Quote of the Week

“One of the most harrowing moments in the whole history of the harrowing of the heart in Northern Ireland came when a minibus full of workers being driven home one January evening in 1976 was held up by armed and masked men and the occupants of the van ordered at gunpoint to line up at the side of the road. Then one of the masked executioners said to them, "Any Catholics among you, step out here". As it happened, this particular group, with one exception, were all Protestants, so the presumption must have been that the masked men were Protestant paramilitaries about to carry out a tit-for-tat sectarian killing of the Catholic as the odd man out, the one who would have been presumed to be in sympathy with the IRA and all its actions. It was a terrible moment for him, caught between dread and witness, but he did make a motion to step forward. Then, the story goes, in that split second of decision, and in the relative cover of the winter evening darkness, he felt the hand of the Protestant worker next to him take his hand and squeeze it in a signal that said no, don't move, we'll not betray you, nobody need know what faith or party you belong to. All in vain, however, for the man stepped out of the line; but instead of finding a gun at his temple, he was thrown backward and away as the gunmen opened fire on those remaining in the line, for these were not Protestant terrorists, but members, presumably, of the Provisional IRA.”
-from the 1995 Nobel Lecture of poet Seamus Heaney, found here.

Heaney ends the next paragraph with the following salient words, which seem timely in the current zeitgeist of fear and moat building.

“The birth of the future we desire is surely in the contraction which that terrified Catholic felt on the roadside when another hand gripped his hand, not in the gunfire that followed, so absolute and so desolate, if also so much a part of the music of what happens.”

Wizard of Oz in Oujda

Several months ago I stayed with my neighbor Meddi and his family in Oujda, where he’s a school teacher for most of the year. On a satellite TVwith more than 200 channels, less than 10 of which are in English, we found the original “Wizard of Oz” being shown with Arabic subtitles. I then took the following photo, showing Oumayma watching this classic.

A month later, I met my parents in London for a few days before traveling back to Morocco, where we spent more than a week traveling around. In London, we saw “Wicked,” an excellent play adapted from the Oz storyline.

Rasheed in Gafait

Upon ending her service and leaving Morocco in June, Sumona gave me some tea and a priceless gift, a Rasheed Wallace bobbing head doll. Mr. Wallace is one of her favorites on her home state team, da Pistons, and after learning this fact last year, it became a talking point from time to time. As one of the NBA’s most emotional players and recipient of the most technical fouls, he provides constant fodder.

I told Sumona I would take a series of candid photos of Rasheed while traveling around Morocco, to be later collected into a coffee table book. Well, here’s photo #1 of Rasheed taking several months ago. Several more photos have been taken since then and will be posted in the coming weeks.

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

(Sumona and Lindsey outside Lindsey's village near Taza.)

My friends keep leaving me. My best friend in Morocco and site mate Graham left many months ago for greener fields in England. Two close friends Sumona and Lindsey finished their service in June and have returned to the states. Jessie, a good friend and cheerleader for our region, left in July.

I miss these friends. Others fill in but can’t replace. I have fewer people to text message with Sumona and Lindsey gone. Little messages like “Grandma told me the best joke about a cow and a donkey giving birth to a hunting dog this morning over tea. tc” can have real meaning in the dead of winter. Or my favorite “What do you do..” always prefaces candid and often humorous lines.

I’ve had many moments that you want to talk with someone about and it’s nice to have someone close in proximity and friendship to talk with them about. So here’s to departed friends. We'll see each other again.

Caterpillars in the Cemetery

Two photos of caterpillars on the march, several meters from their birthplace on several bushes in the Gafait cemetery, representing the life cycle of death and birth and our reliance on each other. I don't know where they were marching to; I took the first photo, then returned several hours later to take the second, but lost them several hours later in the camouflage of nature.

Quote of the Week

"Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more
uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what
is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals,
has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral
values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to
enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and
tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on 'I am
not too sure.'"
-Early 20th century critic H. L. Mencken.

Figuig Palms

An overview of palm trees in Figuig, where dates will start to be harvested next month. Of note, those hills, approximately 2 kilometers away, mark the Algerian border.

Swimming in Figuig

A place estimated to be several hundred years old in the desert town of Figuig, where I taught for 2 weeks at a English language camp. Built around an underground spring, the water flows into this walled pool, where local men come to bathe and relax, then is directed into fields in the area through a complex irrigation system.

