Thanksgiving

A couple nights ago I was able to go to a Thanksgiving dinner with about 10 other Volunteers. We decided to do an early Thanksgiving because of travel restrictions and the big Moroccan holiday that both happen to surround Thanksgiving Day this year.

 Several people really took charge with the planning and we were able to get a turkey and cook it at the local bakery/hammam because it was too big to cook in the oven at the house. It was really nice to take the time to celebrate with these other PCVs. Most of them have been here between 8 months to 1.5 years and had lots of insight into PC service in Morocco. I learned from every conversation I had. Topics involved some kind of project planning, cultural or social analyses or how to convey what we are learning and experiencing here to people that can’t be here to share the experience with us.  It was all very positive.

We started dinner with the things we were thankful for and ended it with a game of charades.  If/Since I couldn’t celebrate at home with family this was the next best thing. 

I am thankful for all of your support and the many opportunities I have been given throughout my life. I am thankful for my wonderful friends and family and the new friends and family I am developing here. I couldn't do it without you. 

RoseValley Dar Chebab

My Dar Chebab is a concrete building with 5 rooms. One room is a little bigger and has been used as an exercise room or a room for theater activities in the past(until the roof started caving in). There is a room to teach English, a little English Library, the Moudir’s office, and a storage room.  It also sounds like a new Dar Chebab is in the works but it is unclear yet as to when it will actually be built.

 I am hoping to set up my schedule next week. I’d like to teach a few English classes a week, an art class, and to hang out in the English Library a few hours a week to give the kids a place to read, study, or play. This is kind of my projected plan while I get to know my community and I start to talk to them about what they are interested in, for the future.

I then want to set aside a couple hours a week to do a leadership club and workshops on different health issues or social issues but that will come later. Right now my main goals are learning the language and integrating. I think once I get into a groove at the Dar Chebab time will start to fly. 

My site

We celebrated the completion of our two months of training and became Volunteers on November 12, 2009. I am now settling into my new site, RoseValley.

RoseValley is nestled between the Atlas Mountains and the Anti Atlas in a gorge known to draw tourists in the summer as well as locals who come to the region for the annual rose festival. RoseValley fluctuates between a washed out pink color, a brown or a grey depending on the day and the amount of dust in the air. In the region most buildings are either made of mud, similar to Malian architecture or concrete buildings. It is hot in the summers and cold in the winters but it doesn’t get cold enough for snow, at least in the gorge.

When I told the American fam yesterday it was starting to get cold here at about 61˚F (inside) and probably closer to 65-70˚ outside they laughed. I forget that they have snow and it is probably in the 30s there. The difference however is that they can go inside to warm up. There is no such thing as central heating here and the concrete buildings manage to perform as iceboxes in the winter and ovens in the summer, no joke. If I didn’t already have a fridge I don’t think I would have needed one until may rolled around.

I am living with a host family until December. They have been great thus far. I have a host mom and dad and there is a 12-year-old daughter named Soukaina, an 8-year-old daughter named Wisal and my host mom gave birth to a baby girl yesterday! They keep referring to her as Little Wisal because she looks a lot like Wisal but wont be given a name until 7 days after her birth at the naming ceremony. There is also a big holiday coming up, L’3id Kbir, the same day as Thanksgiving this year. This means there will be lots of festivities and activities going on in the next few days. These will hopefully be great opportunities for me to meet community members and start integrating.

Wedding Crashers

Last night a friend of mine had some American friends passing through town. We all went to his host family’s house for dinner. It was fun to talk to people with an outside perspective and it was equally as fun to show off my darija skills and cultural integration. Sam asked if he could help set the table and put food out but of course they said no. Then I asked and Sam’s host mom was more than happy to have me help. Despite the fact that I was doing the woman’s job because, well, I’m a woman and Sam didn’t because he is a man, it was an honor. Allowing me to help meant they considered me more as family than as a guest, which one would hope to be the case after two months.

