School Stuff

Hi everyone, I have just handed in my final journal entry for school, and thought I might post it up here for those of you wondering what i'm meant to be doing here, aside from eating lots of yummy food etc. It's pretty long, so feel free to skip right over it :-)


"Well, this was my final week of volunteer work in Morocco. I am very sad to be leaving so soon, and it was hard saying goodbye to so many people that in all likelihood I will never see again. Before I address how my goals and expectations have been met, I have to say what a great experience this has been, and that I would certainly recommend it to anybody who is looking to broaden their cultural understanding of other countries.

I chose to work for Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS) as I wanted to gain a better understanding of how NGOs operate in developing countries. Obviously there are thousands of NGOs working in developing countries across the world, but I was particularly interested in those that primarily focused on sending volunteers from wealthier countries into poorer countries with the aim of providing assistance, most often in areas such as education and child care. I have always been curious to know how much could be achieved by sending volunteers who are for the most part unqualified into a country where they know little of the history, customs, or even language. After six weeks of working with CCS I have mixed opinions on what can be achieved through a program of this sort.

My initial impression was that volunteers really needed more training, particularly if they were going to be responsible for teaching children or adults English. I still feel that training would of course be a bonus, but if this were a prerequisite for volunteering how would this affect the number of volunteers that CCS was able to attract? I know that this experience would not have been possible for me had I been required to first take the TEFL course for example. The way it stands now, there is a steady stream of volunteers who are able to fill a variety of positions, and offer a number of free services, which simply would not exist if CCS or other NGOs didn’t operate in Morocco. I have been told many times by people who have come to my English classes or my conversational groups just how much they appreciate my being there; I may not feel like I have achieved a lot personally, but I think that overall we have a really positive effect.

My second big concern was that volunteers were being placed with partner organizations which were often less helpful or less positive than the volunteer might have hoped, maybe due to poor organization, uninterested staff, or perhaps even just cultural differences. The role of CCS is limited to providing volunteers for these organizations, so it is in no position to advise, make suggestions or influence the activities of the local organizations. This ensures that local people, who know what is valuable and most needed in their own community, are able to carry out their own set of objectives rather than CCS imposing its idea of what is appropriate on the organization. I still agree with this philosophy, but I think that perhaps CCS could perhaps be a little more selective in the organizations it chooses to provide volunteers to; certain work placements have repeatedly caused frustration among volunteers who feel that their time could be much better spent elsewhere.

The area in which CCS is most successful is in cultural exchange. I know that I have learnt an incredible amount in these past six weeks about a culture and a religion that is often misrepresented in the media, and I hope that I have passed on a little bit of what it is to be an Australian – hopefully enough for people to distinguish me from an American! This sort of influence is subtle and hard to evaluate, but I don’t think we should underestimate the value of this sort of cultural exchange, which can help to promote understanding and tolerance. I know that at times the American volunteers in my group felt that they were fighting an uphill battle to overcome prejudices caused in large part by the Bush Administration, the invasion of Iraq, and other American policies (i.e. Israel), however on the other side the Moroccan people I met seemed determined to make me aware how much they disapproved of fundamentalist Islam and the violence that goes with that. We all have stereotypes that we struggle to disprove, and this sort of interaction goes a long way towards that.

I would like to also say something regarding the language difficulties experienced by myself and other volunteers. I can’t stress enough the value of knowing the local language, and to be honest I am quite ashamed that I have gone all my life without even trying to learn a language other than English. Most of the people I was teaching English to already spoke Arabic and French, and very likely either Berber, Spanish or Portuguese as well. I think that this really influences how people view us - when we only speak English, it almost implies that we expect everyone else to make the effort to know our world, but that we have less interest in theirs; at least this is the impression I got here.

So to sum up, I believe that CCS is most successful in its primary aim, that of cultural exchange. It is harder to gauge the effectiveness of its work with the partner organizations, but I believe that it would be possible to see generally positive results over a long period of time. We’re not exactly putting an end to poverty, but we are aiding in the empowerment of people so that they might have a greater opportunity to improve their own lives. When you think of not just CCS, but of all the thousands of NGOs working in countries around the world, it’s not possible to easily dismiss the influence that they have, and what they can achieve."


Now if only this was all I had to do; I am not looking forward to writing a big essay when i get back!

Syrian Music Festival

Oops almost forgot, I went to a Syrian music and dance concert last night which was absolutely gorgeous. It was sort of a combination between ballet, Middle Eastern, interpretive, and the occasional spinning dervishes thrown in. The costumes were amazing, so colourful and beautiful, and the music and dancing was fabulous. I felt really privileged to be able to see something like this live in Morocco - and for only 30 dirham, which works out to be about $5.50 AUS. The guys from Rockside arranged for us to go, which was really nice of them. We all had mint tea - what they call Moroccan whiskey :-) - afterwards and it was a really nice night.
One last thing, a friend and i went on a culinary expedition of the souk the other day, determined to try all the food and drinks that we had been too chicken to try until now. So we had freshly squeezed orange juice, dates, the best donuts either of us had ever eaten, and freshly 'squeezed' sugar cane juice, which i had been a little hesitant about but was actually really delicious. Everything only cost a couple of dirham each, and was so yummy I don't know why i haven't been doing this sooner! I think that in Marrakech I am just going to eat my way from stall to stall, belly be damned :-)

Farewell to Rockside

Rockside
Originally uploaded by kirijae

I had to say my final goodbye to the guys at Rockside today, which was really kind of sad. Rockside is a group of guys who just want to improve their conversational english, so request volunteers to come and chat with them. I started just going on Fridays, then Wednesdays and Fridays, then finally Mondays as well. It was just so great talking with these guys - they are interested in absolutely everything, and give a lot more thought to deeper questions of religion, identity, culture etc than I ever did at their age! Actually more than I do now probably...

