Site Placement

04-24-08

Just finished up my 3rd CBT week an all is well. My group was able to organize and implement a stellar Earth Day presentation for our community (Magraman.) We worked with a local primary school and with the help of very supportive teachers and some language translation provided by Peace Corps staff, the day was amazing. We were given a 2 hour block of time and were successful in teaching environmental education lessons and activities to over 120 students (ranging from age 5-13). Since the main issue affecting our community (and also much of Morocco) is a lack of water we focused on water conservation and protection issues. Magraman is reliant on subsistence farming for its livelihood security and as water becomes more scarce many farmers are forced out of agriculture and, as a result, out of the community.

We started out by doing a skit that we’d translated into Darija, that focused on what Earth Day was and the importance of it. I played the role of the wise old tree. We played a few games and then I taught a lesson on the water cycle (that was translated into Darija) and was surprised at the level of knowledge that the students already had.

So tomorrow is a very significant day in my Peace Corps life. Tomorrow I learn where I will be spending my life for the next two years and get a basic idea of what I may be working on. Pretty exciting.

04-25-08

Oujda bound! Found out where I will be living for the next two years. Oujda is a fairly large city (600,000-800,000 people) that is located in the far NE part of Morocco close to the Algerian border and the Mediterranean. I will be living 65km south of there is a smaller village and working with the Department of Environment and Forestry. Apparently, my host dad who I will be living with for the first two months also happens to be the regional forester. Networking already. Potential projects include working on protected areas for gazelle’s, a nursery, environmental education, and there’s also talk of a museum that focuses on the mining history in the area. I’m headed up there tomorrow so I’ll let you know when I know. All for now!

The "not-so-grand" taxis

Well.......one over month in and all is well.  I was able to go and visit one of the current environment volunteers who’s working in the Middle Atlas Mountains in Ifrane National Park last week.  While an incredibly beautiful place, national parks here are of name only and have grazing, logging, people living, and even large cities inside their boundaries.  The volunteer I visited was working on documenting medicinal plants in the area.  We were also able to meet with some of the other Ifrane Environment volunteers and hear about some of their projects.  I still don’t know exactly where I’ll be or working but its exciting to see some of the possibilities.

On that trip we had many opportunities to experience the “grand taxis.”  They are almost always old Mercedes from the 80’s and carry 6 passengers plus the driver.  Now keep in mind that this is a 5 passenger car.  4 people cram in the back and then there’s usually 3 people up front with the driver.  Though I’ve yet to see this personally, apparently sometimes a 7 passenger rides up front on the left side of the driver.  The advice I got from a current volunteer is to just let your body go limp and allow the other passengers bodies form around you.

CBT (community based training) continues to go well and I think I’m making some progress towards Darija mastery.  Returning for my 2nd week it was pretty cool to actually be able to engage in some type of limited conversation with my host family.  It still requires a great deal of time, patience, and exaggerated hand motions to get my point across but I can usually get the job done.  I can now accomplish a few very basic daily actions without receiving a confused, quizzical look.  One of the more entertaining conversations I’ve had yet was when my host uncle asked if when I was done with Peace Corps if I would put him in my backpack and smuggle him back to America.  He also has the idea that my father (in the US) is a very powerful man who can get him a visa.  I tried to explain that I didn’t have those kind of connections but I think i was unsuccessful.  Better start working on that visa Dad.

Well........all for now.  Miss you guys!