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AMMAN — When Deena J was born five years ago, her parents did not know she was autistic. Only a year and a half later, her parents found that she has a neurodevelopmental condition affecting her communication and how she interacts with the world around her. 

According to the American Psychiatric Association, autism is a spectrum disorder that causes problems with the way one thinks, feels and relates to others, and can often be a lifelong condition that cannot be fully cured. 

Since Deena’s condition was made apparent, her parents have been tugging her around Jordan from one centre to another, trying to find ways of improving her behavioural functioning. 

“If it wasn’t private centres, the government centres are failing extremely, no hygiene and cleanliness, I’ve been going to different centres for autism for years now, and one is worse than the other. At one centre, they hit my child, at the other, during the winter they wash the children in the bathroom with freezing ice water. When the children come back from the treatments, they always come back dirty, no care, no improvements,” Deena’s mother Amani Amr told The Jordan Times at the American Centre for Autism in Amman. 

She was there Saturday to accompany Deena of her fourth session of the SAVE Programme, a new initiative launched in Jordan, after working in the US for 10 years. 

The American Centre for Autism inaugurated on Wednesday its first clinic near the Seventh Circle and started with its first batch of patients, which were all pro-bono this week. 

“An estimated 1 in 2 children will be born autistic by the year 2020,” said Brandon Crawford, the medical director at the centre, adding that “this is why it’s important to educate the public about this condition and work on ways to retrain the brains of those affected by it.”

The SAVE Programme, which stands for “Sensori-motor Auditory Visual Education” is a five-day sensory-integration programme that treats autistic children to retrain their brain, stimulate their senses and improve their focus and daily function, according to the programme’s website.

“We’re here to bring a new approach to the treatment of autism. We’re integrating the senses in trying to rebuild their neuro-networks so they function better; retraining the brain to accept social triggers, and give appropriate responses,” said Crawford who has been working with autistic children for the past eight years. 

The 10-hour treatment, stretched over five days, uses technology to stimulate the senses of the child suffering from autism. The Jordan Times went into one of the treatment rooms to document the process. 

The child is accompanied with a parent into a dark room, and is securely fastened to a bed that electronically moves in a preprogrammed rhythm. The child is then given a pair of earphones where he or she listens to music, follows lights on a screen and is manoeuvred by the bed. 

“Most children suffering from autism are left-ear dominant, and the sensory movements inside the treatment room are all designed to promote right-ear dominance,” said Crawford, highlighting its beneficial role in the prefrontal cortex, which helps humans in planning, decision making and self expression.

Ed Hossen, one of the centre’s organisers, spoke about Deena’s improvement over the past few days. 

“Deena isn’t a deaf girl, but when she first came to the centre, she wouldn’t respond when you called her. Yesterday, when she was leaving, I called out to her to say goodbye and she turned around and shook my hand. Her dad was so shocked and said that it was the first time she shook someone’s hand. It was very emotional,” said Hossen.

Deena’s mother said that after a few days of treatment, she has witnessed improvements in her daughter’s focus. 

“Before, if we were out on the streets, Deena would be staring out into space, not looking in front of her, forcing me to hold her hand at all times. Now, I’m much more relaxed because she’s much more cognizant,” said Amr. 

Amr said that autism is still yet to be fully understood by society and concluded with the hope for more light to be shed on this issue and for more behavioural programmes to be introduced to the Kingdom. 

Sunday, Crawford and his team will be hosting a workshop and a presentation about the SAVE Programme to medical professionals from the region. The event will be held at The Crowne Plaza from 12 noon to 6pm, and is open to the general public.

AMMAN — After producing synchrotron light in the X-Ray Fluorescence beamline for the first time in the Arab and Islamic world,  Jordan’s Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) will next year start an experiment on environmental pollution in the Jordan River valley with a view to improving public health in the area.

The experiment follows the “great success” by scientists at the pioneering SESAME light source that saw First Monochromatic Light through the XAFS/XRF (Xray Absorption Fine Structure/X-Ray Fluorescence) spectroscopy beamline, signalling the start of the laboratory’s experimental programme. 

