16 May 2010
Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. I could go back and do a summary update of everything that’s been going on the past several weeks, but I’d rather just start fresh with the thoughts of today.
Riding in a taxi full of PCVs, some brand new like myself, others on their way to Rabat for COS (Close of Service) medical exams and departure home, the beauty of my surroundings and my place in them struck me. Rising majestically to our right were the High Atlas Mountains coated lightly with a fresh layer of snow. Yes that’s right, fresh snow in late May. There we are filling the old Mercedes Benz with the standard Moroccan seating arrangement: two people in the front passenger seat, and four in the back seat. No taxi will leave until all six of these positions are full, you may choose to buy out a seat if you are in a rush, but all six of these seats must at least be claimed by either an occupant or cash before departure. Leaving a town at the foot of the Mountains we were all wearing multiple sweaters with jackets and many had donned their long underwear for the weekend. Not the blazing hot desert climate that often comes to mind when thinking about Morocco. Bordering the one lane, two-way road our taxi was speeding along (dropping to first gear of course and occasionally stalling out in the process of crossing potholes as slowly as possible to preserve the ancient loaded down machine) were the rolling grass fields, which have brought some new volunteers to the conclusion that our Morocco more resembles Switzerland or Ireland (when the mountains are hidden from view) than the Morocco of our stereotypical imaginations. With shepherds and their herds of sheep and goats spotting the fields or taking up half the road, and not a single complete home structure in sight (occasional structures lacking roofs used to house livestock), even in the direction of the mountains, we were truly out there. And to think such open undeveloped spectacular land could be found during the mere 45 min ride back to my site.
This morning we said goodbye to Duncan, a superstar of a health volunteer who we will all wish to be as integrated and successful as, and who I will most certainly pester with questions and ideas about my new and challenging site. He is the person most responsible for my placement here, the decision for me to learn Arabic in a Tamazight/Arabic speaking region, and who has entrusted me with pursuing the health issues surrounding sex-workers he wished he had been able to do more of. I hope that with the guidance of his blog, and the team of dedicated and hard working volunteers in my region, we will able to at least make some first steps that can be built upon in the years to come by other volunteers.
But of course before all that can happen I need to get a letter from the Ministry of Health that says I am actually working with them before my guest Visa runs out on June 3rd… but more on that situation and on my meeting last week with the Ministry of Health in Khenifra in my next post.
(Pictures of the aforementioned landscape will be taken Tuesday, inshallah, and I will try to post them soon after. Please let me know if there are any particular questions, or topic areas you would like me to address.)
