apply [on] the website, and then I give them my CV. Then they interview me, and then I get the job!
And how did you find out about JRS and the JC:HEM diploma?
I found JRS [through] one of my roommates, who was studying here two years before me. I go with her and then, through JRS, I found JC:HEM.
And how did you experience the admissions processes?
I first took English classes, like three courses, at [the school in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood of Amman where JRS ran its educational programs until 2015], and then I took a CSLT class here in June or May 2014 and then Maya [Perlmann], my teacher, she advised me, "If you want to continue your education, I think you are suitable for the diploma program." And then I apply and I took the exam, but unfortunately they didn’t accept me for the interview. So I [felt] disappointed, and I said, "Okay, I will leave JC:HEM," but like two weeks later, Maya called me, and she said she had an offer for me because a lot of the students drop out after the interview. So I [got] the chance, and I took it.
Could you tell me a little bit about the diploma program?
From the beginning it was interesting because we took "Bridge to Learn[ing"] and interpersonal communication. And the subjects, very easy and useful, but later it [became] difficult and complicated, and I’m not good in written English, and up to now I’m suffering. I’m doing my best to improve my skills in written, but it’s difficult. I was asking Maya or [former coordinator] Erin [Wall] to help me or some other students like Mohamed and Khalid.
So what has helped you to improve your writing so far?
Reading a lot. Yeah, reading a lot. And just writing some short assignments. But up to now I’m still suffering.
Could you talk a bit about your study habits?
First I read, then I [take] a general idea, then I Google; I search for the subject, and I read the subject deeply, and then I start writing my assignments according to what they recommend us to write. And I ask. I ask Khalid and Mohamed, and I [take] some ideas from them, and they are so helpful.
What are some of the biggest challenges involved in your studies?
Actually, working...yeah, working. Because sometimes—like this year I’m completely free; I work every two or three days because they don’t have many cases. But before I used to work from 8:00 a.m. up to 5:00 p.m. And I used to take two interviews [for UNHCR and IOM], sometimes three interviews. And then when I came home, holding a lot of horrible stories, so it would be difficult for me to focus on my studying, because you know—a lot of stories. You hear different stories, and you experience some of these stories.
How did you cope with that or work to overcome that?
Actually, I take, like, two or three days to relax, where I don’t work, and then I start doing my assignments and that—I’m always late in posting. [My coursemates] are in week six now, and I’m still in week three [of the current eight-week course]. Last week I was working two or three days, and I came directly here. When I finish my work at four o’clock, I come directly here, and I start doing my assignments. Or sometimes, most of the times, you find me sitting here and talking with them, and I don’t want to do my assignments because—
Because it ends up being a social space here?
Yeah.
How would you describe your relation with the other students here?
The students here in the center, I feel like they are part of my life. And I consider the center is, like, I can say, my second home. Because always I am here, even if I have nothing to do. I just come here to drink coffee and tea and just talk to the students.
The community here then, having those friends, it helps?
Yeah, yeah. For example, sometimes I don’t want to do my assignments, like I just don’t want to study. So the other students, they encourage me. And once I wanted to drop out, but they wouldn’t let me drop out. Like, "It’s your future, you [had] a long journey, you have only one year to finish it—don’t drop out. It would be so silly, if you start something and then you work hard and you go all this, like, distance. It would be so silly to drop out. Don’t do it!"
Like, I find more support in the center because, a while ago, when Erin was still here, it was difficult for me to continue because my writing is really weak. And I saw that they were doing better than me and I wasn’t, so I said, "Enough, I am going to drop out, and I am going to pursue a course in writing." Erin said, "No. They are not better than you. There are things in which you are better and things in which they are better. So you need to try in the things in which you aren’t as good, and I will help you, and I will tell everyone here to help you." So many times I don’t want to come to the center. I’ll be at home, I don’t want to go, and she would contact me and she’d say, "Obah, I want you to come to the center!" So that’s someone I miss a lot.
So, then, what is your greatest source of motivation in your studies at JC:HEM?
In center? Before was Maya and Erin, and now I can say Mohamed and Khalid. Yeah.
Could you tell me about the online learning experience?
The online experience is interesting and very good for me because I learn a lot of things; I get a lot of experience. But sometimes, before, it was so hard to connect with the instructors because, you know, if you want to connect with someone online you have to be good in writing, and I’m not good in writing. So every time, when I want to get extension, I have to help someone to help me when I write my letter. If I just want to do something, I have—I always need others’ help because I’m not good in written, and this is hurting me a lot. Because I’m doing my best to improve my writing skills, and I feel like I’m still going around in the same circle.