“This beamline, which for the first time produced synchrotron light in Jordan and in the entire Arab and Islamic world,” ushers in a new era of advanced scientific research in Jordan as more beamlines are to be produced over the course of the coming years enabling research in various fields,” Director General of SESAME Khaled Toukan told The Jordan Times over the phone on Saturday.

Among the subjects likely to be studied in early experiments include studies aimed at identifying new drugs for cancer therapy, and cultural heritage studies ranging from bioarcheology — the study of ancestors — to investigations of ancient manuscripts. The very first experiment on soil contamination, which is expected to be conducted in the first-half of 2018, will be performed in the framework of a collaboration with the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan.

“This is a great achievement for Jordan and ME region,” said Toukan.

 “SESAME is a major scientific and technological addition to research and education in the Middle East and beyond and are proud that the young scientists, physicists, engineers and administrators who have built SESAME, come for the first time from this part of the world.”

This beamline, SESAME’s first to come on stream, delivers X-Ray light that will be used to carry out research in areas ranging from solid state physics, chemistry, geology to environmental science and archaeology, SESAME said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times on Saturday.

“After years of preparation, it’s great to see light on target,” said XAFS/XRF beamline scientist Messaoud Harfouche. 

“We have a fantastic experimental programme ahead of us, starting with an experiment to investigate heavy metals contaminating soils in the Jordan  River Valley region,” Harfouche said in the statement. 

The initial research programme will be carried out at two beamlines, the XAFS/XRF beamline and the Infrared (IR) spectromicroscopybeamline that is scheduled to join the XAFS/XRF beamline this year. 

Both have specific characteristics that make them appropriate for various areas of research. A third beamline, in this case devoted to materials science, will come on stream in 2018.

“Our first three beamlines already give SESAME a wide range of research options to fulfil the needs of our research community,” said SESAME Scientific Director Giorgio Paolucci. “The future for light source research in the Middle East and neighboring countries is looking very bright!” he added.

The fourth Macromolecular Crystallography beam line, under construction through a fund from the Jordan Scientific Research Fund, is expected to be operational in 2019.

First Light is an important step in the commissioning process of a new synchrotron light source, but it is nevertheless just one step on the way to full operation. 

The SESAME synchrotron is currently operating with a beam current of just over 80 milliamps, while the design value is 400 milliamps. Over the coming weeks and months as experiments get under way, the current will be gradually increased.

“On behalf of the SESAME Council, I would like to congratulate the SESAME staff on this wonderful milestone,” said president of the council, Rolf Heuer. “SESAME is a great addition to the region’s research infrastructure, allowing scientists from the region access to the kind of facility that they previously had to travel to Europe or the US to use.”

AMMAN — Music, painting and the human soul have found a place in the work of Jordanian artist Zaid Shawwa, now displayed under the title “Watar” at Wadi Finan Art Gallery. 

“My paintings reflect real moments in life through music, people’s bodies become instruments, and the strings represent their souls,” the artist told The Jordan Times, expressing that he pictures life “as a big musical piece”.

Acrylic and oil are the materials that Shawwa uses to project his vision of music on the canvas, treated with a warm underlayment and cooler colours on top in order to allow warmer shades to spell into the surface. 

“I also paint on wood because it provides you with a different texture, and I use mixed media in order to put things from the world on my paintings and connect them with the surroundings,” the artist said. 

Having studied in Italy, Oxford and New York, Shawwa started his career in art working on classic portraits and landscapes, mainly using charcoal or a bicolour palette. 

However, inspired by Picasso and Matisse, the artist walked away from the classic forms into more abstract figures, starting a stage of expressionism and spontaneity. 

“My style in this exhibition combines expressionism and cubism, looking for a minimalist expression of the figure and its interaction with the surroundings,” Shawwa said. 

“I shifted to a minimal approach of simplified figures, aiming to let people finish the picture themselves and complete its meaning rather than providing them with a closed reading,” continued the artist. 

“However, my next stage will be less focused on the inner self and more centred in connection with the world around us, the landscapes and the human relations,” concluded Shawwa.