Daily Routines: My Swimming Spot

Here's my swimming spot at the nearby river. This watering hole is probably 6 ft deep in an area of probably 10 ft squared next to the ledge, which makes it great for diving. Otherwise much of the river is as shallow as a bathtub.

This area has become a little busy this summer and I like a tranquil place to swim, so I've changed my hours, swimming more in the morning or at dusk, as pictured below and upstream, where I can stretch out more and swim for 25 meters.

Scorpions and Rational Thought

The scorpions have come back in greater abundance this summer. Last year, I found two in my house, while last week in one evening, I found three; one in the bathroom sink, another in the bedroom, and the last in the kitchen. It probably makes for a good excuse to sleep on the terrace. Or also because the interior of the house is like an oven at night after a hot day.

In the households of most of my neighbors, some family member has been stung this summer by a scorpion, with most similar to the one pictured above. My neighbor Bachere was stung a couple weeks ago and said he was up all night screaming. Although not deadly except sometimes with the young and old, they are the formidable opponent of man in my site. Near Marrakesh last month, a man was killed by a more deadly type of scorpion that simply looks vicious. The headlines in the national papers in the days that followed included complaints from residents about inadequate health facilities.

Tourist Season in Gafait

Quote of the Week

“Once in a while [in opera], when everything is just right, there is a moment of magic. People can live on moments of magic.”

-Opera director Sarah Caldwell, who also once said “If you can sell green toothpaste in this country, you can sell opera.”

King James VI

This is recent mail I received from Ryan, another volunteer in country. I'm a little surprised I didn't hear about it from my postmaster or someone in the government. Although not intended to be a slight on the King, I can see how it could be misinterpreted. Anyways, I thought it was quite funny and so did my neighbors.

Lazy Summer Days Intensified

I’m in the midst of the busiest time of my service. Here's my current schedule.

Environmental Education Programming
-Summer Booth: make sure there’s enough handouts, etc
-Club: advertise
-Mural: no funding yet, delay project till spring

Vetiver Wastewater Management Project
-Approval to lay 6-8 rows of vetiver/rock barriers through mile long polluted stream.
-Concerned about vetiver runoff in flood, no soil to grow in. Not a big issue
-Secure rocks with chain link, vetiver in barrels

Tree Planting
-Fall at school (small #), Spring in community (5000)
-Need to map houses, allot tree amounts (work with Hamada)
-Wanting olive, almond, and fruit trees

Rosemary and Cheese Co-ops
-Talk with Kareem about cheese factory products marketing, design, and advertising
-Holland NGO Human Force has begun marketing, Talk with them.
-Rosemary- 20k hectares up for sale and no buyer. Need interest from someone locally- then will start project
-Get Paula info and photos of new rosemary building and schedule tentative date for her visit.

Ecotourism
-Create potential plan and itinerary for Summer 08
-Give to Mo to revise, translate to French
-Give to association to act on

Artisans
-Found artisans in town; talk to them about assisting and connect with Kareem.

Toilet project
-Plans drawn for mosque toilet, need to implement
-Push septic design, but probably settle for raised latrine
-Stress seriousness of shallow water table

GPS Training Followup
-Give new MapInfo to EF tech's and answer ?s.

Zimbabwe Hut
-Write grant, gather materials, and start project with Hassan after Ramadan.

SIBE EE posters
-Gather gazelle materials and discuss with Justin.

Plant survey of Gafait
-Photos gathered, consolidate into book with FileMaker, and present to EF.

The Dogs Bark...

Whew... I’ve been away from this blog for some time. Regular posting ended in mid April. I have a list of excuses I think I could make; work, no computer until recently, several visits from parents and friends, etc but overall, I’ve just felt apathy towards writing of late. Indolence is my real reason, mixed with a desire to do something else. Take a walk, cook, clean (hard to believe, yes!) drink tea, read, or swim. Mostly anything but sitting in front of a computer and typing, or watching movies, or wondering how three Journey songs arrived in my iTunes playlist “25 most played.”

In the time between nice, cool Spring to scorched earth Summer, life has been busy and full. Fulfilling now belies a heat induced slow August.

An old Arabic proverb says “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on." Well, life continues to be a series of forward motions. And to live each day new, not returning to the past or obsessing over the future is a life lived well. And to hear similar words echoed recently by the great radio host Diane Rehm on a broadcast and by my Grandma Ocie in a phone conversation can lead me to fall in love with those two women all over again.

(Photo is of the straight road to Figuig).