Workshop offers Madaba schoolchildren a glimpse into city’s heritage

AMMAN — As part of a joint initiative to engage the local community with its heritage through different educational programmes, two American scholars on Saturday organised a workshop for schoolchildren in Madaba.

Two co-directors of the Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum Project, (MRAMP) Douglas Clark of La Sierra University in Riverside, California, and Suzanne Richard of Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, organised the event at the Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum (MRAM).

The workshop is part of a joint initiative of MRAMP, Petra National Trust (PNT) and the Department of Antiquities to engage the local community in heritage preservation, said Clark.

The PNT is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation established in 1989, and is the first national organisation in Jordan for cultural preservation, focusing on the UNESCO World Heritage site of Petra, noted Huda Amarin from the PNT.

Amarin added that the PNT, with its national and international partners, has implemented specialised programmes based on the needs of both the sites and the communities.

“The approach of the PNT and its team of experts include involvement in projects related to archaeological conservation, ecotourism development, socio-economic development and education,” said Amarin.

She noted that through its education outreach and awareness programmes, the PNT aims to build tomorrow’s community leaders who can work towards and advocate for effective and sustainable cultural heritage management and preservation. 

The trust is proposing to implement three consecutive half-day workshops, targeting the 7-9, 10-12 and 13-15 age groups, and seeking three groups of 15 participants, totalling 45 female and male children, noted Richard.

“Schools take pupils to museums, but they just come in, look around and leave without knowing much about the objects and their historical context,” Amarin, who is an officer at PNT, said.

“We have mosaics outside and cultural heritage that should be shown to schoolchildren,” Amarin said.

PNT and MRAMP collaborate to teach youth about cultural preservation and cultural heritage, Clark said.

Furthermore, MRAMP focused on archaeologically preparing an endangered urban area, the Madaba Archaeological Park West (II), for the construction of a new regional museum to make accessible and display archaeological materials from the Madaba region, Richard said.

During COVID-19, MRAMP focused more on virtual reality, completing virtual tours of the architectural concept design of the new museum, and the US Department of State and the US embassy in Jordan to include specialists in producing 3D virtual tours of various sites of interest in Madaba, Clark noted.

The project includes the following objectives: Capacity building, promotion, the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage and the promotion of sustainable tourism in Madaba and its region, Clark noted.

“The objective of MRAM is not only to showcase the regional history, archaeology and traditions of Madaba, but to connect the town and the museum with the surrounding territory,” Clark added.