Break a Leg!

Just over two weeks ago, the Acting Out Awareness group had their first official performance in Inzegane, a town about an hour north.  After months of rehearsals, changes in props and finally finishing the set, they were really ready to take on their first live audience.  We met up just after 8am to pack up the van and head up where we were greeted by the mudir and an assistant and treated to a Moroccan breakfast.  The Inzegane dar chbab staff seemed to be very interested in what we were doing and they were also eager to share what programs they have to offer their youth.  I was impressed with the information available at the dar chbab about AIDS.

Opening scene.... the little guy is the AIDS virus

There were already about 20 kids hanging out at the dar chbab when we arrived but not more than five minutes after we pulled up another 20 kids came running up.  As we were setting up and talking to the staff there, kids kept popping their heads into the room to see what we were up to.  I noticed several of them point at me and go "That's an American!"  I know what my part in this whole project is and if I can help out more just by being the American that every one comes to see and look at, fine by me.  By the time we were ready to start there were close to 60 kids in the room.  

Captive audience

The performance went perfectly except for one small flaw at the end.  There are these six boxes that they turn around to spell out an awareness slogan and they flipped the boxes around out of order.  A small mistake that they realized and fixed by the end.  As I was watching the kids in the audience watch them, I could tell that they were fully engaged in the performance and that they were getting the message.  They even got a standing ovation at the end!  No Moroccan activity is complete without dancing so there was a little dancing and a few games after we finished to fully round up the activity.  We also had a discussion with several members of a theater group at the Inzegane dar chbab to discuss how we could do joint projects in the future.  Everyone seemed pleased at the idea of working together and sharing resources.

Defeating the AIDS virus

This was just the first performance out of eight.  I think it went very well and the kids in the group were pleased with their performance.  It will be interesting to see how they improve over the next seven performances and see how many people will end up hearing their message.  These kids impress me every day by their dedication to this project.  I'm just happy that I can be a part of it.  The next six weekends will be the other performances most likely.  With that said, break a leg guys!

Some of the participants

Morocco How To #3: Tajine

Tajine, a traditional food of Morocco, is actually not a food but the type of pot that you cook the food in.  A tajine is a clay pot that is flat on the bottom with slightly raised edges and a triangle shaped cover.  Traditionally it is cooked over coals but you can also cook it over a flame on a stove top.  There are both clay and metal tajines but I would recommend the clay tajine as would most Moroccans you might talk to.  There are many different things you can cook in a tajine but I will only give you the how to for one.  The following how to is on how to make a traditional chicken tajine.

#1: Gather your ingredients and clean them.  You will need, a tajine, oil, 2 big onions, 4 big tomatoes, salt, a chicken (cleaned, cut and sectioned), 1/4 kilo olives, and cilantro.
#2:  In the tajine, pour enough oil to completely cover the bottom.
#3:  Cut the onions into small sections.  Size is up to your personal preference.
#4:  Cut the tomatoes into small sections.  Size is up to your personal preference.
#5:  Sprinkle salt over the top and cook until the onions are slightly brown.
#6:  Place chicken into the tajine so that it is spread out into one layer.
#7:  Pour a little more oil over the chicken and let it simmer for a few minutes.
#8:  Cut cilantro over the top of the chicken.  Cover the tajine and let it cook for a about 10 minutes.
#9:  Uncover the tajine and turn the chicken over.  Add a little more oil and the olives and recover the chicken.
#10:   Let the tajine cook until the chicken is tender and cooked all the way through.
#11:  Serve hot and eat with bread.  No silverware allowed!

This is approximately what your tajine will look like when it's done

Hope you will find this helpful and delicious!  Keep your eyes open for the next Moroccan how to!

One Year.... and Going Strong!

One year ago today I landed in Morocco with about 60 other Americans.  As we traveled by bus from the Casablanca Airport to Mehdiya, I remember looking out the window and thinking "Can I do this?"  My first impressions of the country was that it was brown, fairly clean, the roads were flat and straight, it was hot, and it was NOT Albania.  As most of you know, I absolutely fell in love with Albania.  I was at home in Lezha with my friends and Albanian family, my freedom to do almost anything and was comfortable with the things I had in my life.  Here I was in Morocco about to start from scratch.  What the heck did I get myself into??!!

