Daoud Kuttab
In a family atmosphere, on Thursday, November 30, 2023,  the Life Center of the Zarqa part of the Baptist Church in Zarqa which has provided services to women in Zarqa since 2015 celebrated its opening. as a wholly owned center after finalizing the purchase of the building.
Pastor Samer Batarseh gave a brief word about the relationship with the Center’s founder and her vision, stressing her love and dedication to serving the Zarqawi community, especially women, through training, vocational work, and caring for children, especially those with disabilities. Then Reverand Battarseh offered a prayer of thanks to the Lord for the center and the services it provides to the women of Zarqa.

The center’s director and founder, Trudy, a German national, said that the Life Center in Zarqa is “a dream that has come true.” She spoke of the center’s building by saying: “We invited you to the center so that you can see with your own eyes what the Lord has done.” She spoke passionately about her gratitude to the Lord and to those helping make the dream that the women in Zarqa deserve to have a home and this warm house is for them come true. “We wanted a small house and we got a two-story building and a garden. We were looking for several chairs and the Lord rewarded us with a furnished center filled with equipment for soap making, sewing, computer training, a nursery, and care for people with disabilities. A Dutch volunteer also distributed wooden tulips (which is the flower of the Netherlands), along with greetings and congratulations from a Dutch organization that donates to the Life Center.

The center affiliated with the Baptist Church in Zarqa had succeeded in obtaining a long-term, interest-free loan to purchase the new headquarters, which the church runs in cooperation with a local advisory board.

Visitors saw a video and toured the center’s departments, dedicated to Caring for People with Disabilities, a Soap making section, the Sewing and Production Department, the Clothes Recycling Department, the Nursery Department, the Computer Department, and English language training.

All activities and courses are available for free, while products are sold in bazaars and elsewhere to support the center, through volunteers. Volunteers said that they witnessing at the current time a decline in the sale of products due to the situation in Gaza and the cancellation of Christmas bazaars.

The Zarqa Life Center’s social media page states that it is “a women-led community organization that has supported urban refugees and Jordanian women in Zarqa, Jordan since 2015 and offers a safe space for healing and development for at-risk women and children.” The center is home to women who have fled war-torn Syria and to disadvantaged local Jordanian women and their families. We learn, work, and live for a brighter peaceful future together.”

See below a video of the soap factor