Scorpion

This scorpions stinger on its back end had just been hit before I took this photo by my host mother with a shoe. You can see the pus running out. It was found probably about 20 ft from our house. After killing it, mom then scoured the bedrooms of the house for an hour with a flashlight looking for others.

My summer bathing hole

My site has alot of water. Here's one swimming hole that children use to swim in; measures probably 30 x 10 x 1.5 meters. I've been bathing here, swimsuit included, the last couple weeks and will probably continue. The water flows from one of two rivers in my site. Spring water also joins this river along its way through an irrigation system. So, this pool has multiple uses; for recreation, bathing, and irrigation. Next week, I'll try to post a photo of this irrigation system, which is impressive and began throughout much of Morocco during Roman rule.

Sheperding along the coast

A photo I took after we left an isolated beach on the Med of a woman tending her flock. There were other sheperds and farmers and the area, and several times during our 3 km walk back to a main rd, we stopped to take it in. I'm reminded of the words of the author Kurt Vonnegut in one of his novels, talking about the need to stop in life sometimes and verbalize your good fortune; "If this isn't living, what is."

Camping on the Mediterranean

Graham and Josh, who are in the same area as me- it has several names; east Morocco, the Orienatal, or the Oujda provence. Both are from Maryland, are a lot of fun, and will get me into trouble.

Recess time

My 4 yr old neighbor Anes on the left with two other girls. Theyre in an area between the womens center (netti) and the preschool (madrassa). Check my photos; Ive posted more pictures.

The best way to travel

Mosque in Marrakesh

Settling in

Home sweet home. I’m now at my permanent site in eastern Morocco. After my first week, everything is going well, although I’ve had my share of cultural adjustments to make; many bug bites from unknown assailants (bed bugs, chiggers, mosquitos, etc), language difficulties as well as learning a different moroccan arabic dialect, and incorporating myself into a large family (10).

The cultural adjustments I’m making right now are curable with time and patience, which I’m trying to take in large doses. When put in the proper perspective though, the situation I am faced with is a wonderful experience. The community, people, and cultural of my moroccan site are fascinating to say the least, and community members have been very respective to my arrival as well as very helpful. My main contact outside of my host family is and will be with men from a successful community association. They are very active and perhaps don’t need my assistance, but I will work on programs and grant writing with them. Other projects that I hope to be informing you about more over the next two years include; english classes, swim lessons or a camp, soccer field or basketball goal, bird and plant surveys, and a couple websites. Currently, the association is acquiring grant money to build a toilet facility near a frequent swimming hole and to refurbish two old buildings as tourist motels.

Other things...well there’s a list and should come out over the next couple weeks, but its just two much for one post. A few include: 1) Moroccans love American music, but the pride they have for their own song and dance overrides everything. 2) Satellite TV’s are in abundance, but are watched less. Once you get the whole package (around $300), you get free service, compliments of the govt. 3) The bamboo cafes are going up at my site. Around 10-15 are put up in the Summer and taken down after the tourist season. I have yet to figure out whose running these. I believe local farmers and craftsmen. I look forward to sitting by the river drinking cafe and stumbling with my arabic in a couple weeks. 4) My 3 year old host brother Yosshine is the cutest, only to be in competition with 30 kids that attend the pre-school I visited the other day. 5) Next to the preschool is the womens center, where I sat in on a beginning arabic class packed with women the other afternoon. Although most of these women are middle aged, they have a real desire to learn. And they more than I do. 6) As I told my mother earlier this week on the phone, moroccan roosters crow all day long. They’re not as well behaved as roosters in the states. 7) Someone please send me a kayak. The river at my site has risen significantly because of heavy rains, producing nice rapids. Minus the kayak, I’ll probably use an inner tube. 8) My family wants me to cook a traditional american meal next week. I’m thinking hamburgers with boy scout potatoes or tacos.

This weekend we’re going to the Mediterranean beach Saieda, about 3 hours away. Graham and I will meet up with Josh and were planning to swim, bbq, and maybe go spear fishing.

P.S. Here’s the name of my post, waxxa in Arabic. This is actually the correct phonetic spelling, not wakha. I got wakha from a arabic book before I came over. Their both pronounced the same.. wA-Ha.
واخا

Here's Yosshine racing around with handlebars a couple days ago.

Isn't environmental ed lovely

My mother requested a photo of Graham, my site mate for the next 2 yrs. "I want to put a face to a name; you know how I worry and it would make me feel better." Empathetic to my mothers concern, heres a photo taken after we had completed an environmental ed session in a local school at our CBT site. We will be 24 km apart, seperated by a 7 dhm taxi ride on a flat road. We get along well, and he reminds me of many of my old friends.

Also, I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to my 4 yr old niece Elizabeth. I hope its a great day and I expect the family (grandmothers especially) to take proper care of you.

Snails and orange juice

Here’s a photo taken of Marrakesh’s main tourist square, which is empty during the day but is occupied by vendors at night. Most sell a fish meal, but you can also get other things like tajin, couscous, and other things. Two other things that I’ve heard are mainstays in this area are snail vendors, who sell this snail soup that I’d probably never try, and secondly, orange juice stands that sell you oj shots. These guys will call you out from 50 yards, tell you their price (3 Dhms), and then if you choose, you can keep your distance and try to haggle them down.

