Field Trip to Berber Village

I spent the last week in a small mountain village in the Ouarazate province on a field trip. Two of us stayed with a couple volunteers in a dirt floor house with no electricity and water. What the village lacked in amenities it made up in landscape. Surrounded by mountains colored with red clay, locals were farming mostly wheat in the widest valley areas while fruit trees like fig, apple, and apricot outlined the community and extended into the mts cracks. I was told that the wheat should be ready to harvest in late May, early June.

The site also had an abundance of amasythe (sp), the purple quartz popular in jewelry. We were told that groups of tourists in 5-6 SUVs arrive once a week at the site, have drink and food at a locals house/cafe, then are driven across the village and dumped off in close proximity to the rock reserve. On one of last days I observed this; their arrival, their rock collection, and then their departure. The community is not currently compensated for the harvesting of this natural resource, but that is one project that the community PCV is working on.

Also of interest in the village is the fear of cameras. I tried only once to take a picture; a woman was throwing rocks at a dog outside her house, noticed I had a camera pointed in her direction, then sprinted to safety behind a wall. I felt bad and have learned (or already knew) that I should have prefaced my action by asking for her permission. I don’t know if this general cultural norm in Morocco, a dislike of having your picture taken, has a greater cultural significance or if it’s as as simple as a privacy matter. In any case, I probably will take few people photos until I am able to establish trust in a community.

Overall, I’ve found that the people in small communities like the one I visited are some of the nicest people around. They are not outgoing, but are polite, helpful, and friendly.

Next Tues or Wed is the lunar holiday Aid Mawlid an Nabbaoui. This is an Islamic holiday, of which I believe there are two more Aid’s (Aid al Fitr, Aid al Adha) throughout the year. We will celebrate part of this holiday with our host families on Tues when we go back to site.