Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Almost Forgot!

I forgot to mention that during our time in Tinghir, I slipped off to Hdida for a a couple days.

While in Hdida, Marisa and I hiked into the mountains to visit a family of nomads as she had heard they were living in caves, above her village. I wish I could have taken pictures, but they were very shy and not used to visitors and so I didn't want to impose any more than we already were. The men of the family were out at the time, but the women and children were home. From what I could tell, there seemed to be two main caves. We sat in the first, which contained bags of clothes and blankets and a home made loom, which the mother weaved on the whole time we were there. There were three small girls who didn't take their eyes off of us throughout the entire visit, too.

We drank mint tea and watched the mother weave, while making small talk for an hour or so. Afterwards, we moved into the next cave, which was the kitchen. It had an open fire stove, with a cauldron hanging over it, which must have contained dinner. Chickens ran freely in and out of the cave, across the walls of the stove, and sometimes hopping up in and out of a small window! We sat with two women and ate fresh warm flat bread with olive oil and drank more mint tea. The caves were not very big (I couldn't stand up in either of them) and it was crazy to think that about ten people slept in the one cave, especially in the heat of summer. There were dogs surrounding the premises, which were good at their job of scaring people off, we had to keep rocks in our hands as we approached and left the area.

I can't tell you how amazing it was to see their way of life. When I went to Spain last August, I got to crawl through an entire community of caves from when the Muslims were being forced out of Spain. It was amazing to me then to think that people used to live in the caves, but to actually see people living in these caves, words just can't describe.

The main reason I went back to Hdida, was for Marisa's host sisters' wedding. Some of Marisa's neighbors loaned us some very fancy Kaftan's to wear for the occasion, which was fun. Gifts consisted of heaps and heaps of blankets, which you can see in the pictures below. They were stacked so high the bride couldn't see over the table in front of her. In the picture below, the bride is hidden under silk scarves, which is the tradition in southern Morocco.

I attended what can be compared to the bridal shower, only it took place the day before the wedding. As you can tell from the pictures, it was women only, aside from small children and very close male family members. Everyone gathered on the roof of Marisa's host family's place and after a couple hours of aheydus (traditional berber drumming and singing/chanting, with some yelping mixed in), we all gathered around low tables to eat.

The first course was sheria, which is basically chopped up angel hair pasta topped with powdered sugar, raisins and nuts. Very sweet and strange. The main course was large platters of meat and olives with bread. Dessert was a variety of fresh fruit in baskets. The bride remained under the silk scarves and after all the guests finished eating she and her mom and grandmother ate. The food was slipped under the scarves though, so not even a glimpse of her was seen.

While in Hdida, I also helped to paint Marisa's Cooperative building. Marisa was put in contact with a 'trek/adventure' tour company based in London, which had a group of 15, sixteen-year old girls who were signed up to come to Morocco for a week. Before they came, they met regularly in East London to learn about camping/survival techniques and all the other stuff adventure camps teach you. The tour included a community outreach project, followed by a three day trek through the Dades Gorges. Marisa and Stacey developed their project, which consisted of painting the inside of the Cooperative building and building display cases for their products.

The girls were all really lovely, but it was entertaining to hear their side talk about not being able to shower and all the differences from their lives in London. I felt like I was in London with all the accents! It made me think back to when I first came into country, all most a year ago, and all the comparing and contrasting I did then. I can't believe that in two weeks, I will have been here a year!

Miriam x

Craft Fairs and the Like

After an enjoyable July 4th weekend, it was back to work and back to craft fairs...

The first fair was Peace Corps sponsored, Marche Maroc Essaouira, which took place July 7th-10th, 2011. In preparation for this fair, I created business cards, product tags and a brochure for the Cooperative. Keeping sustainability of these new marketing items top priority, I took Rebha two hours away to the nearest professional printer and we spent quality time there making sure she knew what was what on the USB and how to request copies printed, etc... Eventually, I will teach her how to change the informational content too, but we have to start with basic computer skills later this year.

As for the craft fair, it was the same story as all the other Peace Corps sponsored Marche Maroc's; guaranteed sales to other Peace Corps volunteers, their families and staff, but this time next to the beach. We did okay financially at the fair, but it just simply isn't sustainable sales outlet. We did have our second ever non-Peace Corps related sale at the fair, which was a small relief.

On a side note, I really enjoyed returning to Essaouira, it is a fantastic old city. However, I wouldn't recommend going for the beach alone, unless you enjoy wind sports as it's known as Morocco's 'Windy City' and it's a bit of a sandstorm.

On the 14-hour bus ride to Essaouira, I gave Rebha a nicely bound notebook I'd brought with me from the USA and explained that it was for the Cooperatives money records. Up until that fair, there were absolutely no sales or financial records for the co-op, beside from the ones in Rebha's head. The Cooperative pays for Rebha's travel to and from the fairs and her meals each day, and so I explained that to prevent any confusion about finances with the women, there should be a record that the women can look at and see whenever they want.