After that at about 11:30 I headed back to my house with my LCF and friend Taoufiq. On the way we heard loud music that sounded like drums and a violin of some sort. Taoufiq informed me that it was a wedding and I said let’s go! We walked over to a big colorful tent at the other end of a field.  We peeked over the wall of the tent and watched for a minute before seeing that we could actually get in from the other side. We walked around and watched and low and behold one of our friends from the Dar Chebab was there. He came, grabbed us and took us to sit down in the tent by all of the men. When the men and women sang, their voices sounded like instruments and not voices. They reminded me of the squeaky flutes that one might associate with Middle Eastern music. There were also six women dressed in a tacky green with silvery, bell like ornaments. They did a choreographed dance for everyone.

There were men with video cameras videotaping the different aspects of the wedding. The wedding video, most likely three hours long, will be passed from family member to family member until each person has seen the video at least 3 times. All I could think about the entire time was that when these people watch their wedding video later there would be this random, white girl, with a Bright Red jacket sitting in the corner clapping along. They will probably think, who the hell is that white chick, in that bright red jacket, with her head peeking through in all of these pictures and in the back of our wedding video?! But don’t worry, I remembered to smile J

Gender and Development Council (GAD)

There are several different committees here in Peace Corps Morocco. There is a SIDA (AIDS in French) committee, a GAD (gender and development) committee, Peace Works, which is a written publication, and the VAC (volunteer advisory council) committee.  For most of these committees, representatives are elected by fellow PCVs. The SIDA and GAD committees are made up of 8 volunteers each. Two are elected with each incoming group of volunteers as the older volunteers are on their way out.

The reason I bring this up is because the other day we held elections. I woke up in the morning and thought to myself; today I am going to step out of my character. I am going to run for a position on the GAD committee. I told a friend of mine that this is what I wanted to do but that I was afraid I would chicken out at the last minute for the sole reason of not wanting to stand up in front of my stage( group of incoming YD volunteers.) I asked him to give me a little jab when they asked who wanted to run, essentially holding me accountable to get up there and say what I wanted to say. Well, the plan worked because when they said who wants to run for the GAD committee, I was jabbed in the side, quickly raised my hand, and hopped up as fast as possible to give my spiel and sit back down. There were three of us that were running and then everyone had to write the name of the person they wanted to elect on a piece of paper, drop it in a hat, and a current member of the committee counted the votes and announced the winner. As I was sitting there I watched the girl who was going to announce the winner, struggling over the name, trying to figure out how to say it. This is ALWAYS a good sign for me. And sure enough, I WON! I am sooo excited. This will be the first time I am on a committee, or act as a representative for a group of people but I am psyched and very confident that this will be a good position and opportunity for me.

So, after all of that, what the heck is GAD?

The Gender and Development Council is responsible for making sure that gender issues and activities are incorporated into community projects. Gender in this case includes girls, boys, women, and men. “The committee is a resource for PCV efforts, and works with Moroccan NGOs on gender issues.  Activities under the GAD umbrella include GGLOW (Girls and Guys Leading our World) Camps, International Women’s Day events, tea talks, harassment issues and regional GAD conferences.” As a committee member I will also be responsible for getting information out to the people in my stage about different activities they can do to incorporate Gender into their projects and give them different resources they want or need. I imagine I will have a lot more to say about it in the coming months but I wanted to briefly talk about it because I am very excited to make this apart of my work as a PCV.

Indirectness

A cultural factor that has been very hard for us to grasp has been Indirectness. Moroccan culture is very indirect. If someone is uncomfortable with something, someone likes someone, someone has a problem etc…they ALWAYS go through a third party to address the problem. Or…they just don’t address the problem. AND…from our experience…THIS DOESN’T WORK.  We on the other hand are very direct when it comes to our frustrations.  Under those circumstances we come across as rude and selfish to varying degrees.

Case 1: Minor situation/ Pet peeve

Situation A: LCF=Language and cultural Facilitator
                         PCT=Peace Corps Trainee

Our LCF says maybe after everything to be as indirect as possible. There is no food left and we wont be able to eat lunch tomorrow if we don’t go shopping. We are walking home from the D.C. at 8pm.

LCF “We need to go shopping, Maybe."  
PCT- “It is 8pm and we have been working hard all day. If we only MAYBE need to go    shopping for food then it can wait until tomorrow. Do we NEED food or NOT?”
LCF-“Maybe we don’t have food.”
PCT-“Maybe you don’t know what Maybe Means!”