So you get all this support. Do you feel...has that motivated you to help others? I’ve noticed that a lot of students here rely on you, too!
Yeah, like, feeling that you are benefit for someone else, it gives you—you are doing something [for] others, and it feels good, yeah. As long as I have a lot of people helping me, at the same time I have to give instead of [just] taking. So it’s like a circle: give more as you take. So sometimes I help [the cohort of students who started the diploma in 2016] if they want just to understand some subject. If they want some help, I’m just always here for them—for the things I know!
So how are the relationships with the professors?
Yeah, it depends on the subject. And it depends on the instructor. Like some instructors are, they want [you] to submit the assignments on time. And I have this difficulty in writing. So when I submit late, like two weeks, they grade me very poor, even [when] I explain to them I am not good in written. And other instructors, they are so—mashallah [God willed it], they just give me the grade that I deserve no matter if I post late or not late.
And sometimes we have, in the group, [on the virtual learning platform] Blackboard, we have to write for at least one person and give them feedback. So to give them feedback, it [takes] me one hour or two hours to write my feedback, to correct the grammar, to correct the structures, and you see now.
You feel like you, in return, from the professor, don’t get the right feedback?
Yeah, yeah. Sometimes I receive it, and sometimes I don’t. And sometimes I feel shy. Because, you know, I’m 26 years old, and I’m in my second year, and still I have a lot of mistakes, a lot of grammatical mistakes, so I avoid [contacting the professor about it]. I know it’s wrong, because I’m still learning. But you know sometimes I feel like—yeah.
But so you don’t get that much of personal relationship with the professors?
No, not much. Not much. Just post my assignments and take their notes and that’s it. And if I need extension, I may ask extension and that’s it. Yeah.
Aside from just the professors, what tools are available to you?
There are online tutors [whom you can contact through Blackboard]. So, the first time I couldn’t use the program because I’m not familiar using some apps or some programs. And later, I do it and I submit it, and it took like two weeks [to get any response]. And if each assignment takes like two weeks or more than one week or more than five, six days, I don’t need this. It’s better for me to submit the way I write it [than to] just waiting for two weeks.
And at anytime when you’re taking these courses, you’re also taking it with other students at other centers?
Yeah, at other [JRS/JC:HEM] centers, like Kakuma and Zalika [refugee camps], I think.
Do you interact much with them?
Some courses yes, and some courses no. It depends on my time. Like when I’m not working, I don’t have anything else except studying and just reading their post and commenting on their assignments. But when I’m working, I only do my assignments, and I post them, because I don’t have much time. Because we have a lot of reading, we have a lot of videos [the professor assigns us to watch]. And a lot of writing, so there is no time.
So especially with posting things late, there is some flexibility? What are the challenges when you do fall behind? How do you catch up?
If I ask extension, probably the maximum for extension is like 14 days. So I’ll do my best to finish [within] these 14 days and if I couldn’t then—for example, the last course I was doing dynamic algebra, and I was doing [a politics course] at the same time, because I had fallen behind in dynamic algebra. Because you know dynamic algebra need[s] a lot of time because mathematics, and you have to study and you have to think—and the same thing with [the politics course]. So like for the last two weeks I couldn’t, so I put my attention on dynamic algebra, and I left the political aside.
To return to the community aspect of this center, you have students here that are from all different backgrounds and places. Can you talk about that? How do you negotiate that diversity of the center?
The good thing is we are different backgrounds. We are from different communities, and it was a good chance to meet together and involve together and share the common things between us. So at the beginning it was [hard], but later it becomes just like—easy and nice!
And do you notice new students having difficulties at first but then, over time, it smooths over like it did for you?
Yeah. When Maya and Erin was here we were the same students, CSLT and English course and diploma. We [were] all together, and we [got] used to each other. But then when Maya and Erin left at the same month, [the center accepted more students]; I couldn’t come here for, like, two months. And I dropped two courses, political and sociology. I felt like everything chang[ing] at the center, new people, new faces, so I stopped attending my classes. But later I came here, and I [met] new students; I get used to them. I met [the new staff], and it became—yeah.
So those courses that you dropped, when will you catch them up?
Next year.
Is there anything that you would do to improve the JRS and/or JC:HEM experience?