Over the past year, there have been things I have struggled with, am still struggling with and things that I have done that I am proud of.  There have been good days and bad days.  There are things here that I like a lot and things here that I don't really care for.  My job is not what I expected it to be but it is evolving and becoming more like what I want it to be for my second year.  I still have no idea what projects will actually finish before I leave and what projects will still only be ideas.  I DO know that I have made an impact on my community and that they will remember me after I'm gone and for that reason, I know I've been a successful volunteer.  

So on this anniversary of my arrival in Morocco, I wanted to list out some things that I've done and some things that I still want to do.  These lists are by no means complete but they are a good representation of my first year here.  

Things I have Done

-PST, PPST and IST!! (pre-service training, post pre-service training and in-service training)

-One academic year of English classes with two of my students graduating high school

-Spring Camp in Agadir with 40 kids

-Summer Camp in El Jadida with 80 kids

-Month long day camp at my youth center with about 200 kids between 3 sessions

-World Map Project

-Coordinated the SOS Village in Agadir and worked at one of the summer sessions

-Volunteered at Special Olympics 

-Co-lead workshops on English and Customer Service at Marche Maroc Essaouria

-Won a VAST grant for an AIDS awareness campaign put together by the youth at my dar chbab

-Helped at a PCV led Women's Wellness Conference 

-Helped to redesign and improve PST for the new group that arrived in country YESTERDAY! (welcome new group!)

-Learned some basic Tashalheet 

-Improved my Darija

-Made Moroccan friends in my community

-Learned how to wrap a lizar

-Learned how to make mint tea and tajine

-Traveled around to multiple areas of Morocco without getting lost, injured or pick-pocketed

-Learned how to live as a meat loving vegetarian

-Successfully stayed single (even with all the marriage proposals)

-Survived having a wisdom tooth pulled in country

-Killed my first cockroach

-Successfully integrated well enough into my town so that I no longer get "Bonjour"-ed!

-Learned how to make tortilla's and alfredo sauce (literally learned yesterday so I could put it on today's list)

-Survived the Moroccan summer

-Survived my first Ramadan!

Things I Still Have to Do

-Finish my AID's awareness campaign with my dar chbab

-Start a girl's sports club

-Start a Health Club/Environment Club

-Become conversational in Tashalheet

-Help a friend find funding and start a tourism project for our town

-Learn how to make msmn

-Learn some basic French

-Complete a 2nd year of English classes at the dar chbab

-Work at spring camp, summer camp and day camp next year

-Continue coordinating for SOS Village in Agadir

-And anything else that comes up!!

My service in Morocco is nothing like what my service was in Albania.  It's not better.  It's not worse.  It's just different.  Morocco is growing on me more and more as the days pass.  I'm starting to feel more at home here.  Time has been passing quickly and it's hard to believe it's been a year already.  If my second year in Morocco is anything like my second year in Albania, it's going to fly by.  I'm excited to see what I can accomplish in my remaining time here and anxious for all my new projects to start.  It's been a good first year Morocco, let's keep up the good work!

Ramadan Kareem!

August is over half-way done at this point and so is my first Ramadan.  Ramadan, for those of you who don't know, is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar which lasts for 29 or 30 days.  Since the Islamic calendar is based on the moon, the dates change every year.  During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and yes, sex, during daylight hours.  It is a time for Muslims to reflect on their spirituality, their humility, patience and submissiveness to God, or Allah.  Ramadan is one of the most important holidays to Muslims as it celebrates the first time that a verse of the Qur'an was read to the prophet Mohammed.  The following has been my experience with Ramadan so far and my plans for the rest of the month.

The first day of Ramadan fell on August 2nd.  I was at summer camp at El Jadida and experienced it along with about 80 Moroccan youth, 16 other Americans and several Moroccan counselors.  We went to bed as usual on August 1st but around 4am, those of us preparing to fast woke up to eat a small meal of bread with cheese, yogurt, orange juice and fruit.  This was to prepare us for the day as we would not be eating again until around 7:30pm.  We went back to bed and woke up around 10.  Our day with the campers started at 12:45 and you could tell it wasn't easy for anyone.  The campers were tired, quiet, and lethargic.  For myself, I found it became hardest around 3pm.  That's when I first became hungry and started getting a head ache.  I couldn't believe I still had to wait another 4 1/2 hours until break fast.  I didn't know if I would make it.  I had a break and decided to take a power nap.  My power nap got me through it and I ran to the food hall along with everyone else when the bell sounded that it was time to break fast.

