Oh, here's a cool story, I am an official puppeteer for the Royal Health Awareness Society/ the Jordanian Ministry of Health (and a member of the BYU Puppet Pals Platoon Warriors, the other people couldn't decide on a name, so they threw it all together). The Queen has started an anti-tobacco campaign, and it is huge. It involves integrating anti-tobacco education into classes. One part of it, for kids K-2, is in the form of puzzles. The puzzles depict a scene that shows the dangers from smoking. They also connect to other safety programs in schools. The LDS church has a huge program specifically on health awareness, and are helping a lot on this project. One part of the program involves a puppet show. There are several puppet shows on various health topics (tobacco, alcohol, nutrition, personal hygiene etc), the Ministry of Health saw the puppet show on tobacco in English, and said that they wanted that done in Arabic. So, the LDS Missionary couple, who are over here doing humanitarian work, came to the BYU students and asked for people to be part of it. I volunteered, and headed the project up, so essentially, I'm the director. We performed for the first time on the 20th, at a training seminar, for teachers who are going to be part of the anti-tobacco campaign. It was a hit. They all loved it. On November 4th or 5th, we're performing again at a school in Madaba (a town about 40 minutes away). As of right now, Queen Rania is scheduled to be visiting the school and will see us perform (unless something comes up and her schedule has to change). The anti-tobacco campaign really is the Queen's special project, it essentially is "her baby", so she is really interested in everything that is going on. We were told that she is really interested in the puppet show and that if she can't make it to the school to see it, then there will be another performance for her and other officials. So, the chances of me meeting the Queen of Jordan, are really high. One of my friends joked that if she loves it, then she might give me an "honorary princess-ship", because I'm the director and have done a lot of the work. Really, just getting to meet her, and maybe a picture would be enough for me (though, I'm not going to lie, and honorary princess-ship would be awesome. It definitely isn't something you see everyday on a resume). Also, the Ministry of Health wants us to do a puppet show on Personal Hygiene, and perform it in Camp Zataari, the main Syrian Refugee camp in Northern Jordan. They sort of have schools organized, and want us to perform for the kids, since hygiene is a big issue. Other students will be involved in that show, but, since I'm the director, I've kind of reserved the right to go too, since this project has become my "baby". I'm definitely discovering a side of myself that I did not know existed.
Here's a link to the play:
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