The exhibition will run through December 12. 

AMMAN — “Anyone can dance hip-hop, it’s not only for boys, and I love that,” said 10-year-old Hareer, one of the 14 girls participating in a workshop conducted by world famous street dancer Niki Tsappos on Friday.

Held as part of the European Film Festival 2017, which is organised by the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) in collaboration with the EU Delegation in Jordan, the workshop offered the public a chance to dance with the award-winning Swedish hip hop dancer.

“Hip hop really helped me to communicate with the world, to get out of my shell and express my emotions through dancing,” said Rana Madanat, a dance instructor participating in the workshop.

Various sessions were organised throughout the day for boys and girls of all ages, both beginners and advanced, followed by a hip hop competition between the participants. 

“Jordan’s hip hop scene is really rich and talented and it has a lot to offer. This is what we wanted to show people through this workshop,” Gaelle Sundelin, EUNIC project manager, told The Jordan Times at the Haya Cultural Centre.

“Hip hop is not only about dancing. It is also about being respectful, working together without conflict and staying humble. You can be the best dancer today but someone will be better than you tomorrow,” said Madanat, who said she strives to promote these values in her classes.

“At the beginning, many young girls come for zumba or other classes. But, after they try hip hop, they don’t want to leave because they love it,” she said, noting that parents started using her class as a motivation for their girls to study.

“Hip hop is our passion, we really love it,” said Natalie and Maya, two 12 and 10 year old dancers.

“Dancing really made me confident. I am not shy anymore when I am on stage,” Maya said, noting that it makes her “really excited” to dance and learn with others.

“Hip hop is liberating and fun and it truly helps you release your negative emotions. A lot of these girls have issues at home, or with their family, and they need a healthy way to express it,” said Madanat, adding that she also advises them about healthy habits and practices to feel good both “inside and outside”.

AMMAN — HRH Princess Basma on Saturday opened the 26th Private Schools Cultural and Educational Council Conference in Amman titled “Encouraging creativity in interactive educational methods”, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Participants at the conference will discuss topics related to enhancing assessment skills, inspiration, influence skills, flexibility and stress control and guidance skills.

In her speech, Princess Basma highlighted the importance of encouraging students’ creativity to stay up-to-date with developments and changes in the world, and of contributing to raising innovative generations, capable of planning, collective thinking, decision-making, problem solving and accepting other opinions.

She added that motivating students and teachers’ creativity is essential for the success of any educational system, stressing the significance of building confidence in students and prepare them through different educational stages to get acquainted with modern sciences.

Chairman of the forum Omar Tayeh said the conference aims to motivate students to think and gain knowledge through providing students and teachers an environment that stimulates thinking and enthusiasm at work.

Also on Saturday, Princess Basma, president of the Jordanian Association for Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, inaugurated the boy scouts and girl guides forum at the Karamah Martyrs Camp. 

The event, organised by the Education Ministry’s boy scouts and girl guides department, is held under the motto: “Loyalty to Al Hussein”, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The three-day forum, which attracted 250 girl guides and 40 chiefs from all education directorates across the Kingdom, includes an exhibition of art and national heritage, as well as environmental activities. 

Princess Basma the students in a dialogue session on gender-based violence that focused on early marriages, where the she listened to students’ views on health, psychological, social and economic risks of the early marriages. 

Raeda Bader, camp chief, highlighted the importance of such forums in shaping the talents of girl guides and providing them with various life skills.

AMMAN — Local gourmets were offered the chance to stimulate their taste buds this weekend at the Amman Gourmet Food Weekend held between November 23 and 25.

Organised by iJordan at the Zara Centre, the event gathered over 35 local producers who displayed a variety of culinary products to the public.

“We are holding this event to support local food and promote artisans who, for most of them, make food from home,” said Juman Obiedat, account manager at iJordan, noting that “we gathered a wide variety of vendors who are offering free tastings and explanations about the food creation process”.

Divided into thematic sections, the showcase included the healthy corner, the artisanal corner, the international one and the confectionery. 

