Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Crusader Castle at Karak

Sunday, Jan 4 (not the Sabbath)

In March, doctors that work with the vision initiative in humanitarian services will be coming to Jordan to give four lectures.  LDS Charities will be sponsoring the lectures as part of the diabetic retinopothy project for Jordan.  One of the lectures will be given in the ancient city of Karak, located about 100 miles south of Amman on the old Kings Highway. 

The Strongs invited us to go with them to meet the doctors at the University in Karak and identify a suitable location for the lectures.  We were told that the Karak castle had a meeting room and facilities that may be suitable for our group and our reason for going was to check it out.



The Karak castle was built in 1132 and is built on a hilltop near the caravan route between Damascus and Egypt.  


  
View from the top.  What a great location for a castle!



This ancient room was just perfect for what we need.  They have room for 70-100 doctors, sound system, and chairs.  The room is large enough for dinner to be served at one end.  The acoustics are fantastic.  The walls are a good 6 feet thick.  Is this awesome or what?


We were told that the weather warms up by March when we have the meeting.  Today it was windy and COLD.

At the Mu'tah University in Karak (a school of over 22,000 students) we met with the Vice President for Scientific Faculties, the dean of the medical school and the assistant dean.  It was a very productive meeting and they were excited to be able to participate in the diabetic retinopathy testing campaign that will be conducted throughout the entire country of Jordan.  We had a delightful meeting with these men.  They were very professional.  We felt that we became good friends in just a short time.


At lunch The dean of the medical school (with glasses) had many questions about the Mormon church.  We can answer the questions, but have to be careful not to teach or preach anything about the church.

















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