Disclaimer by Scott

The views expressed in this blog are mine and do not reflect the views of the Peace Corps, the U.S. government, the Kingdom of Morocco or my buddy, Cody.

Cody

Our CBT group

This is our CBT (Community Based Training) group.  We have been taking darija language and cultural education classes together in Ain Amir for the past 8 weeks. Our time in Morocco has moved quickly!  Only two weeks left here, then one more week in Rabat and training is over. We will find out our site assignments in Rabat. There are 12 available sites in Morocco where married couples are assigned and nine married couples in our entire group.  The PC has divided Morocco into four regions.  Three regions will have two married couples and one of the regions will have three married couples. Confused yet?  Masi Muskil! (no problem!)  All we know at this point is that we could be sent anywhere in the country to one of those 12 sites.

Geographically, Morocco and California are very similar. They share almost the same lines of latitude across the globe.  Southern Morocco around the city of Agadir sounds very much like San Diego. The area around Tangier in Northern Morocco sounds very much like San Francisco and Northern California.  Both countries have mountains, deserts and an extensive beach coastline.  They both have large agricultural regions.  The population of Morocco is around 33 million and California is around 39 million. 

The Peace Corps split the 104 volunteers that came in our Stag 96 into 16 CBT’s.  The 16 different groups are scattered around different communities in Meknes and Fez.  Our site mates are from all over the country.  Ben – Philadelphia, PA, Vicki – Tallahassee, FL, Olivia – Chicago, ILL, Sarah – Nashua, NH.  Mohssine, our LCF – (Language and Cultural Facilitator) is from Rabat, Morocco.

L – R, Olivia, Ben, Vicki, Sarah, Mohssine, Scott, Nancy

Henna by Nancy

When we returned on Sunday from Meknes Malika’s friend, Zara, was here again.  Malika asked me if I would like to have henna on my hands.  Henna is a natural dye that women in North Africa have been using for thousands of years to decorate their hands and feet for special occasions. Zara started with Zineb’s hands.  She drew intricate designs using a syringe.  After Zineb, it was my turn.  First my left hand then right.  When she was done, I had to sit with my hands drying for about 2 hours.  I wasn’t allowed to touch or do anything.  As the henna paste dried, Zineb or Amina would use a cotton ball to dab my hands with a mixture of sugar and rose water. 

After two hours Zineb had had enough and took a shower.  When she came out, you could barely see the designs on her hands.  Amina put more sugar/rose water on mine and made me keep it on longer.  After another hour we went in the bathroom.  She tried rubbing the paste off, then got a knife and started scrapping it off.  She didn’t want any water on my hands.  Once she scrubbed all the paste off, she put olive oil on the design and told me not to wash my hands.

By morning, the design on my fingers looked pretty clear, but it is hard to see on the top of my hand and wrists.  They say it will darken up the first 72 hours, mine doesn’t seem to be getting any darker.  It should fade away as the skin exfoliates over the next couple of weeks.  If you get the dye on your fingernails, it remains until the nail grows out.

Since coming here, I have learned there are many styles of henna designs.  Berber designs in the desert and mountains are more geometric than the flowery designs of the city. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mohammed, Malika, Zara, Nancy

 

 

Scott, Mohammed, Alae

 

 

 

 

 

Trip to Volubilis

Thirty minutes north of Meknes are the ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis, the ancient capital of the province of the Mauretania Tingitania.  Like many of the Roman sites in North Africa, it dates from the golden period of the empire, AD 97 – 235.  Oualili’s history, as it’s known to Moroccans, actually extends back to the Phoenicians, but that’s another story.

We were in Meknes for a few days last week.  The last day of our sessions, we finished at noon. So a small group of us took a taxi out to the site.  At its peak, population was estimated to be around 20,000. It’s located in a beautiful valley, below the city of Moulay Idriss.  That city also has an interesting history, one that deserves a post of its own.  Thirty two years ago, Nancy and I came to this place.  When we visited then, we were the only visitors besides our Australian friends.  It was unfenced and unprotected. French archaeologists had done excavations after World War I, but the site looked abandoned. Now it’s a park with an entrance fee and most of the tile mosaics are behind wire barriers.  There were tour buses and large groups of people.  I’m glad that Morocco is taking care of the site. 

Spring Camp February 2014

Here’s the link to a video of our Spring Camp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNDtPLSFUt4

 

Spring Camp 2014

The students had the week off from school, so we were busy providing a Spring Camp.  Each day we had English classes and activities that included art, egg drop, games and exercise. Soon, I’ll post a 6 minute video made by Ben, one of our site mates, with highlights from the week.  Until then, here’s a few pictures…

Matthew, a volunteer from another site, helped us organize our first camp.  Here he’s telling the campers their activities for the day and getting them energized.

Relay race with ping pong balls on spoons.

MoHssine with the football / soccer activity.

We had a bowling game set up in the game room.  I rounded up 10 used large water bottles and filled them with a couple of inches of water and set up a bowling lane.  We used a cheap soccer ball for the bowling ball and it was a hit with the students.

Egg drop.  We had our six groups collect trash from neighboring empty lots. Then, they made a container from the trash that would hold a raw egg and keep it from breaking when dropped from the roof.  Nancy’s team  was one of the winners.

Mohssine’s birthday was last week also.

We showed Despicable Me 2 in the auditorium.  The students lasted 32 minutes on Thursday and made it the rest of the way through on Friday.

Closing ceremony. Meriyam reading from the Koran.

Matthew’s speech in darija thanking everyone for coming to the camp.

The guest speaker from the Ministry turned the closing ceremony into an hour long improv show.

Overall, it was a very successful week!  N & S