Situation B:

We have a meeting with the Mudira at our Dar Chebab tomorrow that we don’t know about.

LCF- “Maybe we need to go to the DC tomorrow early.”  
PCT-“Why would we need to go early.”
LCF-“Maybe we have a meeting with the Mudira tomorrow.”
PCT- “Do we have a meeting with the Moudira tomorrow?”
LCF-“I don’t know, just maybe we need to go early.”
PCT- “DO we need to go early or not!? YES or NO?”
LCF-“Yes.”

Case 2: Major situation/ Infuriating after 2 months

 My host mother (and family in general) has been exploiting our cook. We pay a lovely woman to come to our home and make us two breaks and a lunch each day. At first my host mom got mad because we wouldn’t give her the money to pay the cook, we paid the cook directly. But since then she has taken advantage of the situation by forcing the cook, to cook for her and clean for her and is not paying her extra. She has thrown parties and left all the dishes for the cook to clean up the next day as if it were ours.  This makes us very angry because we feel that not only is the cook being taken advantage of but we are as well. On top of this, my host mom and host sister, use the food that we buy for their own meals. We have tried to be very direct and tell them that they aren’t supposed to be in that part of the house in general while we are in class. They shouldn’t be using our food unless they are replacing it. They should be paying the cook in addition to what we pay her…to which they respond MAYBE.  Our LCF and the housing coordinator refuse to bring up these topics directly for several reasons, none of which are satisfying to us, and the problems continue. We will have a lot to say on our final report about CBT.

Explanation:

One explanation for this is the use of one of my favorite god phrases.

INCHALLAH. As was the case in Senegal and Guinea, Inchallah, is also a phrase used at the end of almost every sentence here in Morocco. Inchallah means God willing. I love the phrase not only because it pleases Moroccans when they hear it but because it can be used as a tool from which I benefit. If someone asks if I can come to dinner next week I can say Inchallah, which basically means no guarentee. When I grow up I will get married, Inchallah. When I go to RoseValley I will teach English, Inchallah. In Senegal this phrase was useful to decline wedding proposals. What this phrase also does is eliminate all accountability.  When someone says of course I’ll come to the meeting tomorrow, Inchallah, when they don’t show up it is not their fault; it is god who willed it. At these times I really just want to yell, “YOU willing!!! Not GOD willing!!!” Of course those are just inside words. 

End of Training

We are reaching the final days of our training. I did well on my darija test as did the rest of my group and we are now taking the liberty to relax these last few days and do an analyses of our two months here. We have had a lot of success as far as the Dar Chebab goes with regular attendance and opportunities for each of us to teach at least two language classes.

One of the things we have found most difficult about CBT (community based training) is that there has been a real lack of communication between the staff and the trainees. There were never clear instructions on what we should have been doing at any given time.  When we asked it was as if we should already know or the people we asked didn’t have the answers.

Overall, as much as we love each other, we are all ready to head to our sites. It seems we have gotten as much as we can out of these first two months, faced many challenges and are all warmed up to face what we may in our new sites. 

Site Placement

The end of training is approaching and I have lots of updates!
First off

I have been placed in a town between the Atlas Mountains and the Anti Atlas. I will be near the desert but by no means will I be completely surrounded by sand, as I had originally feared. There are actually two rivers that run around the town and in May the valley is filled with roses. For this reason I will now refer to my site as the RoseValley.

I will be replacing a volunteer that has been working in RoseValley for the last two years. She has been very generous with general information about the site, people to work with, organizations to work with, projects she worked on and more. It sounds like I will have active counterparts and a nice Moudir with whom I will collaborate. I feel very blessed to be going to RoseValley! Everytime I mention that I am moving there other PCVs, kids at the Dar Chebab and my host family, as well as strangers all give me positive feed back about the town and the people that live there (this is not the case for ever site.)

Some other benefits of replacing a volunteer is that I will be able to buy all of her things and it turns out that hopefully I will just move into her apartment as well. This will save me a significant amount of my settling in allowance as well as saving me the trouble of looking for a place to live, negotiating rent and utilities and getting PC staff to make sure it is safe.

I will be able to tell you more about it once I get there but for now it sounds Great!