My first break fast was exciting, delicious and painful.  For those of you who have ever fasted, you know how delicious food tastes again once you eat.  You're so hungry and everything just tastes twice as good as usual.  You also inhale your food which is where the pain came in.  For all of us first timers, we overdid it and left feeling over full.  How could we resist the spread of soup, bread, cheese, msmn, hard boiled eggs, jam, orange juice, dates and sweets??  We vowed after that the second day we would eat slower so as to not leave in so much pain.  The second day was easier.  I didn't feel hungry until right before break fast and at break fast, I paced myself so I didn't overdue it.  I also started staying up until 4 in the morning so that I could eat my last meal before going to bed.  It worked out well and I felt good during those days of Ramadan at camp.

Since leaving camp, I have continued to fast.  I had to stop for a few days because I got sick.  The Qur'an states that young children, the elderly, pregnant women, sick people and travelers going farther than 60km do not need to fast.  It has been an enjoyable experience and not as hard as I thought it would be.  It has been hard to refrain from drinking water during the day, and I have slipped on occasion, but overall I think I have done well.  I have found it easier to fast when there are other people with me also fasting.  It's so easy to cheat when you're by yourself!  I am back in Rabat to help out with a focus group so these next few days should be easy fasting days.  I am going to continue fasting for the entire month as long as I am not hindered from doing so (ex: sickness).

For those of you who are still confused about Ramadan, think about it like the Islamic equivalent of Lent.  During Lent, you give up something for 40 days.  For Ramadan, Muslims all give up the same thing for 30 days.  It can be hard but then challenges make successes that much sweeter, don't they??  Many people have asked why I am fasting.  I am not Muslim.  I am fasting because I am living in a Muslim culture where my neighbors and friends are fasting.  I wanted to experience what they do every year.  This might be one of my only chances to truly experience Ramadan as it should be.  Even if I wasn't fasting, my life here would have had to change.  Business hours are different for Ramadan.  Things sold in stores change during Ramadan.  Transportation has become more scarce in my town.  Life continues late into the night now.  This is my first Ramadan and I have been mentally preparing for it since I arrived in this country eleven months ago.  It is here and I am enjoying it more than I thought I could.  The bell signaling break fast is about to go off so I will end here so that I can get ready to go and eat.  Ramadan kareem everyone!!

Summer Camp in El Jadida

Summer time in Morocco.  The thermometer reads much higher than you would ever like to see it.  Juicy melons cost mere pennies.  Laundry dries in an hour or two instead of all day.  Beaches are crowded with different groups of campers.  Youth Development PCV's take their turns working at summer camp in El Jadida.  This is summer time in Morocco.

After having had a few days to rest and recuperate, I am now ready to describe my experience at summer camp.  As some of you may know, I was partially dreading camp because of stories I've heard from years past.  I was also excited about it because it was camp.  Who doesn't love camp?!  I arrived a few days late because I needed to finish up a few things in site but arrived at the same time as the campers so I didn't miss much.  We started off right away with get to know you games and general shenanigans.

Campers were given a language proficiency test when they arrived at camp and then were divided into English classes, clubs and teams.  The teams they were put on were able to gain and lose points throughout camp for good behavior, bad behavior, helpfulness, attendance, participation and winning challenges.  Clubs varied from arts and crafts to dance to games to creative writing to theater.  English classes were from beginner up through advanced.  Every day they would line up for announcements and songs and then go to English class, followed by an activity, lunch, another activity, club time, snack, an activity, dinner and then more activities at night.  At least for the first few days before Ramadan but we'll talk about that later.

The beautiful schedule

Some of the activities included a fashion show, team competition of talent, a trivia game, a talent show, a presentation from an astronaut, workshops, field trip to neighboring Azemmour and going to the beach.  The fashion show, as you can imagine, contained some true fashion, some out there fashion and some just plain old, "what were you thinking?!" fashion.  We had four categories, modern, hip-hop, crazy and traditional.  I am happy to say that one of my girls, Zora won 1st place in the hip-hop category.

