Women's Center Donations

The location where the Women's Center will be built.

The 14 girls who have worked extremely hard to plan the Women's Center

Last June, when I first arrived to my site as a Health Peace Corps Volunteer, I did a "needs assessment" with the women of my community, Talbrjte, to see where I could fit in as a new volunteer.

The 30 women I interviewed overwhelmingly expressed a desire to have a women's community center. After six months of discussing the idea with various community members, I came to the conclusion that building a women's center is a worthwhile, sustainable project. Since then, I have met weekly with 14 girls from the community who are assisting in the design and implementation of this project.

Fortunately, the women immediately received support from local associations and the local government. After much discussion as to how to best meet the community's needs, the objectives of the women's center were identified.

None of the women, and few of the girls in this community were allowed to attend school. Consequently, the Talbrjte Women's Center will include a literacy classroom, staffed by the local schoolteacher, where the women can learn to read and write in a safe environment.

In addition, the women expressed a strong desire to learn a handicraft that will one day enable them to bring in an income. The local government is donating the necessary materials and expertise to teach these women skills such as embroidery and weaving.

As a health volunteer, I am acutely aware of the health situation in the community. Because there is no transportation available to the local health clinic, many women in the community are unable to take their children to the doctor for vaccinations and illnesses. The same applies for the women themselves. For this reason, the Ministry of Health has agreed to donate the time and equipment necessary to have a functioning health room in the Talbrjte Women's Center.

Finally, this women's center will go beyond helping these women to read, write, and be more healthy. The women's center will empower them to take control of their lives and their socioeconomic situations.

The local association and local government are contributing both financially and in-kind. Their contributions make up 43% of the total project cost. However, this project still needs $16,902.06 in order to be built.

I hope you will consider making a contribution; even the smallest contribution will help make the Talbrjte Women's Center a reality.

In order to donate you can click on this link:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=378-110

Or go to:

www.peacecorps.gov -> Donate Now -> Donate to a Volunteer Project -> search by my last name, Atwell, or by country, Morocco.

On the project page, you will be able to see how much has been donated and how much is still necessary to fully fund this project.

If you know any individuals or group who may be interested in seeing this project completed, please forward him/her the link.

I cannot express into words the impact the successful completion of this project will have on the lives of the women in my community.

Thank you, in advance, for your generosity.

Video of My House

from Stephanie & Adam's Visit

The last night of Spring Camp. We tried to take a picture of just the American and Moroccan counselors, but the kids loved being photgraphed


On our field trip to the Valley of the Birds in Agadir



On our last night we had a dance party during the variety show. It was great!

Strike is over!

Last night, as Doug and I were walking back to the hotel in Azilal after dinner, we received text messages from Houda, a PC staff member, telling us that the strike was over! We ran back to the hotel, and had a little celebration with Houda, who was just as excited as us.

After spending 3 weeks out of my site, I was finally able to travel back toward Tiznit today. I got as far as Tiznit, where I am spending the night. I hope to run a few errands tomorrow morning and be back in the arms of my poor cat by lunchtime.

As frustrating as it was to be stuck out of my site for so long, I had a great time working at Spring Camp, meeting the new health trainees, and visiting Azilal. I thought I would post a few highlights of my time out of site.

-The students at Spring Camp chanting and yelling right before every meal. There were students from various towns throughout the Agadir region, and they competed at lunch to see who could be louder and represent his/her town better. Although the noise was obnoxious, I loved to see these students have such pride in where they are from.

-Quality time with the Moroccan Volunteers at Spring Camp. After the kids went to sleep we had the opportunity to hang out, get to know one another, and really bond. Since I live in such a conservative part of the country, I loved hanging out with such modern Moroccans.

-Co-teaching intermediate English with Doug. We had themed days, and one was music. We played different types of music and taught the kids the different genres. When we asked them what they liked and dislikes, Nourdin, one of our students, answered, “I like rap because it tells the truth. I dislike folk because it is boring.” We were extremely impressed by his insightful expression of the English language.

-Spending time in Azilal preparing for the Health Education Workshop. Rachid, my boss, had 3 Volunteers (including myself) facilitate the Workshop. We spent the day before preparing and having a great time. I don’t get to see the other volunteers very often and we thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.

