First Week in Jordan

I knew that Amman, Jordan had an estimated 2.5 million population, but I never imagined that I would see the population density on top of one of the many jebels or mountains/hills in Amman.  As we stood upon the Citadel where there are ancient Roman ruins and an old mosque and church, my group and I looked out at the vast other hills with buildings upon buildings.  I had never seen a city so condensed, and this view from the jebel helped me to envision the vastness and prosperous future Jordan.

Jordan is growing and developing, but it needs time and infrastructure to complete this growth.  Seeing the mast amounts of residential limestone and clay buildings built right next to each other and nearly on top of each other echoed pictures that I had seen in South American cities.  However, there are not nearly as many shacks and shelters built upon each other in Amman. 

The high population density of Amman made me realize the meaning of being part of a community.  The St. Louis, Missouri greater metropolitan community, which also contains a population of approximately 2.5 million people, is the community that I a member of.  Yet, the Amman metropolitan city seems to have much more to share and a long history to share with each other, especially the Muslim faith for many of its inhabitants.  This greater population density allows for more integration of religious services and encouragement towards fidelity in the Islamic faith.  The faith component is one that is missing from the St. Louis community as a main factor that joins its inhabitants together; there are Protestants, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews that compose the religious characteristic of St. Louis alone.  Being a very homogenous city, Amman brings together its community through faith.

Although St. Louis doesn’t have a joined faith to bring members of a community like Amman, it does have a marketplace and long history to bring members together like Amman.  Many of the inhabitants of Amman share the Arab and Egyptian histories, binding together these many groups together in a land.  Many of the residents of Amman know about this history as learned from the Koran, schools and educational institutions and/or religious scholars, which is an important part to the identity of Jordanians.  I believe Jordan and my city or medina of St. Louis have more in common than what appears to the eye.