For the program, I think we need some volunteer people to help the students, especially in writing and understanding the subject and the context. Because this course, dynamic algebra, there was no—we couldn’t find someone in the program [who has] experience in mathematic[s]. So there was one student in my class, and he [studied] engineering, so he was teaching us. And also science and chemistry. So I think sometimes in some subjects, we need some professors or someone [who has] experience with politics or with dynamic algebra or with science to help the students.
When we were taking the philosophy course, Father Bernard [Hyacinth Arputhasamy, S.J., previous JRS country director in Jordan] was here; also there was [another Jesuit priest] here, he studied philosophy. So every Saturday we used to gather inside our class and discuss about the book Personal and Being. So he was helping us to understand the concept and to do our assignments. And if we need anything, he gave us his email, and he asked us to email him if we couldn’t understand something. But now there’s nothing. The [students in the year below us] have some difficulty for understanding this book; it’s so difficult...so difficult. So I think if there’s some volunteer it will help.
Any other improvements?
For the center—it’s small. We have only two rooms and you will see, [we have two diploma cohorts, and] we are now about to accept [the newest]. We have CSLT class; we have English classes. And a lot of students in a small space. And also the laptops—they are not enough. Most of them are not working, or the keyboards are missing keys! The laptops are the same since I started, and they were not new at that time.
Are there any core values or ideals that you see emphasized in the curriculum or in the program? Or maybe the center itself?
How we’re all of different nationalities, and we all accept each other; we study together, and there’s no difference between us. There is no differences between Iraqis or Syrians or Sudanese or Somali. Like, we are one. And maybe this experience gives me more over time and will last longer than the present time. In the curriculum, there are a lot of subjects in which we learned values. Like in philosophy, we learned many things. In religion—it was my best course, really! Because before I [didn’t] have any idea about Buddhism, Judaism—the only religion I know is my religion and Christian religion because I have a lot of Christian friends. So I only know Islamic and Christian religions. But I never [had] any idea about Judaism, or Buddhism—their background, their suffering, a lot of things. So it opened my mind. Yeah, it opened my mind; it was interesting.
So overall, what are your impressions, your thoughts on the curriculum? Or how would you maybe characterize the curriculum? Anything you would change?
When we start[ed], we started without having any course of writing. And you know, most of the students, English language, our second language, it’s not our first language. And you know, in every second language, writing is the most difficult part. So I think if the new students, before they start the diploma, if they have only one month practicing writing. Even we took a course in academic writing, a lot of students say they benefit, but at that time I was working two shifts, and I couldn’t get any benefit.
So it was too short?
Yeah, it was too quick. So [if] it would be like one month before the diploma course started, the students have a chance to practice writing. It would be much better and helpful for them.
What does pursuing this diploma mean to you?
It means to me a new world. Because I opened my eyes in a lot of things I wouldn’t know before, I wouldn’t study and—some of what I studied, I’m practicing now in my personal life. Yeah, so it was very helpful and benefit for me.
And how do you hope to use what you’ve learned? You say you’re already using it?
Yeah, for example, in my community—or I can say, in my small community—when I go back home, when I took some ideas or some subjects, for now the [course is focused on the subject of] genocide, when I go home, I shared these ideas with my roommates. Because they don’t know. They don’t know English. They don’t have time to study; they are working, most of them. Two or three of them are not educated, so I’m just...I explain to them, I show them the pictures, and we talk a lot. And I just—I give them information, and at the same time it helps me. Because when I’m giving them this information, it’s stuck [in] my head, and at the same time they’re getting benefit from it. And also in religion! Before I had no idea about yoga, yeah, but when I took this course, I learn a lot of things about chakras and yoga, and I’m practicing it. Not every day—when I need it! Sometimes when I’m nervous, sometimes when I’m sad, I just like practicing yoga.
What about learning English? What does that mean to you?
Really, learning English is like everything to me. Because now English is the first language [in the world], and I’m working in two big organizations, humanitarian organizations, that require English language. And yet now I’m just, just when I’m interpreting—I’m interpreting from Arabic to Somali, from Arabic to Somali—some officers let me translate directly from English to Somali. But when I’m translating from Somali to Arabic, because I understand, but when I’m feeling bad, I make a lot of mistakes, like you see me now!