The book came in as a handy visual aid at the end of the next craft fair, which was in Tinghir. This was a Ministry sponsored craft fair (the one Rebha networked and found out about at the Rose Festival), which took place July 19th-29th, 2010. This was a loooong craft fair, in both hours and days. It was open from 9am until 11pm each day. To make it even longer, the Ministry failed to advertise the craft fair, at all. So until the weekend, when the locals got word of the event, no one came and I mean not a single person. Over the ten days, we ended up selling two carpets for half price. The meals and transport ended up being more money than the Cooperative actually has, and now we are operating at a loss. Brilliant.

Rebha realizes the situation, but she doesn't seem to be grasping the big picture, as I'm currently trying to play devil's advocate with her, as she tries to persuade me that we should go to Zagora next month, for another Ministry sponsored craft fair...I'm still focused on getting them exporting. Rebha has also come up with two new ideas to expand their product line; shoes and bags. She made friends with a man called Murad, who makes shoes, while we were at the fair in Tinghir. They discussed the possibility of incorporating small samples of carpets into his sandals. As he works with leather, they also discussed the possibility of leather messenger bags with a carpet sample incorporated into the from flap. I had suggested this to Rebha when I first came into site, but she didn't think much of the idea then. I'm glad she has come around though, as I believe the bags will sell very well if they are made to hold a laptop.

Not much progress elsewhere with the Cooperative, thanks to the slow times of Ramadan...which I'll fill you in on soon!

Miriam x
Essaouira
Rebha at the beach (she is terrified of the water)
Cooperative Chorouk's Booth
Working on a sale
Moroccan Horse Trailer going over the Tizi-n-Tishka from Marrakech to Ourzazette
Our booth at the Tinghir Craft Fair




Monday, August 29, 2011

Look who's back, back again...

It's almost September, which makes me a bad blogger, as now I will take you back in time to July...where we last left off!


So, it's the beginning of July and for obvious reasons, my Moroccan friends and family had no plans to celebrate July 4th, but American holidays are something to be shared here. Especially, according to Peace Corps 2nd Goal, 'Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served'. I take that goal and stretch it even wider than America and share all the British holidays too. As I explained to my fellow PCV Falisha, who just before the 4th jokingly asked me, "but, Annemarie, don't you feel so torn on the 4th, being a nus-nus (half-half)?" To those of you reading who know me, you know that my response was, "you know me, any reason to celebrate!" Dual citizenship=Double the fun  


And so, celebrate we did...4th of July, Moroccan style (which means minus all the coolers of ice cold...yeah, you get it). We made it into a double hefla (party) as my host sister Yassmine, also turned two that weekend and Hayat (my host Mom) had asked me if we could have an American birthday party for her. Birthday's are another cultural exchange as they are not celebrated here. Not surprisingly, most people don't even know how old they are. 


Knowing that Mamaksu (my host grandmother), has a Moroccan BBQ, I went out Saturday morning and bought steak, peppers, onions and courgette, to make shish-kebabs with. While everything was marinating in a tasty garlic-citrus marinade (my own creation), I made some sauteed potatoes as a side dish and also baked a chocolate chip pound cake for Yassmine's birthday cake, along with some Jell-o. 


In the afternoon, I took everything over to Mamaksu's, where we all helped to cook the shish-kebabs. My new site mate Emma, and Hessna, the pharmacist also joined in for the festivities. After getting Yassmine cleaned up from the mess she becomes when she eats, Hayat dolled her all up (and I mean All Up, as you can see fro the pics!) for a photo shoot and cake presentation. Hayat also made her a cake, so she had 2 cakes for her 2nd birthday...going to have to do some baking ahead of time next year! 


While we were eating we talked about what the 4th of July means and I know that my family understood what I was explaining to them, because they too asked how I choose what side I am on. I told them I don't have to choose, drew an imaginary line down my middle and said half is British and the other American. Not missing a beat, Mamaksu said, "La La La Miriam (No No No, Annemarie)." Then she drew two imaginary lines, dividing me into thirds, and said, "tgit nus Tamirikanit, nus Niglasia, awd nus Tamagribit" (you are half American, half English and half Moroccan).  Pride. 


Shish Kebab Madness
My Baking Skills
Before...
Before...
Getting all Dolled up
Blowing Kisses
Birthday Girl
Two Cakes for Two Years
Stylin' & Profilin'
Mmmm Candy & Cake...
Blowing out the Candles
Birthday Smooches
Me-Hessna-Emma-Mamaksu & Yassmine
Hayat-Me-Emma-Mamaksu & Yasmine...with her eye on the prize!