Some of the team captains showing their team pride on fashion show night

The team competition of talent went well with some skits, songs, physical demonstrations of strength and team cheers.  There were two trivia games; one was more like jeopardy and the other required teams to search for the clues based on the number of spaces they had moved on a game board.  The astronaut who came to camp (no she wasn't wearing a flight suit....) was an American astronaut brought to Morocco by the American embassy to promote girls to follow science studies.  We had several different workshops on leadership, environment and gender.  The trips to the beach were enjoyed by all and one day we even went swimming in an indoor pool!  I was just as happy as the campers that day.

Ben, Beth, Donniell, astronaut, me and Rachel

The day before Ramadan was supposed to start (we'll talk about that later), we went on a field trip to Azemmour, a town about 30 minutes away.  The trip started out slightly chaotic since we did not know what to do and we were in a small market filled with lots of other people.  Once we started moving it was much better.  The old town of Azemmour has murals painted all over its walls.  The murals are new but beautiful and colorful.  There is also a wonderful park next to the river where we sat for awhile.  We also were able to go into a section of the old town where we could climb the outer wall of the city and take some amazing pictures of the town.  It was a really cool old town in the sense that it was old and touristy but not completely taken care of.  There were buildings in need of repair and doors that you can tell are the first ones from when the city was first built.  I liked the mix of traditional with modern.  We returned to camp just in time for dinner and found out that Ramadan would not start until August 2nd.

Looking at the "new" through the "old"

One of our night time activities during Ramadan was Halloween.  The kids were encouraged to wear costumes (most of them just dressed up) or get their faces painted.  The PCV's put together a haunted house which I heard scared most of the campers.  There was also bobbing for apples, face painting and we showed them the movie Hocus Pocus.  It was a great way for the campers to enjoy one of the best American holidays.  On our last night at camp we had the talent show.  Campers were able to dazzle us with their singing, dancing, drumming, acting, poems, and overall thoughts of camp.  We also celebrated everyone who had a birthday during camp that night.  There was delicious cake to follow our dinner outside.

My girl drumming her heart out!

I don't want to get into too much detail about Ramadan as that will be a future blog post but I'll give you some basics.  Ramadan started on August 2nd.  Those of us who were fasting, woke up around 4am to eat a quick snack before the first call to prayer and fasting began for the day.  We continued on with our normal schedule, only a few hours pushed back, and broke fast around 7:30.  Breaking fast is an amazing experience but like I said that will be in a later blog post.

Camp ended on the 5th and as the campers left so did many of the PCV's.  About 5 of us ended up going into Rabat for medical reasons after but we've all recovered, hamdullah.  There is talk of redesigning summer camp so we'll see what happens but I hope next year will be just as much fun as this year. Either way, next year I'm only going to look forward to camp, not dread it.  And for those PCV's out there who didn't like camp, I ask you, what's not to love about camp??!!! 

World Map Project

During my dar chbab's day camp last month, we had one day where we started painting the outside walls. My mudir is a painter and I knew it would only be a matter of time before we started adding color to the otherwise bland new dar chbab.  Along with some supplies donated from the American School in Rabat, my mudir donated some of his own paints so that this project was possible.  The world map is something I've wanted to do since getting to site so I proposed we start it while we had a large number of kids to help.  My mudir agreed and we set a few kids out to start painting the backdrop.

One of the students outlining the countries in black

The world map is a Peace Corps initiative to create a better cultural exchange between host country nationals (HCN's) and the global community.  It's exactly what it sounds like.  PCV's go into their communities and paint a world map with their community partners.  In my case, the world map was done with the campers at the day camp and the counselors.  We started it on the day that we were doing murals and finished it the day before I left for summer camp.  In total we worked on it four days.  The first day we just painted the backdrop.  The second day we traced out the grid.  Tracing out the grid takes the longest and is the most important.  If you make the squares uneven, your map will be too.  You can also use a projector and trace it but not everyone has a projector (I didn't).  The third day we traced out the countries.  Make sure that older kids do this as some of the countries are oddly shaped and it's harder for the smaller children to follow the outline.  On the final day we painted in the countries, outlined them in black and wrote in the country names. 

