5/17/2017
Celebrating International Museum Day
To
commemorate International Museum Day on May 18th, the Department of Antiquities
and USAID’s Sustainable Cultural Heritage Through Engagement of Local
Communities Project (SCHEP) organized heritage related activities with 12 girls
schools across Jordan.
USAID
SCHEP, implemented by the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), worked
with schools at 12 schools in the communities where SCHEP is active. SCHEP
supports sites in Bayt R’as in Irbid, Madaba, Umm al-Jimal, Ghawr al-Safi,
Busayra, Bir Madhkur, Wadi Araba, Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba.
SCHEP
Chief of Party, Nizar Al Adarbeh said, “The project is keen to involve various
age groups, especially school aged kids. They have such an important role in
preserving our cultural heritage and we hope to fostering their creative and
intellectual engagement to heritage. We want them to understand the importance
of this heritage and their role in preserving it.”
“It was
a really singular experience, having more than 500 students come together to
break their preconceived notions about cultural heritage. We highlighted their
responsibility in bringing about a change in the way we preserve heritage and
making this change sustainable. ”
In
addition to touring the SCHEP archaeological sites, the students visited museums
and engaged in a variety of activities. These included restoration and repair
of pottery, mosaics, and identifying Nabataean and Thamudic inscriptions and
rock paintings.
This
event was part of SCHEP’s “Youth for Heritage” program, a series of events and
activities to raise the awareness of the local community about the importance
of Jordan’s cultural heritage and how to preserve it. It aims to provide a
community a base for practice in the concepts of conservation, management and
development of these resources.
SCHEP
is a four year USAID project that uses a community-first approach to
preserving, managing and promoting cultural heritage resource in Jordan..