We started our site visit adventure at 4:30 in the morning last Saturday. Sami, Dave and I were the only volunteers serving in the Tiznit region so we embarked on our long journey to Agadir together, very early in the morning. We had been hoping all along to take a nicer bus but that was just not an option, so we got to the souk bus stand at 4:45am. Our bus did not arrive until 6 am, apparently it was on Moroccan time, then we were off. It took us about 8 hours to get to Agadir from Ourazazet. Most of that time was spent stopping to either pick up people or drop them off. The greatest challenge was restraining the urge to eat or drink. There were no stops at rest stops and without a lot of language or experience, we didn’t exactly know what the procedure for bathroom breaks were and didn’t want to get left behind. When we finally got to Imzgan, which is the hub city for travel into and out of Agadir, it was insane. I now know that it has a bad repuation for harassment and haggling, but boy was it intense. Sami, Dave and I had been on a bus for 8 + hours and we were exhausted. The volunteer that was supposed to meet us was stuck trying to get a place for her parents to stay, since the ash cloud prevented them from leaving Morocco that day. We were super hungry having eaten nothing all day, so we headed to a pastry shop and sat down for a minute. Lots of stares and some cat calls later, we headed out to find a taxi to Tiznit. There were about 500+ taxi’s in this parking lot and we didn’t even have a clue of where to start. Finally we asked a man in a sort of official looking uniform for help. Turns out he works for tips, we didn’t know this at the time. We did eventually find a taxi and just decided to rent the entire thing out instead of hastling with luggage ect in a crowded taxi for an hour and a half. The ride was actually super enjoyable since we had lots of space in the taxi and the scenery was beautiful. When we got to Tiznit, some of the current volunteers met us at the taxi stand and we headed to the hotel. There is a nice, small hotel in Tiznit that all the volunteers in the region use, so the rooms were clean and ready for us when we got there. I am eternally indebted to the current volunteers whom coordinated the rest of the evening for us. I was pretty emotionally drained and it was nice to just do some talking to Americans. It helped calm a lot of fears and aprehensions about the looking days. We then walked around the area for a little bit and then headed to a volunteer’s favorite café where we chatted some more about life in the providence, ect. We then met the other traniees at the taxi stand (the health traninees traveled separately) and then planned the evening. We took a visit to all of the local hot spots that volunteers like including a huge super market that contains tons of American and imported products that made it seem a little more like home. There was even a restratuant with some western style food that was actually good. Pizza, burgers and sandwiches were on the menu as well as some Moroccan favorites. It was nice to eat some food that reminded me of home. The next morning we met as a group for breakfast and talked some more about the region, working, and other volunteer related things. I cannot express gratitude for the current volunteers and even those who are finishing up, they were a signifigant help and Maggie even took me to my site. I would not have been able to find it without her.
When we got to my site, Maggie called out point of contact and the President of the Women’s Association and my 17 year old host sister met us in town. I am going to put up some pictures of my town but basically its awesome. It was everything I could have asked for and more. The local weekly souk (market) where EVERYTHING for the area is sold is located in my town. There are about 50+ shops selling all kinds of household items, food items, mechanic shops and even a pharmacy. We also have a health clinic, the Kalifa (regional govenor of types) and a post office in my town. It is literally awesome. Oh and I forgot to mention, we are a taxi hub, so it wont be hard to catch a cab and there is an HOURLY bus to Tiznit. That’s right, I can get to one of the biggest cities in the area on an hourly bus.
We then walked down to my house. It is located in a compound on the side of a hill. My neighbors house is unreal, even by American standards. All of their children live in France and send money to them, thus they have an amazing house and location. My family’s house is also located inside the compound is large to say the least. I would say at least 1700 square feet, mind you most Host Family’s house durning traning was about 300 square feet. I have a massive room with a queen size bed in it and my own bathroom. The bathroom is nothing fancy but at least I don’t have to walk outside at night in the dark to get to it. This host family is definetly more well off than any family in the village I did traning in. We have multiple TV’s, DVD players, thousands of kitched appliances and even a laptop computer. Mind you the computer is a little outdated, but wow, really. The family consists of a father, mother and their three kids. A son named Mustapha, 21, a daughter and my savior, Hadija, 19, and a daughter Khalia, 17. The father is a blacksmith and does all metal related work for the town and surrounding areas. Mustapha is his apprentice of sorts. The mother is one of the coolest ladies ever. She is so full of personality and life. She is one of the organizers of the Women’s Argon cooperative I will be working with. Basically in a society that is supposed to have conservative and defined gender roles, my mother breaks them all. She is strong, indepedant, funny and super fun to be around and her daughter Hadija is exactly the same. Hadija has been my savior theses past few days and I am debtted to her as well. She has basically taken me as her tag along and shown me the ropes of the town. She told me where the men go, and where the women go. How to open a post office box and even how to pass the days. The youngest daughter is still in high school but shoul be finishing up soon.
