Happy 24th of June Jordan!

Happy 24th of June to all Jordanians.

The Children Museum: Gross Discrimination

Yes I do… I also believe that the Children Museum is a great idea, a well-done effort and something we did need!

But today, as I took my son and daughter to the museum responding to a lot of encouragement by Roba and Ahmed, I came back home with a very bitter feeling.

It is killing me, dismaying me and even alarming me how this country is quickly becoming a country for the rich. I was all excited at the fancy and well-planned teaching-learning instruments and experiments but I was equally saddened and disappointed with the number of families who made a shy retreat at the entrance of the museum with the reception staff telling them that everyone going in has to pay a JD3 fee. Just imagine the feeling a parent has when he is told that he has to pay JD 21 for going in with his wife and five kids and he cannot afford it. (Ya it is his mistake, he should have used better birth control!)
Who is this genius who decided that each and every single person going in should pay that much? Is he Jordanian, does he have a family? Does he read the newspaper? Or is it only that this project, that received exceptional media hype, is only a for-profit stunt?

How can the kids that Ahmed imagined playing and learning in the museum go in there with such a ridiculous fee?

As I was leaving the museum a woman, who made a shy go-back to the King Hussein Park when told about the fee, asked me :"Is it worth it?"

"I said: Well it is!"

"But it is too much.. I cant pay JD 15 to go in… kteer yakhti."

I smiled to her… what would you have responded with… dear readers?