Orange Jordan conducts field visit to review the progress of its developmental projects in Rajm Al Shami

As part of its Orange Villages project, which seeks to improve the quality of life of citizens residing in the Kingdom’s impoverished rural areas, a delegation of senior employees from Orange Jordan and France Telecom conducted a field visit to the village of Rajm Al Shami in Muaqqar in order to review the progress of the sustainable development projects organized by the company in the area.

The delegation included Orange Jordan’s CEO Nayla Khawam and Bruno Metlange, Executive VP- FTG Human Resources at France Telecom, together with several members of Orange Jordan’s management and representatives of various local media.

The tour began with the Rajm Al Shami computer lab in the Badia Youth Association, which the company is equipping with free internet access. The delegation listened to a brief overview presented by the association’s president Rakan Al Zouri detailing the services provided by the lab and the progress of its development. Al Zouri explained that the lab has generated great interest from the residents of Rajm Al Shami and other neighboring villages, garnering a total of 1,500 users that include school and university students and school teachers residing in the village.

Al Zouri emphasized that the lab has made a substantial difference in the lives of village’s residents, saving them both time and effort in many aspects of their life. The lab is currently being utilized for many educational uses, including the uploading of the school results of the village’s students to the web or in the research assignments and online module registrations of university students residing in the village. He also talked about the recent computer sciences course recently organized by the association for the area’s residents, which included a number of elderly people and women, which helped spread the internet culture in the area.

The delegation also visited the Rajm Al Shami Elementary School, which the company is officially sponsoring under the Madrasati initiative. The delegation was received by Madrasati’s General Manager Dana Dajani, who was accompanied by several members of the school’s teaching staff and who proceeded to lead the delegation on a comprehensive tour of the school’s premises. The delegation also toured the school library which was established by the school in cooperation with the family international community services. The librarian in charge explained that that the project made a fundamental difference in the lives of the students, particularly when it comes to enriching their knowledge and helping them complete their research assignments. The school’s principal expressed her gratitude to Orange Jordan for their contribution in the creation of a suitable learning environment for more than 500 of the village’s students.

The delegation also visited the village’s health center, which the company provided with a sonogram and a cardiogram in an attempt to alleviate the burden shared by public hospitals and spare the village’s residents the arduous trip to the nearest health centers in cases of emergency. The delegation also listened to an overview of the cases that have thus far been attended to at the center, its mechanism of operation, as well as the training course organized for the attending physicians to familiarize them with the donated machines.

The group concluded its visit by inaugurating a football field at the Rajm Al Shami Highschool. The manager of the school explained that the field was created on a piece of land that belongs to the school and lies outside its main walls, adding that it will benefit the area’s residents after official working hours and during weekends and summer breaks. He underscored how the field will also provide leisure time for the villages children and youths away from the dangers of the open road.

Khawam expressed her great joy with the way the sustainable development efforts at Rajm Al Shami have progressed and the tremendous difference they are effecting in the lives of the village’s residents. She further reaffirmed the company’s commitment to improving the quality of life of citizens nationwide. She explained that Rajm Al Shami is the second village that Orange has the honor of adopting, following the tremendous success the company had in the village of Rassoun in Ajloun. She added that the company intends to deliver similar developmental projects to other villages in the Kingdom where the company is officially sponsoring schools, underscoring the fact that little support can affect a substantial difference in the lives of many underprivileged villages in the Kingdom.

Orange Jordan had launched its comprehensive CSR strategy for the coming three years with a total budget of JD 3.5 million. The strategy comprises of two key projects: the Orange Broadband Fund and the Orange Villages Project.