Anyway, this is a photo of myself and Narbil and Vivienne - another volunteer who goes to Rockside. Narbil spends his weekends reading poetry, and he was always bringing in poems for us to discuss. This was my favourite one, by the poet Rumi;

Come to the orchard in spring
There is light and wine
and sweathearts in the pomegranate flowers
If you do not come these do not matter
If you do come these do not matter

They took a small video of me saying goodbye to them, and saying what my time with them meant. It was pretty hard being put on the spot (!!!) but they promised to put it on facebook, so I will have something funny to show you all soon :-)

So this is my last full day at the house - I leave after lunch tomorrow. I've been running around with my camera for the last couple of days trying to capture my time here at Rabat, which is of course impossible. It's hard because I'm sad at leaving, but also really excited about seeing Damien again and doing lots of stuff with him. Thank god I've broken up my goodbye's a bit - if I had to go home right now I think I would be devastated! Maybe in two weeks time I'll be a little more ready. Not that I'm not looking forward to being in Darwin again, and seeing everybody, but Morocco is a fantastic place which I will be very sad to leave. Hopefully I will come back someday - inshallah!

Rockside

Rockside
Originally uploaded by kirijae

This is our group; Rida crouching a little in front, behind him is Narbil, Trezoar, Larbi, and at the front is Vivienne

Hammamming

I finally got around to visiting a hamman today. You probably all know what a hammam is, but just to let you know this one consisted of three rooms of varying temperature - lukewarm, warm, and steamy. You basically just strip down to your underwear and pay a woman to scrub you to within an inch of your life from head to toe. I find it interesting that Moroccan women, who find it riske to go with an uncovered head in public, have no problems with the whole semi-naked thing in a hammam, whilst the American volunteers here, who have no problem with bare arms, mini-skirts, low-cut tops etc totally freak out at the thought of being topless amongst other women. I fell somewhere in between - not too phased about being mostly naked, a little weirded out by having another mostly naked woman scrub me, but pretty comfy overall - except for the losing skin part I mean. The most awkward part for me probably was that I couldn't communicate with the lady scrubbing me, so i wasn't always sure what she wanted me to do; it pretty much worked best when she just treated me like a doll and moved me around how she liked. I have to say that I feel pretty good right now. It's a tough life here sometimes; finishing work at 11:30am, having lunch served for you, then going for a nice walk, visiting the hammam, and then getting home just in time for mint tea and crepes. No wonder I started to feel sad about leaving Morocco this week! I'm very glad that I have Damien to look forward to this weekend, because otherwise I would be feeling very sad to leave the home base where I've been living for the past 6 weeks. Only 5 more sleeps until he gets here :)

Friday Couscous

Friday Couscous
Originally uploaded by kirijae

I'm not sure if I've stressed enough in this blog just how good the food is here. To help you get an idea, here is a picture of Friday's lunch - chicken and vegetable cous cous (Anybody know if cous cous is one word or two?). I was nearly lynched for making the others wait before digging in so that I could take this photo, it is really that good. Other days are good too though; tagine Tuesdays, fish Wednesdays, Sandwich days on Thursdays, and of course Cous Cous Fridays. My favourite is a dish which is a mixture of chicken and crepes and lentils and peas, it is so good. But then there's also the pastille, which is incredible; it's meant to only be cooked for certain holidays, but we nag the cooks to make it as much as possible. Mmmm.....

Shopping at the souk

I'm pretty proud of myself today, as I have finally made my own way into the medina by bus and around the souk all by myself. Until now I've usually travelled with at least one friend, who has usually known a lot more French than me - and we usually split a taxi instead of taking the bus, but turns out the bus is a much cheaper option when travelling solo. Now that I've worked out where to catch it I'll be using it a lot more I think; there's not really bus stops as such here, just places where people gather and jump on to any bus that slows down enough - never actually stopping - for them to get on.

Once in the souk I successfully haggled my way through to buying a new daypack, using broken French and hand gestures. When I paid he actually congratulated me on my success - not sure how to take this; I'm fairly certain he was laughing at me. I then made straight for my favourite dvd sellers, turning down one marriage proposal along the way with a firm 'la!' Somehow I think he had a fairly short-term marriage in mind :)

I guess most people reading this are fairly aware that I enjoy watching the occasional dvd now and again; I was actually thinking that I wouldn't be doing much of this in Morocco - wrong! When the only book I have with me is Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose, (I chose it thinking that it would take me a little longer than most books to read - correct!), and there's not much to do in the house after 7:30, dvd's take on a whole new appeal. The process of buying dvd's however is not always straightforward. They tend to be sold by guys at the souk or at the side of the road, from a rug on the ground - or occasionally a basket. Something about selling burnt dvd's (I haven't seen an original since arriving) must bring something out in people because most of the guys selling them are fairly unpleasant. I've managed to find two that are pretty decent, and now they pull things out for me that are in English and chase up things I ask for. Now that they've stopped trying to sell me that crappy comedy 'scary movie' - a misunderstanding that arose when I was trying to explain to them that I liked horror movies - we get along pretty well.

I have no idea where to catch the bus that actually takes me home, so a taxi it was. I timed it perfectly so that I arrived home in time for the afternoon tea - a staple in the Moroccan diet; mint tea with cookies or crepes/pancakes/cake. Mmm... So that was my afternoon today; obviously I have more time on my hands now that most of my group have gone home - look out for more long and rambling blogs! On the upside, only 9 more sleeps until Damien gets here :)