Bits & Pieces...

I love you so much...

I recently came home to this charming graffiti on my front door. It's nice to know that the kids around here are paying attention during their English lessons :)

A recent snap of me and Princes Yassmine...

Speaking of Royalty, the King himself made a visit to Tounfite a few weeks ago. The town was bustling with madness leading up to his arrival. He came to inaugurate a new educational complex for vocational training and youth integration.

 

And now I will cheat and quote the news report on his visit...

    'The educational complex aims to boost training and capacity building of the region’s women and youth in income- and employment-generating local businesses, as it provides women’s literacy programmes while ensuring preschool education to children, in order to improve the socio-economic integration of women and youth in precarious situation.

     The new facility has a unit of tourist information and guidance that works in synergy with other units in the region, especially those of Midelt and Imilchil.

    It also includes several centres including one for women’s training and qualification, which houses workshops for pastry, dressmaking, weaving carpets in addition to a day-nursery and a play area for children.

    The vocational training centre for young people consists of workshops for wood joinery, agricultural training, a greenhouse, in addition to computer science and literacy rooms.

    The complex also includes a showroom and an area to sell local products, as well as reception services through the housing center."

And now for some whining from me...while the complex may sound fantastic, the reality is it is already brewing with corruption. The woman who was appointed (and now in a rather cushily paid position) to teach the young women how to weave...HAS NO IDEA HOW TO WEAVE. Sigh. This is not an isolated case by any means...the King inaugurated many center's during his visit to the region and almost all have unqualified person's collecting paychecks for teaching a course they have no clue about and aren't actually teaching. 

The most frustrating part for me is that seeing as the appointed person's aren't qualified and have no idea where to begin, Rabha has been asked to go and teach the women how to use the looms...for free. And seeing as she is such a kind-hearted soul, who gets the concept of volunteerism, thanks to her work with Peace Corps volunteers, she has already agreed to go and help out. Blah. She knows my thoughts on the situation and has promised me her services are only fabor (free) for the initial class...

Okay, enough ranting. You can clearly see my frustration with the situation. Moving onto to more pleasant news...

The week before HM King Mohammed VI came to Tounfite, Rabha received a personal invitation from His Majesty to attend the grand opening of 'The King's Center' in Midelt. During which she got to shake his hand as speak briefly with him. Apparently, after the handshake he pointed to a wooden machine and asked her if she knew what it was...albeit a bit of an arrogant question considering she is the President of a weaving cooperative and the machine was a wool spinner-which was a no brainer for her, she pleased him with her ease of response and he then informed her that he was rewarding Cooperative Chorouk's hard work (which he was aware of because of their affiliation with Peace Corps) with some fabulous gifts...Two 4-meter and one 3- meter metal looms complete with matching benches, a machine that spins the wool, and a maintenance/repair kit for the looms. RESULT. 

Now we just have to find a building for the Cooperative. Currently, the looms are in pieces taking up half of Rabha's house. My goal for the month of January is secure a building for the Cooperative. I've decided to take an entourage of Peace Corps Volunteers to the Caid's (Mayor) office in Tounfite and have everyone gush on about what a hardworking, fantastic Cooperative we are and I suppose do a bit of diplomatic begging for a physical building for them.  Sounds like a pretty rad plan, eh? 

If 'Project Occupy the Caid's Office' doesn't work...I will write a Special Project's Assistance (SPA) grant in the hopes that Peace Corps wants to help us out. Rabha's father has agreed to donate some land for the building space, so that will cover 'in-kind' community contributions for the grant. Ideally however, the Caid will give into our charisma and charm and hand over a building, leaving the SPA grant funds for more equipment for the Cooperative. So finger's crossed everyone. 

More good news on the work front...I recently sent an e-mail to twenty-eight stores in the USA who are currently importing Moroccan textiles, in the hope that someone would like our rugs and agree to start importing them. Within two hours of sending the e-mail, I received a most pleasing response. (Call me selfish, go ahead, but I'm not going to name the store on here as I don't want all the other Peace Corps Volunteers stealing my new found glory...) So, XXX Store in San Francisco, liked the pictures, and responded with a detailed order request. The most beautiful part of the whole thing, is that he already has a warehouse in Marrakesh, so we just have to get the carpets there, and he takes care of the actual exporting...splendid, just splendid I tell you!

More to come soon...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!!!

Miriam xXx

A Sad Day in Tounfite...

View from my Roof

I'm very sad to say that my host great-grandfather passed away on in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The past week has certainly been the saddest of my service, with all my family in mourning. BaHaLu, (grandfather) as we called him, was Mamaksu's (my host grandmother) and MBarsh's (my landlord) father.

I am certain that he is in a better place now, as for the past year, every time I have visited my landlords' house, BaHaLu has been lying in his makeshift bed in the corner of the living room, next to the furno (woodstove). He ate all his meals and spent all his time there only getting up, with assistance, to go to the toilet.

When I left for my morning run on Tuesday, I saw a crowd outside the family's house and instantly knew why. For the past couple weeks, every time I have dined with the family, BaHaLu barely ate anything, pushing the food away as MBarsh tried to feed him. And with the very cold weather we have had, it all added up immediately.

I waited until the afternoon to stop by and pay my respects. In the end I was there for nine hours that evening and I returned again the next day for a few hours. Family came from all over Morocco to be together and to mourn. I can not imagine how exhausting it must have been for Mama (MBarsh's wife) as their home was filled with 50+ people for three days. The door was always open and members of the community came in and out to pay their respects from 9am until well past midnight each day. Every time a woman hugged Mamaksu or another close relative of BaHaLu, there was hysterically sobbing from both of the women for a few minutes, even if sometimes there were no tears left to be shed, sobbing continued.

There was a small army of women in the kitchen ensuring that tea and bouchiere (fried flaky bread) were on constant offer. At meal times a feast was offered to all that were in the house. Lunch was three courses and dinner as well. The amount of work that took place in the tiny kitchen during those three days was beyond incredible. Imagine, feeding 50+ people twice a day and always having bread and tea on hand, all the while grieving BaHaLu's death.

As with most gatherings, men and women sat in separate rooms. Prayer could be heard almost continually coming from the men's room, and sobbing from the women's. The first hour was quite awkward for me as I have only ever been to western style funerals and I wasn't quite sure what the protocol was for an Islamic funeral.

As I entered the room, I greeted each woman by touching their palms to mine and then kissing my hand, this is a common greeting and is used daily. For the immediate family, we greeted by kissing cheeks 4-10 times and I said the phrase Baraka Frasskum which means, Blessings to you all, and is a way of giving condolences in Arabic. After greeting every woman in the room, Mamaksu insisted I sit next to her and for the rest of the afternoon and evening, we sat together and greeted the masses of friends and family who came to pay their respects.

Things have calmed down now and are slowly getting back to normal, but BaHaLu will most certainly be missed by all. May he rest in peace.

Sending love to you all,

Miriam xXx

P.S. I almost forgot to mention that while at the funeral, Mamaksu introduced me to one of my host-cousins, a woman who lives in Meknes. Turns out she is an English teach in the Moroccan Air Force. It was nice to have someone to speak a English with and funnily enough, her husband is also in the Air Force and spent six years in America at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and in Tucson, Arizona at Davis Air Force Base--working on F-16's!!! For those that don't know, once upon a time my Dad was also in the US Air Force...working on F-16's!