Tracing out the grid.  Yes that's a broomstick we're using.

This is a simple project to do in site and doesn't require to many materials or money.  Usually this project can be funded entirely by a community with about $50 depending on the cost of paint.  Our world map did not cost the community one cent because of the paint donated by the American school.  The kids had so much fun painting and guessing the names of the countries.  My hope is to use the map to talk about different cultures and use it for future English lessons.  My mudir is very happy with the final product as were several other community members who watched its progression.

This is before the country names were written in

For any PCV's out there looking for a simple summer time project, I recommend the world map.  Gather up a few kids, find a blank wall or some sidewalk and get your pencils sharpened.  This was a fun project for my community and me.  Now I know even after I'm gone, they will remember me when they see the map.  I've left my mark.

Go Bananas!

Over the month of July, my dar chbab held a month long day camp.  In total it was three 10-day sessions, with about 80 kids in each.  Over the course of the month, we played games, sports, did arts and crafts, went on excursions, ate amazing food, had dance parties and painted the outside walls of the dar chbab (to be described in a later blog post).  Before the day camp started I was stressing out about how long the days were and being able to speak to the kids who mostly only know Tashalheet, however it was the best thing I've done in site to date.

One of the arts and crafts activities

The first few days were tough since I went from working a few hours a week to working 12 hours a day.  After my body adjusted, it was actually exciting to get up and go to the dar chbab every morning.  As soon as I walked through the gate I would be tackled by little girls who wanted to greet me by kissing my cheeks or by little boys who wanted to shake my hand.  It felt so good to be welcomed by that by people who didn't always understand me.  Since these were littler kids not all of them have learned Darija yet.  I only know simple commands in Tashalheet.  A lot of times it would be them asking me long questions and me responding with "ur snH" (I don't know).  They would laugh, I would smile and we would move on.  I ended up learning a bit more Tashalheet from the kids throughout the camp and I taught them some English.

Marching the kids to our spot on the beach

One of the things that most impressed me from the camp was hygiene.  All the kids would wash their hands before eating and brush their teeth after.  It was so cute to watch them get out their little toothbrushes and toothpaste and go to town in the courtyard.  One day there was a group of doctors who came to camp and they did a teeth brushing demonstration.  What made this hygiene even more impressive was we did not have water until the last week of camp.  We had a water reserve which they would have to get water from first before washing their hands or teeth.  On our excursions we would bring multiple jugs of water as well so that they would still be able to do both as well.

Brushy brushy brushy!!

Each session we would go on 2 excursions.  The first one to an area between the neighborhoods filled with trees.  The second one to the beach.  The day we went to the trees was always very pleasant.  Not only did we have lots of shade but it was a very relaxed day.  The kids would play different games in the morning and after we ate lunch we would do a big group activity.  The beach was a little more stressful just because of crowd control but still fun.  The kids would do activities in the sand and we would take them in the water in small groups.  One day we went it was a little chilly but the kids still had a great time.  My favorite part of the excursions was the way we traveled.  We would get 3 trucks and all the kids would be standing up in the trailer singing and clapping the whole way there.  Needless to say, we made a scene true Moroccan style.

Taking one of the groups in to swim

Something else that we did each session was a more traditional activity.  The kids would all bring their best traditional clothes and of course, I was dressed up too.  One time we did a re-enactment of two tribes fighting over a water well.  Another time we did a scavenger hunt type activity where the counselors each played a role and the kids would have to do an activity with each.  These activities were always fun to watch and helped me understand a lot more about Moroccan culture.

After one of our dance parties

There were of course the traditional sports, arts and crafts and songs as well.  The camp favorite was "bananas".  If you don't know it, it goes like this: Bananas of the world unite!!  Peel banana, peel, peel banana!  Jump banana, jump, jump banana!  Go bananas, go, go bananas!!  Overall the camp was a huge success.  One day there was even a delegation from Rabat who came to see the camp.  They were impressed with the staff and the activities we were doing with the kids.  I did not get to see the end of day camp since I had to leave for summer camp but I hope that the time I spent at day camp will help my future projects in site.  That is day camp in a nutshell.  It was amazing, wonderful, inspiring, and exhausting.  All in all an excellent chapter to my Peace Corps experience in Morocco.

On our way back from the beach!