Andrew and Chana Alder: MY HUSBAND THE FIREFIGHTER...

Being summer here, Jordan is very hot and very very dry. We live in an area of town where they are just beginning to develop. Because of this we are living next to an empty field. In this field there are multiple weeds, grasses and other brush that is very very dry. The other thing about Jordan is the service people. They are very kind but they do their job their way and there is no telling them to do it differently. One day our program director (Dil) saw our garbage man burning some of the paper products he had gathered from the dumpster (apparently he does this so that he doesn’t have to take it to the dump). The only problem with this was that the fire we was starting was right next to our building. Dil proceeded to tell him that if he ever saw him starting anything on fire next to our building he was going to report him. The next day Andrew woke up early and looked out he window to see a fire in the field next to us. Seconds later the Amman Fire Department was there. We assume that it was our same beloved garbage man.

A couple days went by and everything calmed down. Until one Saturday, Andrew and I walked out of our building with another couple to find another fire. Robert (the other husband and our assistant director) called Muhsan (he’s the "harris", guard in English, of our apartment building) but he was going to be a couple of minutes so Andrew and Robert decided to take matters into their own hands. They ran inside the building and grabbed the fire hose out of the hallway. Then they dragged the hose out to the fire and started to turn it on when Muhsan got there. He decided that he and his friend could take it from there. Andrew did however go supervise and made sure the fire was completely out. After the flames were gone the boys helped Muhsan put the hoses back. We had an eventful afternoon to say the least and knowing that Andrew has such skills puts me at ease. I know our building will never burn down with him around.