Sometimes our life here in Jordan seems to take us from one hurdle to another. We came with the sole purpose of supporting the running and development of Legacy Learning Centers International School here in Zarqa. It has been over a year since we arrived, and boy what a journey we have been on! Our most recent developments have proved some of our most challenging so far....
When we arrived here the school was looking to expand from simply being a kindergarten to growing, year by year, into a primary school. The plans to expand the current building to accommodate these extra classes fell through. We were saved in the last minute by being allowed to use some extra rooms in a local Catholic all boys secondary school for grades 1 and 2 (ages 6-8) for this year. This worked out well and a partnership began to form as a similar vision for good primary education here in Zarqa was at the forefront. The school had some extra space they were not using and so we, together with the priests thought it a good idea to move our whole school onto their property. Everything appeared to be going in our favour, but approval had to be gained from higher up in the Catholic Church. This approval took a long time to process as we had to wait for them to process the request in the right way. Finally an answer came through in February, "No!" Neither the priests nor us were given any real explanation as to the reason, but we now had a big problem on our hands... no building for next year!
So we let the parents know our predicament and asked them to stick with us while we tried to figure out a solution. We have come up with many solutions since then, and the business finance proposals have been written and re-written countless times to predict the outcomes of different scenarios. Yet every time we came close to securing a property, it would all fall through. this didn't just happen one or two times, but again and again and again and again and again. Finally it was coming close to the end of the school year, and we were all wondering if this was really meant to be. Were we going to have to let all of these parents down, let these precious children go into standard Jordanian schools and for us to return to a "normal" life in Wales (whatever that may be). No! We did not give in! We found a property. Unfortunately our kindergarten and primary school will have to be in two separate locations, yet again, but the school can continue. Hallelujah!
When we arrived here the school was looking to expand from simply being a kindergarten to growing, year by year, into a primary school. The plans to expand the current building to accommodate these extra classes fell through. We were saved in the last minute by being allowed to use some extra rooms in a local Catholic all boys secondary school for grades 1 and 2 (ages 6-8) for this year. This worked out well and a partnership began to form as a similar vision for good primary education here in Zarqa was at the forefront. The school had some extra space they were not using and so we, together with the priests thought it a good idea to move our whole school onto their property. Everything appeared to be going in our favour, but approval had to be gained from higher up in the Catholic Church. This approval took a long time to process as we had to wait for them to process the request in the right way. Finally an answer came through in February, "No!" Neither the priests nor us were given any real explanation as to the reason, but we now had a big problem on our hands... no building for next year!
So we let the parents know our predicament and asked them to stick with us while we tried to figure out a solution. We have come up with many solutions since then, and the business finance proposals have been written and re-written countless times to predict the outcomes of different scenarios. Yet every time we came close to securing a property, it would all fall through. this didn't just happen one or two times, but again and again and again and again and again. Finally it was coming close to the end of the school year, and we were all wondering if this was really meant to be. Were we going to have to let all of these parents down, let these precious children go into standard Jordanian schools and for us to return to a "normal" life in Wales (whatever that may be). No! We did not give in! We found a property. Unfortunately our kindergarten and primary school will have to be in two separate locations, yet again, but the school can continue. Hallelujah!