I [took] a course in British Council through [the JRS Higher Education Center], and I took another course in a church in [downtown Amman]...Jesuit community I think? It’s a church, but they offer English language lessons for everybody. But you have to sponsor yourself; it’s not like JRS/JC:HEM. But I took course there, and I improve[d] my accent. I took another course in British Council and, just, I’m doing my best to find someone to swap language, to practice, so I can practice English with that person and at the same time that person can practice Arabic with me.
What does social justice mean to you?
I think social justice is the basis of our presence here. Because without social justice, a lot of students wouldn’t be here, at the center, at JRS Higher Education. So it’s important, it’s the basic, before any other thing.
So you think social justice plays a role here?
Yeah, definitely. Like, for example, when a student come and take an exam, if they qualify, they will accept [them]. If they are not qualified, they advise them to try again later and come back when you are qualified. But no one accept students [just] like that. There are exams; there are interviews. And a lot of steps before you get that, before you [can] be a student at this center.
So steps of fairness, but also encouragement?
Yes.
Is there anything that we haven’t discussed that you would want to add? Any question that I did not ask?
No, we covered everything, I think!
My name is Obah. I’m from Somalia; I’m 26 years old. I joined the diploma program in 2014, and I’m in my second year. I’m single, and I’m here alone, without my family.
Could you tell me about your background, especially educationally or professionally?
Actually, I complete[d] my higher education in Somalia, and I came here in Jordan in 2013. After two months of my arriving here, I joined JRS, and I took two to three courses in English language, then I took another course [through JC:HEM Community Service and Learning Tracks {CSLT}], then after one year I joined the diploma program. Now I’m working as an interpreter in the International Organization of Migration [IOM] and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] from Arabic to Somali/Somali to Arabic.
What were your experiences upon arrival in Amman?
First, it was difficult because I was alone without my family, and that was my first time to leave my family and live alone, and everything was different and difficult. And after it took me like a year to get used to the society, the life, the people and everything, and it’s...living as a refugee in an Arab country is very difficult.
What were the main difficulties you faced in the first few months here after arriving?
It was difficult to find work, and it was kind of difficult to live with—like, when I first arrived here we were living, like, seven girls in one room, so the room was small and was not enough. And we couldn’t make a relationship with neighbors—with Jordanian neighbors or other neighbors—because we are refugee[s]. And the most difficult for me is, like, accepting myself as a refugee.
How’s life in general today?
Now it’s much easier, because now I have a lot of friends. I have a lot of family; I consider they are like my second family. I have, alhamdulillah [praise Allah], a good job, and I’m studying. I gr[ew] up, and I understood a lot of things, and I accept—I accept myself, the situation I am. So it’s much easier now.
So that acceptance of being a refugee at first was hard, but now it’s easier?
Before was, like, difficult because, like—I’ve been raised in the United Arab Emirates [UAE], and I consider myself UAE. Then when I go to Somalia, the same thing: I’m Somali. But when I came here, like everyone used to call me, "Refugee, refugee." And when I work for the first time, I work [as a house cleaner]. So it was difficult when I first came here. After two months they took me to a family house, and then the lady was calling me khadama, like "servant," and that was kind of weird and difficult...yeah. So I worked different works: when I [left] that house I work in school, I work in hospital, until IOM and UNHCR.
And how did you find that work?
Actually, one of my friends was working there. She was Somali, and then when she left she said, "If you want to, they need someone [who speaks fluently] in Arabic," and [the] Somali community, they are not fluent in Arabic, and they do not know Arabic language. So I apply [on] the website, and then I give them my CV. Then they interview me, and then I get the job!
And how did you find out about JRS and the JC:HEM diploma?
I found JRS [through] one of my roommates, who was studying here two years before me. I go with her and then, through JRS, I found JC:HEM.
And how did you experience the admissions processes?
I first took English classes, like three courses, at [the school in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood of Amman where JRS ran its educational programs until 2015], and then I took a CSLT class here in June or May 2014 and then Maya [Perlmann], my teacher, she advised me, "If you want to continue your education, I think you are suitable for the diploma program." And then I apply and I took the exam, but unfortunately they didn’t accept me for the interview. So I [felt] disappointed, and I said, "Okay, I will leave JC:HEM," but like two weeks later, Maya called me, and she said she had an offer for me because a lot of the students drop out after the interview. So I [got] the chance, and I took it.
Could you tell me a little bit about the diploma program?
