Saturday, May 3, 2008

Site Visit

It's been a crazy couple days. I visited my final site this week and spent a few days with my host family. My site is a larger village about an hour drive into the mountains from Khenifra. It is a strange mix of urban and rural life. Rural because it is out in the mountains and you can't see much evidence of civilization outside the town. Urban because it looks like a mini-city and has amenities including running water, electricity and an abundance of hanuts (small stands that sell just about anything you really need).
Last Saturday, the 5 of us and Sarah (Environment volunteer who is almost finished with her 2 years) took taxis from Ouarzazate to Khenifra. It was a long day, but we had dinner at Matt's apartment and then went to a hotel to crash. Matt is also an environment volunteer who is about to finish his service. Both have been working with MEDA for the past two years and the K-5 will be continuing their work.
On Monday morning, we met with our new "boss." It was a brief meeting with Sarah (outgoing PCV) translating from French to English. We covered the basics – name, site, background and Mr. S told us a little bit about the project. We met everyone in the main office in Khenifra and left. This was where we parted ways – each of us trainees was headed to our new homes. I was excited and nervous about what lay ahead.
Sarah accompanied me to my new village. We tried calling my host father at the number PC provided, but he didn't answer. Luckily, when we got out of the taxi in the center of town, my host uncle was there and showed us to the house. We were ushered into the formal living room and promptly served tea. Sarah told them about my vegetarianism, which was met with a "little by little" response. My host uncle told us that I just needed to eat a little at first and before I knew it I'd be eating a whole chicken. He recognized that it might make me sick at first, but I'd get over it. Sarah told him that a lot of people in America don't eat meat and that she too was a vegetarian for a long time. We met a few family members:
Host mom – Fatima
Host brother – Zuhir
Host brother – Jawil
Host uncle – Sidi Mo
Mona, Sumia, and Mamaw


