Working Trip to Amman, Jordon - Lifeline Auckland


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Working trip to Amman, Jordan. By Bryan Wilshire “Please avoid going to the Gaza strip border crossing today. Five people have been shot dead this morning and foreigners are advised to keep well clear.” Such was the aircraft pilots warning about 10 minutes out from Amman’s airport.
I had been personally invited by the Asia / Pacific Regional Director of Child Helplines International (CHI) to attend the International Consultation in Jordan. Five years ago, I had been invited to contribute to the newly formed CHI organisation. They saw the need to promote change to the way we care for our children through advocacy on a global scale. It did not take long to see the benefits of an organisation that was interested in the welfare of children and not focussed on self growth. CHI now consists of a small group of 15 staff worldwide who work with child helplines in 87 countries.
CHI's Work As an organisation, CHI members responded to more than 10.5 million calls world wide last year. Their reports are pursausive and it is easy to see why global authorities take note of the collective work of members. To date, CHI has achieved much through the United Nations. The UN has agreed with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to work towards achieving a global telephone number that can be used toll free anywhere in the world. CHI have also carried out extensive studies delving into child trafficking, violence against children and child abuse. They have developed governance programmes and operating standards and offer assistance to newly developed groups.
Queen Rania Al Abdullah The consultation was hosted by The Jordan River Foundation, headed by and under the Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah. The Queen, reputedly the youngest Queen in the world, attended and presented a paper on Child Abuse and the need to break the cycle of violence and the value of their newly formed Child Helpline. The Queen, an extremely attractive young mother of four, spoke with genuine concern and passion about her country and the work counsellors are doing with whole families to battle child abuse and ensure the safety of children. Conference Topics Within the conference timeframe, I had the opportunity to talk and share ideas about what we do beyond just Kidsline issues. Topics of interest included recruitment of staff, volunteer retention, training issues, technical connection, the power of consistent reporting and the need to keep interpreteted statistical information. We talked about new communications methods, forging partnerships, monitoring and evaluating services, data mining, regional issues, internet safety and confidentiality in child protection. Needless to say the opportunity to talk to people of other cultures was a valuable experience and further exchanges of information have already been actioned.
I had lengthy discussions with the Director of Lifeline/Childline Namibia heard about shared telephones in schools and the use of radio to connect with distant callers.
Amman The trip itself was as amazing as the host country’s lifestyle, landscape and people. Amman, the capital of Jordan has a population of about 2 million and traffic congestion that leaves us in Auckland with nothing to complain about. The people were friendly and courteous, spoke English, in many cases had heard of New Zealand but did not really know where it was. They remarked on our beautiful green landscape, farms, the sea and climate.
I guess that in a city that has an annual rainfall of 50mm, most things covered with a fine layer of ultra fine sand and the presence of machine gun toting soldiers perched on armoured vehicles or patrolling the footpaths, it was not hard to notice differences. We visited sites dealing with child abuse and Jordan’s Child Helpline. Both were modern spacious buildings, well founded technically and generous in space per employee. I was surprised as to how open our hosts were in dealing with the issues identified and how freely people spoke. It was a fantastic experience to see and hear how other cultures care for their children in one of the oldest civilisations and one that has suffered conflict or been surrounded by conflict for countless generations.