From the beginning it was interesting because we took "Bridge to Learn[ing"] and interpersonal communication. And the subjects, very easy and useful, but later it [became] difficult and complicated, and I’m not good in written English, and up to now I’m suffering. I’m doing my best to improve my skills in written, but it’s difficult. I was asking Maya or [former coordinator] Erin [Wall] to help me or some other students like Mohamed and Khalid.
So what has helped you to improve your writing so far?
Reading a lot. Yeah, reading a lot. And just writing some short assignments. But up to now I’m still suffering.
Could you talk a bit about your study habits?
First I read, then I [take] a general idea, then I Google; I search for the subject, and I read the subject deeply, and then I start writing my assignments according to what they recommend us to write. And I ask. I ask Khalid and Mohamed, and I [take] some ideas from them, and they are so helpful.
What are some of the biggest challenges involved in your studies?
Actually, working...yeah, working. Because sometimes—like this year I’m completely free; I work every two or three days because they don’t have many cases. But before I used to work from 8:00 a.m. up to 5:00 p.m. And I used to take two interviews [for UNHCR and IOM], sometimes three interviews. And then when I came home, holding a lot of horrible stories, so it would be difficult for me to focus on my studying, because you know—a lot of stories. You hear different stories, and you experience some of these stories.
How did you cope with that or work to overcome that?
Actually, I take, like, two or three days to relax, where I don’t work, and then I start doing my assignments and that—I’m always late in posting. [My coursemates] are in week six now, and I’m still in week three [of the current eight-week course]. Last week I was working two or three days, and I came directly here. When I finish my work at four o’clock, I come directly here, and I start doing my assignments. Or sometimes, most of the times, you find me sitting here and talking with them, and I don’t want to do my assignments because—
Because it ends up being a social space here?
Yeah.
How would you describe your relation with the other students here?
The students here in the center, I feel like they are part of my life. And I consider the center is, like, I can say, my second home. Because always I am here, even if I have nothing to do. I just come here to drink coffee and tea and just talk to the students.
The community here then, having those friends, it helps?
Yeah, yeah. For example, sometimes I don’t want to do my assignments, like I just don’t want to study. So the other students, they encourage me. And once I wanted to drop out, but they wouldn’t let me drop out. Like, "It’s your future, you [had] a long journey, you have only one year to finish it—don’t drop out. It would be so silly, if you start something and then you work hard and you go all this, like, distance. It would be so silly to drop out. Don’t do it!"
Like, I find more support in the center because, a while ago, when Erin was still here, it was difficult for me to continue because my writing is really weak. And I saw that they were doing better than me and I wasn’t, so I said, "Enough, I am going to drop out, and I am going to pursue a course in writing." Erin said, "No. They are not better than you. There are things in which you are better and things in which they are better. So you need to try in the things in which you aren’t as good, and I will help you, and I will tell everyone here to help you." So many times I don’t want to come to the center. I’ll be at home, I don’t want to go, and she would contact me and she’d say, "Obah, I want you to come to the center!" So that’s someone I miss a lot.
So, then, what is your greatest source of motivation in your studies at JC:HEM?
In center? Before was Maya and Erin, and now I can say Mohamed and Khalid. Yeah.
Could you tell me about the online learning experience?
The online experience is interesting and very good for me because I learn a lot of things; I get a lot of experience. But sometimes, before, it was so hard to connect with the instructors because, you know, if you want to connect with someone online you have to be good in writing, and I’m not good in writing. So every time, when I want to get extension, I have to help someone to help me when I write my letter. If I just want to do something, I have—I always need others’ help because I’m not good in written, and this is hurting me a lot. Because I’m doing my best to improve my writing skills, and I feel like I’m still going around in the same circle.
So you get all this support. Do you feel...has that motivated you to help others? I’ve noticed that a lot of students here rely on you, too!
Yeah, like, feeling that you are benefit for someone else, it gives you—you are doing something [for] others, and it feels good, yeah. As long as I have a lot of people helping me, at the same time I have to give instead of [just] taking. So it’s like a circle: give more as you take. So sometimes I help [the cohort of students who started the diploma in 2016] if they want just to understand some subject. If they want some help, I’m just always here for them—for the things I know!
So how are the relationships with the professors?
Yeah, it depends on the subject. And it depends on the instructor. Like some instructors are, they want [you] to submit the assignments on time. And I have this difficulty in writing. So when I submit late, like two weeks, they grade me very poor, even [when] I explain to them I am not good in written. And other instructors, they are so—mashallah [God willed it], they just give me the grade that I deserve no matter if I post late or not late.