“I believe in prevention rather than cure when it comes to nutrition and health,” said Karma Bdeir, founder of The MedShed. 

A former holistic health coach, the young woman started creating healthy products out of wholesome grains, combining “friendly favours” with nutritional benefits.

“I go by the motto ‘Live Better, Eat Better’ and I want to promote that in Jordan,” Bdeir told The Jordan Times at the event.

The dynamic 25-year-old Nasser Kawar also tried to spread the message of a healthy lifestyle through the varied range of peanut butters he makes for Butter Bros.

“Peanut butter is like bread, you can have it with everything, so I wanted to create a healthy alternative to the big corporate brands available on the market,” he explained, noting that he started using honey instead of sugar to offer healthier products for all to enjoy.

“We try to create original and nutritious options, such as our coconut peanut butter, or the almond butter,” the young man noted.   

“These producers are young and dynamic, and they combine creative, healthy ideas with the local traditions,” said Obiedat, noting that many of them have built their ideas on the niches existing in the food market. 

Bringing the northern Jordanian cuisine to Amman, food blogger Banan Gharaibeh offered visitors a taste of the famous chaacheel soup from Irbid.

Using only locally grown products, the woman, who runs the blog “What to cook today” that provides tips and recipes, emphasised her commitment to using only seasonal ingredients and no preservative.

For the foodies looking for less healthy alternatives, Zein Mubaideen offered the answer with her Mac n’ Cheese stall. Inspired by a London food company, she launched her own version of the world famous American dish.

“There is no one making mac and cheese right now in Jordan. But that is something that everyone loves, the best kind of comfort food,” she said, noting that she wanted to add her own twist to the famous recipe.

“We use the original recipe, to which we add various different toppings, like pesto, spices, corn etc. We haven’t gone as far as the London branch which uses marshmallow on top of pasta but we are already witnessing a great demand,” she said, as a young boy came to order what he said is “his favourite food in the world”.

A twist to original recipes was also the idea behind Jinan Dalloul and her husband’s dessert place Atir, which specialises in knafeh.

“We both love knafeh, and we know most people do too. So I decided to quit my job and start making the popular Middle Eastern dessert full time,” she said, stressing that they are also working to promote environmental consciousness through recycling.

“We consume a lot of plastic and we didn’t want to see all those thrown away in the street, so we built a beautiful recycle bin outside our venue that catches the consumers’ eye and pushes them to be careful of the environment,” she said.

Music and entertainment were also available at the event, which was entirely free of charge and open to all.

AMMAN — The investment environment in Jordan has witnessed positive indicators in the last two months, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported quoting the Jordan Strategy Forum’s (JSF) latest report on Saturday.

There is “plenty of room” to achieve the kind of improvement an investor would like to see, the report said.

The Investor Confidence survey carried out by JSF in September and October showed that the improvement was not enough, stressing that investor confidence is an important factor that the forum closely monitors through a survey conducted every six months.

“When confidence in the economy’s performance is high, and the private sector is oriented towards positive investment, we can expect a real, strong and stable growth,” the report pointed out, noting that when confidence rises, new investors are inclined to join the market and existing investors tend to expand their businesses. 

Also when confidence increases, consumers’ demand for goods and services will increase, the report added.

The report indicated that 30.2 per cent of investors surveyed were willing to expand their businesses next year, while 58.9 per cent said they intend to keep their businesses unchanged, and 5.7 per cent said they will scale down their businesses.

The survey showed that 21.4 per cent of surveyed investors believe their economic volume is better in 2017 than in 2016, while 49.7 per cent of investors said that their businesses in 2017 were worse than in 2016.

It also showed that 35.9 per cent of investors in the sample indicated that their businesses would be better in the next 12 months, while 29.8 per cent expected them to stay the same, compared to 26.4 per cent who expected them to be worse than it is now.

AMMAN — Remains of ancient houses and funerary inscriptions from the Roman period have been found in Dafyana, a site located in southern Hawran, about 20km east of Umm Al Jimal, slightly away from the ancient Roman road leading from Azraq to Bostra, according to a French scholar.

