It hadn’t been easy to sleep, yet I managed better than when I was last in Amman. At one point I’d been woken up by a cramp in one of my legs, but I’d been able to relax the muscles again quick enough to avoid lasting discomfort and had fallen back asleep. This morning it was the first group run of the trip with a planned distance of four miles. With the rain though we weren’t sure, it was suggested some might want to wait until after breakfast, or not at all. I knew I was going regardless but Nick (Impact) rallied everyone and we headed out into the rain.

Moments after leaving, the rain eased to almost nothing, and then stopped. First we ran to the King Abdullah I mosque at an easy pace, and then from there to Paris Square. We discussed continuing on to the Roman theatre, the storm clouds were getting dark now and the thunder was getting closer. We decided to carry on, and then after a few minutes the rain started again and got heavier and heavier.

When we got to a crossroads near the Grand Husseini Mosque, a young person had joined us, and was travelling using one rollerblade. We sheltered there briefly and then made a run for it. I slipped on some mud, not realising how bad it was, but I managed to stay standing and keep moving. We then used our Jordan pass to go inside, and we had the place all to ourselves, meaning I could finally take photos with nobody in them.

We took some photos there, and then ran back to the hotel, the rain having stopped again. I rushed to have some breakfast which was mostly Arab biscuits, two rounds of toast, and plenty of Nutella. This left me with just enough time for a shower before we headed out for the day.

This was a short walk to Jadal Community Centre, a place we’d passed on the run, where our time there started off with an explanation from Machiel about the Greening the Camps project. Their goal was to help impoverished refugees in camps through sustainable rooftop gardens that can provide them with food. He’d worked for big organisations before and had found that they worked too slowly, and this wasted time and money that could be spent helping people. This inspired him to co-found this non-profit organisation to do something about it now.

By the time this knowledge had been imparted to us, it was almost lunch, but I helped with a couple of bits first before then helping to fetch lunch from the Ezwetti Initiative. This is a place they refer to as a social solidarity restaurant where every meal you buy also covers the cost for someone else to get a decent meal for free. With the size of the lunch served today, hopefully this would help a good number of people. There were so many different foods on the tables in the courtyard, and plenty of bread too.

After lunch we were then asked to split out into groups to do different jobs, and dived straight in. Some were working on painting, some on a few large boxes of soil, and a couple of other jobs. I was working on the greenhouse which needed the panels and the staples that had held them in place removing. We’d then need to varnish it, and put new plastic panels in place. This work on the rooftop garden of the community centre was a practice of sorts for when we’d be at the Al Buqa'a Refugee Camp just outside of Amman.

The preparation is what took the longest this afternoon. Several hours had passed by the time all of the old panels had been removed, and even then I don’t think all of the staples had been. We did however start working on sanding down the wood ready to be varnished, but the rain this morning had left the wood damp, and was far more difficult than it should have been. After a few hours an electric sander turned up which made it easier, but the dampness was still damaging the sandpaper.

At one point I’d had a break from the greenhouse to help carry some wood around to the workshop as well. It looked like we’d need a longer break when it started to rain around 17:00. We rushed to put everything away, but then the rain eased off again so we carried on for another 45 minutes before tidying up.

For our evening meal, we went to Jafra restaurant which is through a souk, and up some stairs. This place was quite busy, and whilst we were there they had some live music. Once again it was another big spread with so many different dishes. One of the dishes they brought out in claypots that they would break the top off before serving. This lasted for a couple of hours before heading back to the hotel. I packed, and got some sleep, whilst many others stayed up to watch the England Football World Cup game. This included sweeping muddy water out of the community centre, and all the way down the stairs until it reached the drain on the road at the bottom.