The Democratic Nation of Jordan

The Democratic Nation of Jordan

A few months ago I read an article in a magazine. It made me so angry

that I was practically seething with rage.

The article was written by Norma Khouri a young woman who lived in the

province of Jordan. She was about 25, old enough to live her own life

and make her own decisions, however she could not. Norma came from a

middle class family whose parents had no ambitions for her beyond

marriage. Norma and her best friend Dalia were eager to find jobs for

themselves and had ambitions to become successful. They discovered

that Jordanian women were allowed to operate beauty parlours, one of

the few careers open to them. They pleaded with their fathers to let

them and on the proviso that Dalia's brother, Mohammed was assigned as

their watchdog they were permitted to proceed. Dalia and Norma also

decided to do something that no other salon provided. They would cater

for both men and women.

After several years of successful business, Dalia made the biggest

mistake of her innocent life. She fell in love with a client, Michael.

Through secret meetings at the salon and letters, Michael and Dalia

became friends. After distracting their watchdog they also began to

meet outside the salon. Michael and Dalia were never alone and with

others and there meetings were completely innocent.

After several months of their rendezvous Dalia's father and brother

began acting strange. Dalia thought they knew about her secret and she

confided in Norma. The next day Norma got ready to go to the salon and

waited for Dalia to arrive, but she never came. Norma ran out the door

without even asking for her father's permission and headed in the

direction of Dalia's house, sirens wailing in the background. As Norma

grew closer she realised the ambulance was out the front of Dalia's

house. She burst through the front door and was enveloped into a cloud

of furious tension. The only people in the room were Dalia's mother,

father and brothers.