The archaeological site is integrated within the boundaries of the modern village, he continued, adding that it has been explored by several travellers and scholars since the end of the 19th century, said Julien Aliquot in a recent email interview with The Jordan Times.

Since 2013, Aliquot has been involved in the joint French-Jordanian project of the “Inscriptions de la Jordanie” (Greek and Latin Inscriptions in Jordan).

Nabil Bader already gathered 11 Greek funerary inscriptions from Dafyana in his book, “Inscriptions de la Jordanie, Volume 5.1” (published in 2009), the French scholar said, adding that more recently Dafyana was investigated again by the Mafraq branch of the Department of Antiquities (DoA), which led to the discovery of previously unknown Roman tombstones, about 150 metres to the west of the village. 

“Most of the inscriptions are simple epitaphs engraved on basalt stelae, similar to previously known inscriptions from the same region,” Aliquot explained.

Regarding the burial practices of that time, cremation was not in use, except in the Roman army, the historian said.

“Most people could only afford a very simple burial, such as a pit grave,” he claimed, adding that the richest had monumental tombs built in the form of towers, sometimes associated with dovecots. 

The ancient cities and villages of Hawran also delivered hundreds of tombstones inscribed in Greek on basalt stelae, which are dated between the 2nd to the 7th centuries AD.

Furthermore, these documents provide invaluable information on settlement history and burial customs in the southern part of Hawran during the Roman and Byzantine period, the researcher emphasised, as they reveal the Semitic, Greek and Latin names of the deceased, their professions, family relationships, etc. 

“Some of them are little poems, written locally, that show the progress of Hellenism in the northern part of the Roman province of Arabia. From the 4thcentury onwards, the appearance of Christian symbols and formulas shows the advent of the Christian faith in the region,” Aliquot underlined.

On the other hand, the epigraphic material does not make it possible to estimate the number of inhabitants in each agglomeration, but it reflects to some extent the distinction between towns (e.g. Bostra, the capital of the Roman province of Arabia, or Gerasa) and villages within the boundaries of civic territories (e.g. Dafyana, within Bostra’s ancient territory), the scholar continued, stressing that the collective tomb of Dafyana is particularly worthy of note in this respect. 

“The Greek inscription that was found inside [and now preserved in Mafraq] records the foundation of this tomb by a junior officer of the Roman army who died in the Black Sea region, but whose body was carried home for burial by his servant in 312/313 AD,” he said.

While emphasising the role of Hawran as a recruitment pool for the Roman army and administration, this text increases the number of documents which provide evidence regarding transportation of dead soldiers’ remains to their homeland, Aliquot pointed out.

Regarding future plans, the researcher stated that the study of the new Greek epitaphs from Dafyana encourages researchers to pursue their fieldwork in northeast Jordan. 

In most of the museums, stores, and sites which have already been visited, the work can be considered completed, he said, but there are still unknown sites and inscriptions which deserve “further investigation”.

“More generally, in the upcoming period, the team of the ‘Inscriptions de la Jordanie’ also wishes: to deepen its cooperation with the DoA; to speed up publications thanks to the support of the French Institute for the Near East [Ifpo]; to foster a fruitful collaboration with Jordanian universities and research institutes, especially Yarmouk University in Irbid,” Aliquot underlined.

AMMAN — The Rohingya Relief Campaign on Friday returned to Jordan after distributing the first batch of aid under the campaign implemented by the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO) and professional associations to help Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh.

The aid, part of the first phase of the campaign, included blankets, mats, coats and food items, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The campaign opened a bank account at the Jordan Islamic Bank (No. 49992) to collect donations, in addition to receiving assistance at the JHCO headquarters, the Professional Association Complex and its branches in governorates.

AMMAN — The Jordan Outdoor Association (JOA) on Friday organised a clean-up campaign at Mujib Dam, a JOA official told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

The campaign was organised by JOA’s water committee in cooperation with the rangers at the Royal Department for Protecting Environment. Ramzi Handal, the association’s president, told The Jordan Times that JOA is a member of the Agriculture Ministry’s Committee for the Control of Fishing in Freshwater Bodies.