Show l 7 Neldon Smoot family Making Home in Jericho r Two days after Christina Christma four our members of or the Neldon Neldo n t Smoot moot family left leCt Centerville to lo make their he he- e in Jordan for Cor or a year Mr Smoot had hac hadI I been assigned to set up the equipment for fOl the first full full- r fledged dairy in that Middle liddle East country HE liE AND HIS illS wife Lola and their two daughters made the journey journe Until January 1964 1961 they will be making their home at al Jericho in the Hash Hash- emite Kingdom of Jordan Before Before Before Be Be- fore the they left we asked them to write to our paper telling of some of their experiences and impressions of the tile coun coun- tr try We have received a most interesting letter from Mrs 1 S Smoot from which the following following following follow follow- ing is quoted This is indeed another world Such great contrasts h between the ancient and the modern side by side I UNTIL TEN years ago when Musa Alami dr drilled the first well in this ancient desert the only water available was Elisha's spring From it the people carried their water h home me in crockery jugs Now for miles in every cry direction can be seen green fields and trees What a u s change has taken place Here we must explain that Musa Iusa Alami was a foresighted man who during the Ule recent uprising in the Ule Holy Land determined determined de de- t to lo lead his people back to lo peace and into inlo a prosperity pros pros- perit which the they had never known They had been cast out out- of their homeland when the United Nations compromise compromise compro compro- mise placed division boundaries boundaries bounda bounda- ries between the Arabs and the the- J Jews in the Ule Holy Land AS ONE OF out cast Arabs he lie began a new social order for his people called the Arab Development Society It is at this society's s project that Mr Smoot is installing the dairy equipment and teaching the Ute students there how to operate it The letter leller reads There are arc still thousands of refugee camps all around the city cily of Jericho where people live in mud and clay huts t typical of the days when John the Bap- Bap list and Jesus walked this val val- ley Icy THEY TilEY STILL wear the tile long robes and turbans and women carry large bundles on their heads One sees little donkeys with wilh their burdens every every- where But Bui in contrast large modern trucks and tractors peep them out of oC the way My liMy heart aches for these people who were cast out of or their homeland and pushed into into in to the Ule desert to survive as best they could If it hadn't been for the Ule determination of S sainted men such as 1 Musa usa Alami Aland how could they have survived WHEN WilEN MR Alami started digging in the parched sand sandwith sandwith sandwith with hand tools ever everyone one called him mad but help had to come from somewhere and God granted his urgent plea and water r gushed forth Nomore Now No more than 40 large wells are arc making a new life for thousands thousands thou thou- sands sand of oC refugees While most of the surrounding surrounding surrounding sur sur- rounding villages still live in poverty and still use ancient methods of survival on the project where we live li it is very modern WITH TIlE THE help the they have received from Crom the Ford Foundation Foundation Foun Foun- dation the Church and others the Arab Development Society is providing the most modern training and equip equipment ment meat to lo at least boys cur cur- The only requirement for Cor or a boy to live in this boys boystown town own is to lo be an orphan be bee Iween tween the Ule ages of oC 8 and 18 years cars As they reach 18 they should be prepared to lo face the worlds world's problems so there is isa isa isa a constant turnover The dairy where M 1 r r. r Smoot has been assigned is an example to be followed anywhere anywhere any- any where in America Amelica They have havea a herd of beef cattle as well as the dairy herd both contributed con con- by the Church The equipment which Mr 11 Smoot is installing has been contributed b by the Ford Foundation Foundation Foun- Foun dation lalion in cooperation with the JS sponsored Church-sponsored dair dairy project TILE THE HOUSE where we live has bas most of the modern conveniences of home It was built huilt almost entirely by the boys bOj's The cement blocks are arc made here and the furniture and woodwork is made in work vork shops The linen table tablecloths tablecloths cloths sheets etc is made in their heir weaving shop The boys bos are schooled in inmany inmany inmany many other trades also but Ill I'll 11 go into more detail about them in another letter TIlE THE BOYS nOYS are taught English so we have little trouble trouble trouble trou trou- ble being understood I III have never met more gracious and warm hearted people anywhere Everywhere is history and sacred ground FROM FROl OUR house In a forest of trees we can walk to lo the River RI Jordan and the place I of oC Christs Christ's baptism We can i isee see sec the Dead Sea from Crom here And about one and a half haIr miles away arc are the old walls of or Jericho and the Mt Ml of or Temptation II Th The Smoots' Smoots teen-age teen daughter daugh daugh- ter LeAnne is attending the Lebanon high school at Bierut because this is the n nearest rest American standards school available But their younger daughter Carol is attending the grade school at Jericho close enough to the project where the Smoots are arc residing that thai she can live with them They have two Iwo college age sons who arc are hatching at al althe atthe atthe the family home in Center Center- ullo ville II bf bC |