His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday honoured municipal sanitation workers for their service to the country.

Over a lunch banquet, King Abdullah expressed pride the sanitation workers’ efforts to keep Jordan clean, and on listening to problems facing personnel in this sector, stressed his keenness that the problems they face be addressed.

For 30-year-old Mohammad Abu Amr, working as a cleaner on the streets of villages and neighbourhoods of Karak was the turning point in his life that made him become a successful person who moved up the ranks.

Abu Amr said he was forced to work as a cleaner after his father’s death and did not like the job from the very first moment, but his first impression has changed.

Wanting to fulfil his dream and that of his father, Abu Amr registered at Mutah University while working as a cleaner and pursued his bachelor’s degree in business administration.

“I used to clean the streets in the morning and study at night. When I got my BA, the mayor decided to appoint me to the expenditures department. A few months later, he moved me to the salaries department".

Currently, Abu Amr is the head of the salaries department at the Karak Greater Municipality and has worked on the introduction of new automated systems for payrolls there.

“The culture of shame in our society should change. What is wrong with cleaning the streets? It saved my life, gave me the incentive to be successful. It is not shameful to do any kind of decent job.

Cleaning one’s country is not a source of shame at all. What is a shame is to ask people for money and be dependent on others,” said the municipal employee, who is married with two children.

Attendees related stories of how a career in municipal sanitation kept food on the family table and in some instances led to unexpected opportunities.
For 30-year-old Mohammad Abu Amr was forced to work as a street sweeper in the villages and neighbourhoods of Kerak after his father’s death. Although he initially did not like it, he said, in retrospect it was a turning point in his life that set him on a career path.

Wanting to fulfil his dream and that of his late father, Abu Amr registered at Mutah University while working and pursued his bachelor’s degree in business administration.

“I used to clean the streets in the morning and study at night. When I got my BA, the mayor appointed me to the expenditures department. A few months later, he moved me to the salaries department," he said.

Abu Amr now heads the salaries department at the Karak Greater Municipality and has worked on introducing new automated payroll systems.

“The culture of shame in our society should change,” he said. “What is wrong with cleaning the streets? It saved my life, gave me the incentive to be successful. It is not shameful to do any kind of decent job. Cleaning one’s country is not shameful in any way. What is a shame is to ask people for money and be dependent on others,” said the municipal employee, a married father of two children.

Fifty-five-year-old Fathi Ibrahim said his job led him to his greatest achievement ever: supporting and keeping together a family of 12 and putting bread on the table.

“I have been working for the past 15 years as a street cleaner in Sama Al Sarhan [in the northeastern desert] and I am proud,” he said.