I really cannot even begin to explain how drastically my life has changed in the last 8 days. I am overwhelmed just thinking about it.
The real adventure began when we were assigned to our community based training site. Our site is about 35km from our hub site and since there are six of us, we get our own cab and we get straight there in about 25 minutes, which is nice since we don’t have to try and transfer luggage or anything else for that matter.
Once we got to our CBT site, we met with the host fathers of all of our families. My CBT group consists of one awesome married couple, Sammy and Dave, one returned Benin Peace Corps Volunteer, Felicie, one Texan, Isabel, one landscape architect entrepreneur Martin and myself. We are quite an awesome bunch.
I am not sure what I was expecting after the meet and greet, but the events that followed changed my world forever. We were then “set-free” to go with our host fathers back to their homes. Mind you, it was about 4pm in the afternoon and dinner isn’t usually until about 9pm. This means I experienced the single most awkward 5 hours of my entire life. What do you do in a small mud house in the middle of a village in the middle of no where Morocco with a family that doesn’t speak any language you understand, why of course, you watch Satellite TV! I am honestly not sure I wouldn’t have picked up and caught the next flight out of Casablanca, had it not been for the very small satellite TV in the corner of the Maali’s living room.
When I first go back to the house, I was in the midst of a mild panic attack asking myself questions like, why am I doing this?
Am I actually crazy for wanting to do this? Will I survive the night? Will I have the strength to get up the next morning? Turns out I did. First off, my host father introduced me to my brothers and sisters, Ahmaaderin, Hamid, Iman, and Inan and my host mother, Fatima. He then showed me my room. One of only 4 rooms in the compound, my room was covered with nice rugs and even had a locking door ☺ There wasn’t a bed, so I was little confused, but after a little help from Fatima, I made my quasi bed out of blankets and with the help of my sleeping bag, it has worked out quite nice so far! We then went into the living room, which has a small TV stand and TV in it. No couches or tables, its quite simple, filled with blankets and love! The next room is the kitchen with a cook top but no stove or refrigerator, so my dreams of cold water went out the window. The 4th room is a multi-purpose bedroom/ storage room/ ect for the family. All in all, the house is quite small but nice for the resources they have.
The bathroom is located inside the compound, but outside of the actual rooms of the house. It is really just a glorified outhouse, complete with an outlet and a Turkish toilet. Not the nicest bathroom I have ever been in, but it definitely gets the job done.
When the tour of the house was finally complete, the family gathered in the living room to sit down with their favorite past time, watching the TV. Most if not all, of the families in my village have a TV, it really seems to be their only way of entertainment, and the TV is always on! After Mohammed insisting I take the remote, I found one of two English-speaking channels, CNN! Yes, my Moroccan family watched the first gay couple in DC gets married in village in Africa. Thankfully, they could not understand what was happening, one perk of being the only one to speak English!
We then had Tea before dinner, and then dinner came. The food here is really starch and bread based but it’s quite nice actually, so far anyway. After dinner, its pretty much bedtime, which is great for me. It gives me a sold 30 minutes to decompress and come to the realization of everything I had done that day. Night one was not nearly this calm, but it turned out great. Sometimes you find strength in the strangest of places, like some pictures I happened to have in my notebook, a good country song, or the realization that you cannot give up only 5 days after trying something. Whatever it was, I spent the night and woke up the next morning with a new outlook and renewed appreciation. My host mom cooked me a chicken noodle soup of sorts for breakfast and then my host dad walked me back to school at Said’s house.
Said is our Language and Cross Cultural Facilitator who’s sole purpose is to teach us all about Moroccan language and culture. We spend our mornings learning language and afternoons exploring and meeting local big wigs in our community. We also have our own cook who cooks our delicious snacks and lunch for us everyday. She is a local girl from the community whom we pay to help us out, it’s really nice to have her!
We have already started to get a taste of Moroccan culture and all that entails, mostly Moroccan time. People just don’t seem to be in a hurry and while that can seem frustrating at first, it’s actually quite relaxing. We have had numerous scheduled meetings that just didn’t happen and the men of the town seem to be always crouching behind walls, I assume to get out of the intense dust storms we have, but I honestly cant tell you why.
The school system in Morocco is in desperate need of some reform. My town only has 4 rooms for school and only 3 teachers, so the classes are taught 2 levels at a time with only one teacher. The rooms themselves were pretty nice but lacking some of the necessary learning tools, we in the states used to learn (i.e. computers, flash cards, games, posters, ect). The teachers were great but the kindergarden/1st grade teacher only has an elementary school education. The children in my village can only go to school until the 6th grade, at which time they have to find a way to get to another city to pay to go to school. Most of the farmers cannot afford that extra expense, so they simply quit school with a 6th grade education. I give a great deal of the credit to the teachers who are spending countless paid and unpaid hours to help educate the children and the women of the community. They are amazing individuals working hard every day to make change :)
Our group also got a chance to look around at the Women’s Center and it provided some insight on what our future projects could look like. Essentially, a French company donated the money to build the building and some supplies, ect but didn’t find any sustainable way to make it happen after their money was gone. The building has no electricity since no one will pay for it. They also have a storage room full of computers, sewing machines, books and bookshelves but they lack to resources and teachers to learn to use these things. No one in the town can operate a computer, so no one can teach everyone else how too. Same thing goes for the sewing machine. This experience was just a reality check about how we need to make sure our projects are sustainable and will benefit the community after we are gone.
In general, I wake up everyday with a great appreciation for my surroundings. While my family doesn’t have a lot, they are full of love and laughter. I am learning to live on less and realize that it doesn’t take a lot to sustain me. For the time being the focus is language and studying, hopefully soon this hard work will pay off and I can start a project or two. I just still cannot believe I have been given this opportunity and frankly I don’t mind taking the good with the bad, its just all a part of the experience!
I miss you all and love you greatly.
My adorable host family.
The dust storms that blow over the Salty "aka Chocolate" river near our village.
My living room with the TV.
The awesome roofing of all of the homes in my village.
My Host Mother, brother and two sisters. There is another brother and dad not pictured.
An outside view of one of the school complexes (ie 2 rooms) of the 4 rooms total for the school.
One of our many language and culture classes at Said's house.
A view outside the hotel bab sharah
Shopping at a local hanoot to get some veggies for our trip!