Heading to site

Donkeys are better than dogs. Safi.

Ahh.. my equivalent of finals is over and I just have a couple days before going to site. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but not much as happened outside of the normal routine. It’s too rigid in fact and I can’t wait to get to site where I’ll have the ability to dictate my own day. Also, I’ve been living out of my backpacks for the last 3 months and it will be nice to be more sedentary. And the spanish beaches on the Mediterranean (just 3 hours away) are calling.

I leave for site on Tues morning by bus, will probably stay in Marrekesh that night, then will travel by train and stay in Fez the following night before heading to site. I’m not a fan of Marrekesh; its all touristed-out with flying monkeys and snake charmers and it becomes an old routine fast. Also, like Ouarazate, it reaches temperatures of 140 F deg in the summer. My largest cities that I’ll spend considerable time in over the next two years are Fez and Oujda, which is something I’m pleased with. From what I’ve seen, Oujda is rather utilitarian; has all the amenities you need without being fancy and minus the tourists. This is nice. Population is 1/2 million and its known for being a major blackmarket capital for technology, etc from Algeria, Spain, and elsewhere. Fez is Morocco’s major college town, although its also a UNESCO site and is popular with tourist. It also has great leather products, and has an old casbah thats world famous.

My next post will probably be from my site, enshalla (”God willing”).

Hard work never goes unrewarded

A photo from a friend of Moroccans building a well. In my opinion, Moroccans are some of the hardest workers around. Many work early to late, seven days a week. Then its common to eat dinner at 10 or later. That's a long day.

Be patient if you've checked my blog over the last couple wks and haven't seen anything. Things have been winding down in training, and I will have the next 2 yrs on my own schedule in 3 days..can't wait. Also, the internet is a little slooow over here.

Soccer

This is a photo of my sites swimming hole in the summer that I have received from another volunteer. I’ve been told that a few hundred come every day during the summer.

Site visit in East Morocco

This last week I visited my field site; the place where I’ll be permanently for the next 2 yrs. It’s a community of around 500 people in Eastern Morocco. It’s a beautiful community with a large water reserve, a large river outlining the community (approx 20 ft wide and 6 ft deep at its greatest points), and two springs which are used for irrigation.

Agriculture is the primary staple of the community, with wheat being the primary crop. They also have fruit trees and wild herbs that grow amongst their crops. I’ve included some photos. In addition to agriculture, the community maintains itself by residents commuting and working in a town 20k away and by Moroccans from the surrounding area coming in the summer to swim. In the summer, the temperature can get above 100 F, and I’ve been told that as many as 200 tourists will come daily to swim in the river. In response to this, locals set up bamboo cafes that sell food, drink, etc. After the tourist season is over, the bamboo will be taken down and burned.

The infrastructure of the community includes 4 mosques, 10 general stores, a water tower (important), a school (through junior high; those wishing to attend high school have to travel to Jerada), a womens center, a youth center, and the kied’s office. The kied is comparable to a mayor, but often of a larger area that includes several villages. The community does have more features which I will divulge later, but that was my consensus in the quick survey that I conducted.

My host family that I will be living with for two months starting May 25 was very welcoming and accommodating. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer situation. My family includes brothers Yassine (2), Mohamed (11), Youssef (19), Hachim (22) and Nasrdine (25); sisters Safa (7) and Fatim (15); and mother Halima and Hammada. My host father is a farmer, and from what I know he drives a tractor around in surrounding communities helping with the harvest. They also have their own fields that they care for, along with assisting in the care of an extensive family network of farm land that includes uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents.

One of my main roles in the community will include working with the local mens association, which is very active and already has several projects that they want me to implement. In the beginning, they want me to teach english twice a week along with swimming lessons once it warms up. During that time, hopefully my language will progress steadily and I can begin working on other projects: establishing funding to help build and maintain a git (hotel), getting funding for a toilet facility for tourists down by the river, planting trees, teaching environmental education, surveying the local wildlife, and managing projects along with the Eaux de Forest (forest dept) in a protected ecological area next to my site. I also work closely with Graham, another volunteer who will be located nearby, and I’m sure he will do vice versa. We’ve become good friends, we work well together, and I believe they put us close together because of this. He has a construction management background, so will be able to be put that to good use. In all, I know that many of the projects I try or hope to implement will fall through. Maybe the best I can hope for is a 50% success rate (and that might be pushing it), but I’m motivated to get to work.

These next two weeks are like my finals weeks, very busy. It should correspond with finals in the states. Anyways, I'll try to keep it updated and send out emails, but fair warning. Salam.

Here's a photo of my youngest host brother, Yassine.

House building

Here's how a house is built in most places in rural Morocco. Although some use concrete, which is expensive just like it is in the states, the traditional way is to build the dirt house. At the risk of overgeneralizing and misinforming my audience, I'll describe the process as the following.

