It is quite the festive time for me here in Morocco, for I’ve found I get to celebrate both Moroccan and American holidays. How fun!
Regarding Thanksgiving-
How can I even begin to express how thankful I am for so many blessings in my life. I am thankful that I woke up Thanksgiving morning to see snow falling in my village. It didn’t stick, but it was nice to see. I am thankful for Rachid, my Program Assistant, who was passing through the area for site development, and stopped by, picking up not only me, but my next door neighbor and her baby, and taking them to the clinic for a vaccination before we headed off. I am thankful for the students at the middle school where I taught on Thanksgiving, but even MORE thankful for the principal who came in to make sure the students were behaving themselves.
I am thankful that after my electricity went out Thanksgiving evening, it came on again. J And I am so very thankful for my family who called on Thanksgiving, and recorded me a message on Facebook (although they all seemed to be a bit unsure of the video?). I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family who takes care of me and thinks of me, even when I am a million miles away. I am thankful for those letters and packages that always brighten up my day, even if it is just a short note saying hello.
I am thankful to live so close to such wonderful Peace Corps Volunteers. On Friday I headed to Tiznit for a meeting with all of the volunteers in the area, and our new Country Director, David Lillie. David arrived in September, and has made numerous positive impressions on us already.
We had a very productive and enjoyable meeting on Friday in Tiznit, and then a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday. At 7am Saturday morning, Meredith, Hanneke, and I woke up to start cooking our portion of the meal. At 2pm we brought green bean casserole, sweet potato somosas, fresh oat rolls, persimmon pudding, roasted chestnuts, and baked camembert, to Amelia’s. Thanks to one of the American PC staff members, we had pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. Thanks to a friendly butcher, we had a nice big turkey, and thanks to Amelia’s neighbor, we had an oven to cook it in. We had 12 volunteers, 3 Moroccans, 1 American ex-pat, and 1 Canadian ex-pat present for an unforgettable celebration. We ended the evening with an enjoyable musical session, listening and singing along to the various guitar players and singers in the group.
I am also thankful for the many people here in my community and in my region that are in the process of working with me to build a women’s center for the girls and women in my village. It all started when I did a “needs assessment” with the women and girls in June. They unanimously said they wanted a neddi (women’s center) in the community. Recently, with the support of Peace Corps staff, I have been able to get the ball rolling.
For the past month, I have been meeting weekly with the girls from my community. There are 14 girls (not in school, unmarried) participating. Their ages range from 14-26, and education levels range from 0 years of schooling to 6 years of schooling. And I love them! They are ready to put forth a lot of work and effort to make this neddi happen.
Fortunately, we have gotten a commitment from the local association to donate the land for the neddi, and an architect and technician to design. Recently I got a commitment from the Ministry of Social Development to donate various sewing machines, tables, chairs, and blackboards once the neddi construction has begun. In addition, I am working with the Ministry of Health to include a Health Room in the neddi, where women could take their children to see the doctor a few times a month. A lot is still in the air on this, but I am very excited to be working on a project about which the women care so deeply.
….a week later…..
So here I am, Monday evening, listening to Christmas music, heating up water for a bath, waiting for the dough of the cinnamon rolls I am making to finish rising, and getting ready to head over to my host family’s house for some Eid lKbir bread-making. Eid lKbir is tomorrow! This is the most important holiday in Islam. Each Muslim family slaughters a sheep, like Abrahim did instead of sacrificing his son, Isaac. Families get together and celebrate by eating the sheep (organs first!) over a period of 3 or more days. Overall, the festivities remind me a lot of Christmas preparation. In souk (town center), the past 2 days have been busier than I’ve EVER seen! Family in from Casablanca, Rabat, France, all making their final holiday purchases. The only difference (well, one of the differences) is that there is no gift giving. The holiday (like most Muslim holidays) has a complete lack of materialism (except for dressing up), and focuses on family and the religious implications of the holiday.
I am guessing tonight’s bread-making will be reminiscent of the Eid after Ramadan. Hopefully this time we won’t be up until 3am! Today I gave in to something I have been avoiding a long time as well, in preparation for Eid. I bought a pom-pom skirt and pom-pom shoes! This is the traditional dress of the women from my village, and I usually borrow a skirt for special occasions, but I decided it is about time I buy one myself. The skirt honestly makes me laugh out loud. To the women here, it is absolutely normal to wear a black skirt decorated with colorful pom-poms. The shoes are quite comfortable, and decorated with those same pom-poms. I have been resisting because they are quite expensive. However, thinking about it in USD, the shoes and skirt together come out to about $35, so I can’t complain too much.
Today’s shopping trip came after a lovely weekend with 3 of my fellow Volunteer friends. We spent the weekend together, baking Christmas cookies, listening to Christmas music, and watching Christmas movies! We even found a garland-like thing to hang in my house. And glitter to decorate homemade ornaments. It was a great time, getting us all into the holiday spirit.
The past week went well, with successful health lessons in the middle school. December 1 is World AIDS Day, so I taught about AIDS in each of the middle school classes, and each student got an AIDS ribbon. The days I wasn’t teaching I spent meeting with various people concerning the neddi (women’s center) project. It turns out the Ministry of Social Development will be very helpful in supplying equipment. I spent a good few hours at the Ministry one day, enjoying the company of like-minded Moroccan professionals.
The rest of this week will be spent enjoying the holiday festivities, and then taking my poor kitten to get fixed. Poor little Chandler. He has no idea what is coming!
….3 days later…..
Well, Eid is over, and all I can say is that I have, in the past 3 days, eaten organ kebabs, stomach tagine, and sheep head couscous. And I am still alive. J