People of Jordan
The Misfortunate and the Princess
A Legend from Modern Time
It all happens as in a fairytale.
Once upon a time, a young and restless Prince, sent far away from his family’s Estate by the turmoils of politics , met and fall in love with a beautiful Swedish girl, studying at the same University, Cambridge.
” I have nothing to offer, a long black tent, and a glass of fresh goat milk every morning…” did he say to her when he proposed to her.
Nonetheless, they married out of love and when at the end of the 60ies, they moved to Amman, called home by the King Hussein, cousin and friend of our Prince, Majda, the young Princess came naturally , beside her husband, in the struggling effort to develop and help her new country.
Amman, in this time was not yet the modern city of to-day, it was the archaic Orient, with its colorful streets, its pitoresque “souks”, but also this material poverty which , nevertheless the human warmth and the legendary hospitality, exposed itself everywhere howhever thick seemed to be the carapace of frivolity .
As her husband was busy with the Court duties, ( he was nominated Lord Chamberlain to HM King Hussein), the Princess, rich of her westerner background, would’nt just stay home.
With some of her new friends, ladies from the Court or wifes of foreign Embassadors, she went around the streets of Amman, looking at the existing obsolete orphanages ,schools, hospitals.
In 1971, 3 grown girls were sent away from their Center from East Amman when they became too old . Sent away?
Where to go?
These 3 girls were physically disabled and nobody knew what to do with them.
They had grown up in this governmental Institution for people with physical handicap, and out of there , their world stopped, there were no place for persons like them…
Because of these 3 girls, whose sad story came to the kind hearts of Princess Majda and her friends , the hopeless world of pain and distress of the diasabled persons was suddenly thrown open to their attention.
These unfortunate people were left to themselves to live and die useless to the society where nobody knew how to handle them.
To give these 3 girls a home, Majda and her friends decided to take the next step and to create an organization for all those left behind because of their physical disabilities .
A generous man , Samar El Khaseih, donated money so they could rent a big villa belonging to one Norwegian friend and in 1971, a new Institution for the Physically Disabled in need of guidance for their insertion in the public life was opened .
It was called the AlHussein Society.
They very quickly had more than 50 children .
It was never easy, they invested their strenght and spirit but much more was needed, and when the villa was not big enough anymore, Majda and her friends went around to beg for help.
It blessfully came with generous donations of Cabus, Sultan of Oman, King Hussein’s sister HRH Princess Basma, Queen Alia’s Fund , the kind help of Swedish Engineers etc.
A new place was open in 1984, and, and it is there that our 3 lost girls still live, working there as Housekeeper or Seamstress.
To-day the AHS , thanks to generous donators , has very much improved but is always in need for more help.
Read more…The AlHussein Society2