"Allah al akabar...aaallllaaahhhh aaahhahh..ak'bar. Ashhadoo ana laah il lallah ana mohammadan rasul allah," rings through the air, the calm soothing voices echo through the hills and valleys from every mosque in the Middle East calling the people to prayer five times a day. It is welcoming to me, a music lover. Although, as I have been told in a very serious tone, "it is not a song, but the call to prayer." Either way, there is something about the tone of the voices singing with perfect clarity that I so enjoy. That is, unless it is the call just around sunset.
Why, you may wonder? Because as soon as my ears are filled with this heavenly sound, my nose and lungs are bombarded by toxins, as it is the habit of many Jordanians to set fire to their waste bins all throughout the land. The sunsets will never be as beautiful as I have experienced throughout my life living in Southern California. No, these sunsets are cloudy with a black smoke-filled haze.
After analyzing the nightly smoke and pondering this subject for almost a year now, I really feel that the citizens mean no harm. I am sure this is something of a ritual started thousands of years ago in order to keep the land and area around their home free of trash. Much of the smoke I see is actually brush and weeds being burned along the sides of the roads. It makes sense, as there is no fire danger here since the underlying surface is made of rock, unlike California...where wild fires run ramped and endanger the lives of people and wildlife, burning down forests and wooden homes every year. In Jordan, the houses are constructed of cement, concrete and stone.
However, this setting fire to the waste bins habit really needs to be addressed, hence me writing about it now. You see, there is no organized recycling program in place here. I have been told by a few they do recycle, but that it happens at the landfill site, where various individuals will go through and pull out the plastic, aluminium etc. I have personally never witnessed this, and hope it is true. What I do know, is that the waste bins that are being burned nightly are filled with recyclable trash...with a VERY high percent being PLASTIC!! Not only plastic which most Americans and Europeans know is full of chemical toxins, but also fluorescent bulbs, batteries and other mercury containing waste which are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, especially when burned, to every living thing on Earth!
So the question and major issue on my mind every night is, what can I do to stop this? How can I help? I have already explained to my family (100+ members) that littering is something they can put and end to. I know this is a bit off the subject, but really it's all connected, for it is a consciousness, a way of thinking, a way of life. I have personally picked up the mountains of trash littered throughout my father-in-laws backyard, one of the few backyards in the village. Children from around the neighborhood often go there to play as the yard has olive trees and some grass, unlike most of the inner village areas.
It was appalling and heartbreaking to see the kids playing among Pepsi plastic liters, plastic bags, chip and candy bar wrappers, broken Coke bottles, rice bags, diapers, old shoes, etc....basically TRASH. After I picked up the yard (and asked for assistance of which everyone obliged). I asked, "Now can't you see the difference?" They all agreed and said, "Shukran, shukran, Auntie Atheena." However, the next week when I returned it looked the same as before we cleaned it. I spent a good six months living in the inner village, catching the children and adults throwing their liter on the ground. My husband put up two very large trash cans; one near the front of the house entry and one in the garden. When we were around patrolling, most of the trash made it in the bins, however once we moved, the trash cans themselves were actually destroyed.
As I said before, living a liter-free life and taking care of your environment is a consciousness. The question is how can I spread this consciousness and actually get the support of the government and local authorities to actually do something about it? And an even bigger question, is how can I get the people to care? I don't know. I have many ideas for programs and lessons of which can be taught in the schools, as this is where the real change can happen. I have written many letters of which got no reply. I have posted on American-based blog sites asking for volunteers to help me do something about this. Everyone writes back how bold I am to take on such a large task and all wish me "good luck." So far, my luck has not been good and I realize it is going to more than me to make a change. In the meantime,when the sun is setting and the prayer call begins, I close my windows and pray for the day I can sit on my roof and take in both the sunset and the beautiful voice without becoming ill.
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