TashelHeet and More

Oho! (That’s “no” in TashelHeet.) This past Thursday, after much anticipation, our trainee group received our CBT (community based training) sites; consequently, we know the language we will be learning which limits the areas of Morocco in which we could be serving! I am learning TashelHeet, one of the Berber languages of Morocco. There are three main Berber languages, Tarifit, Tamazight, and TashelHeet. PCVs go to sites where Tamazight and TashelHeet are spoken. There are also a few Volunteers who go to Darija speaking sites. Most TashelHeet sites are either in the Sahara or on the coast, which means 125+ degree during the summer or beautiful Mediterranean weather…….hmmmmm. I wish I had some control over that!!!

Training has been going very well….days are long but we are learning a lot. On some nights, we have “tea talks,” where the volunteers decide on a topic we would like to discuss with our language and training instructors. On Monday we covered “Women’s issues in Morocco,” and last night we covered Islam. It is a great way to chat informally with Moroccan regarding issues about which we Americans know very little.

Our Program Manager came down from Rabat for a couple of seminars this week. He worked for the Moroccan Ministry of Health for 13 years, so he has a very strong health background. He spoke to us about Health and Healthcare in Morocco. There are little over 100 hospitals in the entire country…..a country of 33 million. There is one health clinic for every 7000 people in Morocco, and even those do not necessarily have a doctor. Another big issue is the lack of sanitation. Only 30% of rural families have any form of plumbing or waste disposal. Primary school is mandatory, but only 93% of children are enrolled. There is approximately a 30% drop out rate after each primary, middle and secondary school respectively. I could go on and on, but basically for a country that is developed in many ways, healthcare and education leave much to be desired.

Running is still a lot of fun; we enjoy exploring new parts of Ouarzazate each morning. And I was right, I can now use Darija to greet the various people we pass while running. Today we took a new route for the first time, up a hill near our hotel/training site. It offered an amazing view of the town, the mosques hovering over many homes and shops with flat roofs covered with laundry.

Today I bought my first Moroccan piece of clothing, a pink modern djellaba with white embroidery. I will hopefully get a picture in it to post….but I absolutely adore it! It comes to my knees so it is great to wear with pants on any given day. Tomorrow we leave for our CBT sites and although I am not supposed to divulge exact locations, it has a fabulous view of some snow capped mountains. I cant wait! My host parents have 3 daughters living at home who are in their 20s so I hope to have some quality time with them.

I will be back next weekend and hopefully have some fun stories from my week with the family. We have classes every day except Thursday. In Islam, it is the Prophet Mohammeds birthday so we will be participating in the community's festivities.

Oh and just fyi my 3 dollar Moroccan watch officially does not keep time. Oh well. :)