Jordan has taken me in with arms wide open. Every person I’ve met, and I really mean everyone,
have been so nice, helpful and friendly to me. Every student, supervisor, taxi driver and random
people on the street. I’ve really never felt truly alone. I’ll truly miss Jordan when I arrive home,
although it will be rather nice to come home to the silence, I won’t miss the loud cars or the
honking.
Coming to Jordan as an occupational therapy student has definitely broaden my perspectives on
my future profession and on the way we work. There are both differences and similarities. In
Sweden it’s very common with occupational therapist working in the home care service and in
our client's homes, this isn’t something an occupational therapist does in Jordan which I find
surprising since it’s so important for an occupational therapist to see our clients in the
environment in which they perform their activities. I also find the occupational therapy
departments I’ve seen a bit surprising. Since I’ve never had a clinical training in a hospital
setting at home I really don’t have anything to compare with, but I don’t think we have 4
different sessions at the same time in the same room. In Sweden we have a law about the client's
safety regarding the client’s medical history, diagnosis and other personal information, which
cannot be told to anyone who’s not a part of the medical team. We aren’t even allowed to tell
something about our client to his family if the client tells us not to. We are also under a law that
says that we have to document anything we do with our client in the client's journal, I’m not sure
about the time frame but I do believe we have 48 hours. In the journal we have to document
everything, from assessments, goals, interventions and even phone calls. I’ve barely met any
kind of documentation in Jordan, just a little bit, but in Sweden it’s half the job sometimes.
In my time in Jordan I do believe I’ve developed as an occupational therapist. To meet clients
and not be able to talk to them, because of language barriers, isn’t an easy thing to do. In the
beginning I couldn’t even say hello in arabic, meaning I had to talk with my body language and I
had to do it in a professional way. I always had someone near me who could translate or tell the
clients who I was which was comforting, but it’s hard to be in a different country and to not
speak the language. I do believe this has been an important lesson for me. Sweden is a country
with many people from different countries, and at the moment we have many refugees. I think
that this experience will help me in situations with language barriers, and it has given me a bit of
insight in this kind of situations that many people in Sweden are experiencing at the moment. If I
sometime in the future have a client that speaks arabic, and I’m able to say hello, how are you, to
that person in arabic, I do believe that will help us in our relationship and it will help the client
gain a little bit of trust for me. If I’m also able to tell the client about my experience in Jordan,
and that I know how scary and hard it can be to not understand.. Well, I do believe it will help
alot.
I do believe I’m leaving Jordan a better occupational therapist but mainly as a better person. I’ve
learned a lot about kindness and the importance of families in Jordan. I want to see me self as an
open and kind person, but the people in Jordan are what defines kindness. All the student’s I’ve
met have gladly answeres my questions, and if they didn’t know how to answer me in english,
they asked someone to give me the answer in english. I’m also amazed over how professional the
students I’ve met are. I know that you have studied for one year longer than me, but you are so
good and competent and I’ve watched you with a tiny bit of jealousy in my eyes, you are
amazing and you are gonna be great occupational therapists, there’s no doubt!
I thank you all for everything, University of Jordan for accepting me as an exchange student, ms.
Salma and ms. Nedaa for answering my questions and helping me with my schedule, all the
occupational therapists and supervisors I’ve met along the road, and all the incredible students
who have teached me a lot about occupational therapy. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Ingrid Knutsgård, Occupational Therapy Student
Lund University, Sweden