After a long career in education first as a teacher in the United Arab Emirates and later as a librarian at Jordan’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Naimaa Al-Hamidah could have chosen a quiet retirement. Instead, she found a new beginning, one rooted in community service, children’s education, and the simple power of reading aloud.
For the last decade of her professional life, Naimaa worked in the ministry’s library. There, her passion for books blossomed into something more: a desire to share knowledge beyond the walls of any institution. Upon retirement, she immersed herself in social initiatives focused on education and literacy. That decision marked the true beginning of a journey she now sees as her life’s mission.
A turning point came when she was introduced to the We Love Reading program. The model spoke directly to her heart.
“Being a WLR ambassador holds deep personal meaning for me,” she says. “I view it as both a responsibility and a privilege. It aligns with everything I believe about the power of knowledge and the importance of science and education in shaping society.”
But it wasn’t only Naimaa who changed. Through her weekly reading sessions, she began witnessing small yet profound transformations in the children who joined her.
“Emotionally, they became more expressive, better able to talk about their feelings,” she explains. “Socially, trust grew among them. Educationally, they began to truly love learning, and their imaginations flourished.”
For Naimaa, the most lasting reward isn’t in levels or certificates. It’s in the emotional connections she’s built, connections that continue to grow long after her retirement.
“My greatest achievement is the bond I’ve formed with these children and young people. Their warmth and affection, something you can’t put into words,” Naimaa points out.
And what of the future? Naimaa has a vision and many hopes, but the most important is that every home will have its own library, and every neighborhood its own WLR ambassador. She dreams of a Jordan where reading is not an exception, but a way of life for every child.
In Naimaa’s neighborhood, that dream is already taking root, book by book, child by child.