The first day I came to my village, my family took me in with open arms. I ate way way too much food and spent all evening hanging out with the classy women of the village. A few days before I came, a relative in France had died and friends and family were coming over to the amazingly nice house to pay their respects. I was asked lots of questions I didn’t understand and drank lots of tea before the night was over. The women were so welcoming and anxious to learn about me, a feeling which is well appreciated over the alternative. Again I cannot mention enough how awesome this house it, the entire house is tiled they have tons of spare bedrooms, a huge kitchen with hot running water and even a large western bathroom with a shower. I enjoy spending my time there. The mother is very nice and welcoming, all of her children live in France and send money back to their parents, thus the nice house.
I didn’t end up getting to bed until way late, like almost 1 am. I set up my room a little bit and hit the sack. Luckily there was no rush to wake up and get moving in the morning, so I didn’t leave my room until about 10am. We did breakfast at the neihbors house and then headed to the Women’s Cooperative. I will be doing quite a bit of work with them and I think it is the perfect job for me. They are super motivated and enthauistic. They have a local shop, sell their products at tanhouts all over the area and show up every day without fail to make cous cous, argon oil for cooking and beauty products and to make my personal favorite item, Amalou. It is essentially peanuts, almonds, argon oil and sugar ground up and used for dipping bread. Wow. It is so good and it makes breakfast and snack awesome. Most of the women at the Women’s Cooperative are either divoriced, widowed, never married or their husbands just need the additional income it provides. I am seriously very impressed with the women and their work ethic. They have set up such a great operation with little guidance or resources. It should be awesome to see what help I can provide them to make their busniess even better.
The rest of the week we did lots of walking around the village, sitting at the cooperative, having tea at neigbors houses and checking out the local hotspots. My host sister helped me open a post office box in town and even took me to a neigbroing town to meet with the Gendarms (the local authority) and let them know I am living in the village. Their role is to basically provide me any support needed in relation to my safety and security and they seemed more than willing to help out, which I appreciated. Again, my language limitations popped up in the Gendarmery when the only man who spoke any English spoke basically none. Regarless, we got the job done and the patience of all those around me was of great help. On our trip we ate some bad tajine and we even aquired a stalker for the afternoon, following our every move. It was quite an adventure and having my host sister and our friend Maria there was of great help and guidance. It was nice to have a local show me around the hot spots, places to avoid, ect.
One of the cooler things we did this week was take a hike to this amazing valley about 15 minutes away from my house. I had no idea where we were going and I was pleasantly surprised when we got there. There is a waterfall into the valley and an amazing view. The valley itself is beauitufl and green with Argon forests and very old rocks, all of which was extremely interesting to the science nerd in me.
All in all, I was pretty sad to leave my site and anxious to start the next two years. I even found a local high school teacher who is fluent in English and offered to help me with any thing I needed. She is a young women who lives in Tiznit and commutes into school every day to teach high school kids. She expressed intrest in helping me start the environmental club at school and seems like a great contact to have. It will be nice to have one English speaking person around when I need her and I am sure she will appreacite having someone around to practice English with.
For now I am headed back to the comfort and familiarity of life in our small village outside Ourarzazet and my host mother, Fatima’s, delicious cooking. I am also away from the queen sized bed and house and back to sleeping on the floor but it will be really sad to leave my host family behind. They have become a very important part of my life and will continue to be for a while. I cannot wait to come back in a couple of months with my improved Tashlheet skiils and enjoy a delicious dinner witht the Maali clan.We will be back at our sites permanently on May 5th or 6th and then the real adventure starts.
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