And sometimes we have, in the group, [on the virtual learning platform] Blackboard, we have to write for at least one person and give them feedback. So to give them feedback, it [takes] me one hour or two hours to write my feedback, to correct the grammar, to correct the structures, and you see now.
You feel like you, in return, from the professor, don’t get the right feedback?
Yeah, yeah. Sometimes I receive it, and sometimes I don’t. And sometimes I feel shy. Because, you know, I’m 26 years old, and I’m in my second year, and still I have a lot of mistakes, a lot of grammatical mistakes, so I avoid [contacting the professor about it]. I know it’s wrong, because I’m still learning. But you know sometimes I feel like—yeah.
But so you don’t get that much of personal relationship with the professors?
No, not much. Not much. Just post my assignments and take their notes and that’s it. And if I need extension, I may ask extension and that’s it. Yeah.
Aside from just the professors, what tools are available to you?
There are online tutors [whom you can contact through Blackboard]. So, the first time I couldn’t use the program because I’m not familiar using some apps or some programs. And later, I do it and I submit it, and it took like two weeks [to get any response]. And if each assignment takes like two weeks or more than one week or more than five, six days, I don’t need this. It’s better for me to submit the way I write it [than to] just waiting for two weeks.
And at anytime when you’re taking these courses, you’re also taking it with other students at other centers?
Yeah, at other [JRS/JC:HEM] centers, like Kakuma and Zalika [refugee camps], I think.
Do you interact much with them?
Some courses yes, and some courses no. It depends on my time. Like when I’m not working, I don’t have anything else except studying and just reading their post and commenting on their assignments. But when I’m working, I only do my assignments, and I post them, because I don’t have much time. Because we have a lot of reading, we have a lot of videos [the professor assigns us to watch]. And a lot of writing, so there is no time.
So especially with posting things late, there is some flexibility? What are the challenges when you do fall behind? How do you catch up?
If I ask extension, probably the maximum for extension is like 14 days. So I’ll do my best to finish [within] these 14 days and if I couldn’t then—for example, the last course I was doing dynamic algebra, and I was doing [a politics course] at the same time, because I had fallen behind in dynamic algebra. Because you know dynamic algebra need[s] a lot of time because mathematics, and you have to study and you have to think—and the same thing with [the politics course]. So like for the last two weeks I couldn’t, so I put my attention on dynamic algebra, and I left the political aside.
To return to the community aspect of this center, you have students here that are from all different backgrounds and places. Can you talk about that? How do you negotiate that diversity of the center?
The good thing is we are different backgrounds. We are from different communities, and it was a good chance to meet together and involve together and share the common things between us. So at the beginning it was [hard], but later it becomes just like—easy and nice!
And do you notice new students having difficulties at first but then, over time, it smooths over like it did for you?
Yeah. When Maya and Erin was here we were the same students, CSLT and English course and diploma. We [were] all together, and we [got] used to each other. But then when Maya and Erin left at the same month, [the center accepted more students]; I couldn’t come here for, like, two months. And I dropped two courses, political and sociology. I felt like everything chang[ing] at the center, new people, new faces, so I stopped attending my classes. But later I came here, and I [met] new students; I get used to them. I met [the new staff], and it became—yeah.
So those courses that you dropped, when will you catch them up?
Next year.
Is there anything that you would do to improve the JRS and/or JC:HEM experience?
For the program, I think we need some volunteer people to help the students, especially in writing and understanding the subject and the context. Because this course, dynamic algebra, there was no—we couldn’t find someone in the program [who has] experience in mathematic[s]. So there was one student in my class, and he [studied] engineering, so he was teaching us. And also science and chemistry. So I think sometimes in some subjects, we need some professors or someone [who has] experience with politics or with dynamic algebra or with science to help the students.
When we were taking the philosophy course, Father Bernard [Hyacinth Arputhasamy, S.J., previous JRS country director in Jordan] was here; also there was [another Jesuit priest] here, he studied philosophy. So every Saturday we used to gather inside our class and discuss about the book Personal and Being. So he was helping us to understand the concept and to do our assignments. And if we need anything, he gave us his email, and he asked us to email him if we couldn’t understand something. But now there’s nothing. The [students in the year below us] have some difficulty for understanding this book; it’s so difficult...so difficult. So I think if there’s some volunteer it will help.
Any other improvements?