Once tea was over, Sarah left and I tried to figure out what to do. My host mom was in the kitchen with a couple other women making cookies. I joined them for a few minutes but quickly realized I understood almost nothing they were saying. The kids had gone back outside to play, so I joined them.
They quickly welcomed me as one of their own and we played volleyball and a game called P1. We tried to talk a little bit, but I felt like they were speaking a different language than the one I'd been learning for the past 2 months! We got a few ideas across and they helpfully pointed to all the objects in sight and gave me their names.
The king was supposed to visit Khenifra on Tuesday and my family kept telling me that we were going to go there in the morning. At least that's what I thought they were telling me. On Tuesday morning I got up and ate breakfast with the family. Sidi Mo took me to the post office to open a post box. I wanted to walk around town, but wasn't sure if I should because they were still talking about going to Khenifra.
My host mom was visibly pregnant, but I didn't realize how pregnant she was until late-morning when my host dad showed up and said they were taking her to the hospital in Khenifra to have the baby! Off they went and I spent the rest of the day hanging out close to home.
I went for a brief walk around town after lunch and received several invitations to tea. I politely declined because I wanted to actually see the town. I ran into the pre-school teacher as I was desperately trying to explain to a group of women who I was and what I was doing in the village. He knew the outgoing PC Sarah and knew generally who I was. He explained who I was, and then invited me into his "classroom."
Sarah had told me about the classroom and that she had helped write a grant proposal to build a new one for the town. The room is a long narrow room in what looks like an abandoned house. There is no electricity and the children are overflowing the available desks. The teacher was kind enough to explain how the pre-school works, how many students there are, etc. and teach me a few new Tamazight words.
On Wednesday, Mamaw, Sumia and Zuhir and I boarded a transit to go to Khenifra. There was a festive feeling in the air. It took us a while to get there because we stopped at the taxi stand for a while and then for a long time in a town about 20k from Khenifra. I wasn't sure what was going on because the driver was hanging out near the van, but we weren't going anywhere.
Eventually someone spotted Sidi Mo and he put us on the bus to go the rest of the way to Khenifra. We walked to the hospital and found the rest of the family there visiting Fatima and the new baby. After some time visiting, the conversation turned to lunch. The family was concerned about what I would eat. I understood that they were talking about fish, but didn't know why. My host father, Haddou, speaks some English and asked if I eat fish, to which I said that I do. After some more discussion, we packed Fatima and the baby up and put them in a car to go home.
The rest of us went to lunch at a pizza/fish restaurant. Pizza sounded a lot better than fish, so I ordered a cheese pizza and everyone else shared a chicken tagine. I offered for everyone to try the pizza, but no one took me up on it. After lunch, we walked to the festival.
The festival was in a big lot and consisted of a lot of large tents. The ground inside of the tents was covered with rugs and some of the tents had ponjs around the perimeter. There weren't many people around, so we relaxed for a while. The festival was in honor of the king's visit and I learned that his visit had been pushed off until Thursday.
After a while, we went for a walk through the main market in town. Mamaw bought a few gifts for Fatima and the baby and the kids and I got something to drink and a snack. I was getting hot and tired...I had worn jeans and a long sleeve shirt not realizing we'd be outside in the sun for most of the day.
We returned to the festival to find that more people were there and the action was starting to pick up. Mamaw, Sumia and I walked around for a bit. There were lots of people and someone always had to hold my hand so I wouldn't get lost. I got the feeling they were scared of losing me, but I was starting to feel suffocated. I'm not good in large groups and the heat and the crush of people was overwhelming.
After a while, we returned to the tent to hang out some more. It was getting to be late afternoon and I thought we would be going home soon, but we kept hanging out. At one point, we walked to a cafe next to the taxi stand and I thought we were going to leave, but we just had a snack and then returned to the festival. I was starting to get a headache and feeling the effects of being in the heat all day with little to drink.
There was traditional singing and dancing outside the tent. It was great to see it in person. When that ended, the tent started to clear out and I thought we must be going home. But we hung out a while more and finally got into the transit we had rode in this morning. By this time, my head was pounding and all I could think about was closing my eyes and going to sleep. We waited a while on the transit, with people yelling and kids jumping around. They kept getting on and off and accidentally bumping and jostling me, which was making my headache worse.
The drivers were milling around near the transit and I couldn't figure out what we were waiting for. I was on the verge of tears, mainly from exhaustion and the headache, but was trying desperately to wait until I was alone before I started crying. Someone noticed and asked if I was OK and the floodgates opened! Once I started, I couldn't stop. Everyone seemed to spring into action. One of the young men spoke a little English and asked what was wrong. I explained the headache and almost immediately had asprin in hand. Someone else rounded up all the passengers and got them back onto the transit. We were on our way in seemingly record time! I wonder how long we would have waited around if I hadn't started crying.
There was a party waiting for us back at home. With the new baby, a bunch of family members were at the house celebrating and helping get Fatima settled. It was 11pm, but we all ate tagines and although the party seemed like it would go all night, I went to bed. Although I don't understand a lot of the conversations flying around me, I could tell everyone was talking about me the American who doesn't eat meat and who ordered at 24Dh pizza. They kept talking about how much the pizza was, which made me feel terrible. No one would let me pay for anything the whole day and now it seemed to me that everyone was talking about how expensive the pizza was.
I needed some reassurance, so I called my parents. I immediately started crying when I heard my mom's voice. I think I scared them a bit, because they swung into parent-mode – what's wrong? Are you OK? Where are you? Why are you crying? I assured them I was OK, just in need of a hug and some words of encouragement which they dutifully and lovingly provided.
I awoke Thursday morning feeling much better and ready to take on the day. I was meeting the rest of the K-5 in Khenifra, so we could spend the night there and get an early start back to Ouarzazate on Friday. Sidi Mo accompanied me to Khenifra, which was a production. It seemed like the entire village was going to see the king. We had a caravan of at least 15 taxis, trucks, and private cars – all jammed to the gills. It was almost like a parade as we drove down the mountain.
The streets in Khenifra were already lined with people and we drove to the other end of town, where all the vehicles were stopping to let people off. We met up with a few others from the village and started walking back to the center of town. We stopped at a cafe for coffee and were hanging out there for a while. I realized that we were around the corner from Matt's apartment, which is where I was meeting the rest of the group.
I tried to tell Sidi Mo that I was going to meet my friends, but he wanted to meet them. So, Matt kindly walked over to the cafe and introduced himself. Sidi Mo insisted that he have coffee or tea or stay and have lunch. Both Matt and I tried to politely decline and after some explaining about meeting the others and already having plans for lunch, we left.
Tori and Elizabeth arrived soon and we were at Matt's apartment debating what to do for lunch when we heard someone yelling from the street. We looked out to find Sidi Mo! He wanted to take us all out for tagines! I think he also wanted to check up on Matt and I – the fact that we were going back to his apartment alone would be unacceptable if we were Moroccan. Men and women don't have friendships and being alone in a house with a male friend is not OK for a woman. Luckily, Tori and Elizabeth reassured Sidi Mo and we promised to eat tagines another day.
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Jake and Sarah joined us in Khenifra and we made dinner at Matt's. The ride back to Ouarzazate was long and hot, but we made it without too much trouble. We even found a cab driver willing to bypass Marrakesh, which shaved a couple hours off our drive.

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