Snow...plenty of snow.

Me and some of the village children on their way to school...notice the random firewood by their feet...each child is required to bring one log for the fire each day. 

Hi there! This post was written last month, but was awaiting pictures to accompany it...


Last Friday, was meant to be the day for project 'Occupy the Caid's office'. And so, Moses, Max, Sanyog and Patrick all came to Tounfite to give me a hand in 'occupying' the Caid's office. When I went for my morning run, it became apparent that things probably were not going to go as planned that afternoon. The King had other plans for Tounfite on Friday the 13th of January...

The town was in a frenzy. Everywhere I turned, there were masses of people running while pushing wheelbarrows. You see, the King knew cold weather was on its way and so he very kindly sent 6 large trucks (think 18-wheelers/lorries) full of blankets, vegetable oil, beans, lentils and various other non-perishable goods to the people of Tounfite. 

Every news station and their camera crew were present, along with about 200 military personnel to help control the crowds of people awaiting their handout from the King. There were three different locations scattered throughout the town, so the entire town was in chaos. I'm not quite sure how the people handing out the items managed to keep track of which family had received what, but I know they didn't do an ace job of it as on my morning run the next day there was a large crowd of about 100 women chanting outside the Caid's office. They were protesting because they didn't receive their fair share of the handouts. 

Needless to say, when the boys and I went to the Caid's office that afternoon, we had a very hard time 'occupying' it, as it was locked with the Caid nowhere in sight. I gave my letter to his male secretary and informed him that I would be back next week to follow-up. (Update to come soon...)

This past Monday, I decided to pay Moses a visit up the mountain in Agoudim. I've been up a few times and it really is a gorgeous village. Although the King's blanket/dry goods handout should have been a clue that angry weather was on its way, I didn't really consider just how angry it might be...and after 18-inches of snow that evening, I was indeed stuck on the mountain. It wasn't too bad though, as Moses has a really lovely host family who wanted me to stay for the entire week. 

Sadly, on Tuesday with 18-inches of fresh snow and no sun to be seen, an old man from the village passed away. After lunch, we joined the funeral procession to the graveyard where the Koran was read and he was laid to rest. On our snowy walk back up to the village, a group of women insisted that I join them for a 'Naming Ceremony'. In case you don't remember what that is here is a recap from a previous blog entry: 


According to Islam, when a baby is born it isn’t named until the 7^th day. On the 7^th day, the family kills a sheep and declares the child’s name. If the family can afford to they have a celebration in their home on that day, the celebration consists of friends and family gathering at the house for tea, sweets, eating the sheep, music, drums and dancing.


I was hesitant to accept their invitation as I had already had breakfast and lunch and I knew that if I attended I would have to eat my way through another two course luncheon...but, I couldn't say no to their smiling faces. And what better way to cheer up from the sad loss of life, than to celebrate the birth of a new one. And so eat I did...


By the end of the night I was ready to pop, as the day before we had already accepted an invitation to dinner at Moses' best friend's house. That ended up being another (delicious) two course dinner, which I literally had to force myself to eat.  Eat. Eat. Eat. Nom. Nom. Nom.


I made it back home yesterday and was greeted by an alley piled high with mounds of snow, which had been cleared of the roof's. As always, the picture doesn't really do it justice. 


Tounfite is a slushy mess during the day, which means an icy mess after sunset. Which also means a muddy mess is to come once it all melts in a week or two. It's extremely cold both indoors and outdoors and I must say I can't wait to be in Marrakech next week, enjoying some warmer weather :) 


More to come soon...promise!


Love, 


Miriam x

Moses, Me & Yusef

Yusef, Mina (Moses' Host Mom) & Me

Headed to Mina's for Lunch...house with the blue door

Getting the snow off the roof, after the storm...someone had to climb up every couple hours during the storm to keep the satellite dish clear though!