1. You stake your claim to land in the community by birthright. If you were born in the community, you can build whereever you want as long as its approved by a town council. If your an outsider, you have to pay for the land. In the photo, you'll notice these piles of rocks. These are people staking their claim to land. The piles of rocks (which cost about 100 dHm to get delivered) represent future houses or territorial boundaries. When asked, I was told that they're 15 new houses being built within the next year. That's in a village of 40 households.

2. In our village, where there's a house, there's a ditch beside it where the dirt was taken from and used to build the walls (often 12 inches thick) of the house and their perimeter.

3. A crew of 4-5 guys build a house. One gathers the soil, 2 more walk a relay where the soil is shoveled in a bucket, placed on top of their head and then taken to a guy who stands on top of the wall (shown in its beginning stage in the photo). The job of the last guy is to stomp the soil down with an instrument that resembles a lightweight, wide surfaced mallet.

4. Houses are often 10-12 ft high, with their exterior walls being 6-8 ft. Concrete is often used as their floorbase in the interior and elsewhere as needed. The ceilings are wood covered with dirt or something else I haven't figured out yet. Under the wood and dirt of most ceilings is bamboo (which grows very fast), which looks very nice.

5. In all, these dirt houses are cheap, well made, and are environmentally appropriate. For the last month, I've been amazed at how rural Moroccans make the most of their available resources.


(Im pictured in the photo with Mohammad, the owner of the house where we have daily language classes. The wooden gate he's standing in will be filled and packed a little at a time, then moved. After the bottom level is completed, it will be raised and the bottom will be overlaid. This outerwall should be just around 7-8 ft high.

A Hard Day's Work

Here's a potter in our community collecting dirt that will become pots, cookstoves, etc. First, he collects from this area outside the community, a place where his father and grandfather also collected from. Then, he or his father (who is around 70) have to break the dirt into fine pieces and remove any rock. He has said this is the hardest part of his job; the preperation of the materials. Third, he has to add water and then makes it into his desired product. After talking with him and witnessing him work, I validate that he works very hard, with little in return. As the only breadwinner in a family of 11, he takes his pots to souk (weekly market) and makes litte.

When asked what would help him the most, his response is that if his van could be fixed (which broke down 10 yrs ago), he could take his products to a souk in Ouarzate, 40 km away where he could collect 5x the price. It's a sad situtation, although after visiting their family you realize that they're in economic poverty, but wealthy because of their high spirits and close family. Knowing this potter for the last 2 months, I would also say he's one of the most positive people I've ever met.

Harvesting Wheat

The beginning of the Spring crop harvest has begun in Morocco. For the most part, I've been told that families cut their wheat or other crop, and then men with threshing machines come around to the villages (similar to America at the beginning of the 20th century) and thresh the wheat. Otherwise, I've heard in some areas, they use 5-6 donkeys lined together around a pole and march them around in a circle over the wheat. On the previous, my facts could be incorrect and I look forward to seeing this in the future.

4th Week in Community Training

L to R: Abdulahad, Sfia, Fatiha, Lmkki, Me, and Brahim

This last week was my fourth week of community training. It was a good week with several events happening. I had a language eval which I did well on, had a party with the family where they invited around 30 relatives, got some henna on my hand (which I found out later is a female thing), and generally had a good time. I’ve posted some photos.

The big news of the week was my site announcement, where I found out where I’ll be living for the next two years. It’s a town of 5000 in the Jerada province, which is about 30 km from the Algerian border in northeast Morocco. I’m excited; this a nice site and I’ve heard great things about it. This includes the fact that it has a large river running by it, has a strong association, has electric and water, and is 3 hours from a very nice beach on the Mediterranean. 20 km from me is Graham, who I’ve been rooming with at our hotel we use as a base in Ouarazate and who is also in my language group during community training. We get along well; he’s a smart guy, is from Baltimore, and has a background in economics. Another guy I get along with is Josh, who will be our next closest volunteer, is about 100 km away. All three of us will probably be working on some projects together and will also be learning some Algerian Arabic in addition to Moroccan Arabic. Also, our sites are about 3 hrs away from the Mediterranean, and a great beach community called Saidi. From there, its another few hours to the port city of Melilla, where ferry’s can take you to Europe.

I leave tomorrow for my first site visit. From Oz, it will take three days to get their, we’ll stay for three days, and then will take three to come back. Will probably stay the night in Rabat and also in Fez or Oujada, neither of which I’ve seen. I look forward to getting out of the Ouarzate region, where I’ve been for 2 months and seeing the rest of Morocco. I’ll tell you all about when I return.
Like I said earlier, I feel good about my language progress. I think I’m about 30% fluency right now, which can get me around Morocco for the most part. After a year, I hope to be around 80% in Darija, and then switch to classical Arabic and/or French. Peace Corps pays for my use of a tutor, which is real nice.

Well this is a good point to stop, and I’ve had some stories that I haven’t included in my last couple posts, but I’ll try to play catch up starting next weekend. Ill have some free time to sit around this week and write something poetic.

Pulling Weeds