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Looking Out for Love: Jordanian Matchmaking Agencies

Jordanians are taking matters of the heart into their own hands when it comes to looking for love. Matchmaking for a suitable mate has traditionally been a family affair in Jordan. These days, the nation’s intrepid young love-seekers are now entrusting their amorous endeavours to external marriage-brokering agencies, such as The Covenant Marriage Agency in Irbid, a traditionally conservative Jordanian city about an hour north of Amman.

There’s a great online radio programme on this agency at NPR.org. Sparsely furnished and overlooking a busy square, the agency’s office is doing a roaring trade in helping single Jordanians in their quest for love.

Looking Out for Love?

Nima Marusha is a 40-something year old woman who opened the agency after her talent as a matchmaker proved so successful as a hobby, she decided to turn it into a career.

The deal goes like this: applicants shell out an initial $20 fee to complete a form describing themselves and the type of partner they have in mind. Credentials include height, weight, health status, education, and whether or not the applicant has children. Photos are an optional extra, and unemployed chaps or those who only earn minimum wage are likely to be declined. Nima says her clients come from all walks of life and range in age from 20-70 years old.

Special Assignment: Lasting Love

The agency’s mission is to reduce the number of unmarried women in the country by changing the mentality of those who believe arranged marriages are the only way to go. In fact, a good proportion of the Covenant Marriage Agency’s clients are divorcees, who come looking for true love after their arranged marriages flopped.

Beyond the art of matchmaking itself, the agency also intends to empower Jordanian men and women by showing them that it’s perfectly acceptable to choose their own mate and that love and happiness are more important than keeping up appearances and traditions in order to appease their families. It’s a new idea in Jordan but is hardly out of the blue.

Marusha’s agency and her clientele are part of a bigger picture when it comes to progression in Jordan today. Little by little, young Jordanians are moving away from traditional marriages and looking for more informal ways to meet.

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