For the center—it’s small. We have only two rooms and you will see, [we have two diploma cohorts, and] we are now about to accept [the newest]. We have CSLT class; we have English classes. And a lot of students in a small space. And also the laptops—they are not enough. Most of them are not working, or the keyboards are missing keys! The laptops are the same since I started, and they were not new at that time.
Are there any core values or ideals that you see emphasized in the curriculum or in the program? Or maybe the center itself?
How we’re all of different nationalities, and we all accept each other; we study together, and there’s no difference between us. There is no differences between Iraqis or Syrians or Sudanese or Somali. Like, we are one. And maybe this experience gives me more over time and will last longer than the present time. In the curriculum, there are a lot of subjects in which we learned values. Like in philosophy, we learned many things. In religion—it was my best course, really! Because before I [didn’t] have any idea about Buddhism, Judaism—the only religion I know is my religion and Christian religion because I have a lot of Christian friends. So I only know Islamic and Christian religions. But I never [had] any idea about Judaism, or Buddhism—their background, their suffering, a lot of things. So it opened my mind. Yeah, it opened my mind; it was interesting.
So overall, what are your impressions, your thoughts on the curriculum? Or how would you maybe characterize the curriculum? Anything you would change?
When we start[ed], we started without having any course of writing. And you know, most of the students, English language, our second language, it’s not our first language. And you know, in every second language, writing is the most difficult part. So I think if the new students, before they start the diploma, if they have only one month practicing writing. Even we took a course in academic writing, a lot of students say they benefit, but at that time I was working two shifts, and I couldn’t get any benefit.
So it was too short?
Yeah, it was too quick. So [if] it would be like one month before the diploma course started, the students have a chance to practice writing. It would be much better and helpful for them.
What does pursuing this diploma mean to you?
It means to me a new world. Because I opened my eyes in a lot of things I wouldn’t know before, I wouldn’t study and—some of what I studied, I’m practicing now in my personal life. Yeah, so it was very helpful and benefit for me.
And how do you hope to use what you’ve learned? You say you’re already using it?
Yeah, for example, in my community—or I can say, in my small community—when I go back home, when I took some ideas or some subjects, for now the [course is focused on the subject of] genocide, when I go home, I shared these ideas with my roommates. Because they don’t know. They don’t know English. They don’t have time to study; they are working, most of them. Two or three of them are not educated, so I’m just...I explain to them, I show them the pictures, and we talk a lot. And I just—I give them information, and at the same time it helps me. Because when I’m giving them this information, it’s stuck [in] my head, and at the same time they’re getting benefit from it. And also in religion! Before I had no idea about yoga, yeah, but when I took this course, I learn a lot of things about chakras and yoga, and I’m practicing it. Not every day—when I need it! Sometimes when I’m nervous, sometimes when I’m sad, I just like practicing yoga.
What about learning English? What does that mean to you?
Really, learning English is like everything to me. Because now English is the first language [in the world], and I’m working in two big organizations, humanitarian organizations, that require English language. And yet now I’m just, just when I’m interpreting—I’m interpreting from Arabic to Somali, from Arabic to Somali—some officers let me translate directly from English to Somali. But when I’m translating from Somali to Arabic, because I understand, but when I’m feeling bad, I make a lot of mistakes, like you see me now!
I [took] a course in British Council through [the JRS Higher Education Center], and I took another course in a church in [downtown Amman]...Jesuit community I think? It’s a church, but they offer English language lessons for everybody. But you have to sponsor yourself; it’s not like JRS/JC:HEM. But I took course there, and I improve[d] my accent. I took another course in British Council and, just, I’m doing my best to find someone to swap language, to practice, so I can practice English with that person and at the same time that person can practice Arabic with me.
What does social justice mean to you?
I think social justice is the basis of our presence here. Because without social justice, a lot of students wouldn’t be here, at the center, at JRS Higher Education. So it’s important, it’s the basic, before any other thing.
So you think social justice plays a role here?
Yeah, definitely. Like, for example, when a student come and take an exam, if they qualify, they will accept [them]. If they are not qualified, they advise them to try again later and come back when you are qualified. But no one accept students [just] like that. There are exams; there are interviews. And a lot of steps before you get that, before you [can] be a student at this center.
So steps of fairness, but also encouragement?
Yes.
Is there anything that we haven’t discussed that you would want to add? Any question that I did not ask?
No, we covered everything, I think!
Opens in a new window