-Meeting the trainees! They are so enthusiastic; it is very inspirational. After a year or more in site, volunteers tend to get cynical, so being around the trainees helped to rejuvenate the rest of us.

-Exploring Azilal during the extra week and a half I spent there. The “Kefta Brothers” make the best ground beef/egg sandwhich I have ever had. And harira (Moroccan soup) every night for 3 dirhams! I saved money AND ate well. Azilal also has what I feel safe labeling the best pastry shop I’ve seen in Morocco. We are talking QUALITY pastries (Strawberry and chocolate cookie sandwiches, chocolate covered crème-filled croissants!).

-Spending 4 days in my friend Brian’s site. We went to the fields with his host family, and enjoyed tea together afterward. His host dad is blind, so communication is based solely on words. It makes things a lot more difficult for both him and the volunteers. Normally we rely on gestures to get a lot of things across, so talking to him was a new challenge (and one that Brian deals with every day).

-Buying my ticket to Egypt! My high school friend Amanda (who is Egyptian-American) is coming to visit in May, and then we are heading to Cairo to spend a few weeks with her family. I can’t wait!

On a side note, I was looking through old blog posts, and noticed that I mentioned the AIDS Skit Competition for the first time in September, thinking it would be held in November. In reality, it was held in March, Even after being here a year, I am still adjusting to the relatively different concept of time,

11 days and counting...

Just a quick update. :) It is Wednesday and the strike is still not over. I went with my friend Doug to another friend's house from Saturday until Tuesday. Now I am back in Azilal hoping the strike will be over tomorrow....we shall see!

Azilal House Arrest

As of writing this entry, I have been in Azilal, a small, sleepy town, for one week. And I can’t get out. Every morning, I wake up and go downstairs in my hotel to ask if the “idraab” (strike) is over yet……and every day it is. Which means another day of few food options, and literally nothing to do. This was slightly entertaining for the first two days, but now being in Azilal House Arrest is just getting old! I want to go home and see my cat! Also, I have now been out of my site for over two weeks.

Looking back about three weeks ago, Steph and Adam came to visit! It was a phenomenal trip, and I was just so happy to see them. They arrived in Marrakech on the 22 of March after two full days of traveling. Chicago to Nashville to Miami to Madrid to Marrakech! I am honored they went through all that to come visit me in Morocco. Since we only had a few days together, we were always moving and active seeing the sights of Morocco.

Sunday we hung out in Marrakech, and they were amazed/overwhelmed by the exotic atmosphere: monkeys, snake charmers, and infinite leather slipper and carpet shops. I really think they were in a bit of a dream on the first day, and I could barely understand that I was getting to see my sister and Adam in Morocco!

Monday we spent most of the day in Marrakech, taking in the many interesting aspects of the city. In the afternoon we took a bus to Essaouira, my favorite beach town, and then got to ride camels there the next morning. It was a very entertaining experience, and very cool. It just hurt our legs. A lot. Tuesday afternoon we took various transportation to Tiznit, stopping over in Agadir for some ice cream. Apparently I didn’t prepare either Stephanie or Adam for the experience that is riding in a taxi with 4 people in the backseat for three hours. However, they handled it very well. After that trip we decided to buy out the fourth seat in the back of our taxis for a little more room.

We spent Tuesday night in Tiznit, hanging out with my friend Hanneke, who was happy to meet Steph and Adam. We spend so much time talking about our families back home, it is nice when we have the opportunity to put faces to names. Wednesday morning we did some shopping in Tiznit, including stopping at the silver souk, for which Tiznit is famous. Steph and Adam both got nice silver rings made in my region. For lunch we met up with Meredith to eat at the beach. There is a small beach town 5 miles from Tiznit, and I swear we didn’t see a single other person while we were there. It was just us, enjoying our beachfront tajines.

Wednesday afternoon we went to my site! We had tea with my host brother Omar, my host dad Abd, and his brother. Then we drove up to my douar to get settled in my house and meet Chandler. The next day we hung out in my house and then lunch with my host mother, Ijjou, and my host sister, Najma. They dressed Steph and Adam up in traditional Berber clothes, which I found VERY entertaining. Usually I am the one who is dressed up like a doll in people’s houses. By the last night, Stephanie was really embracing my lifestyle, using the Turkish toilet, bucket bathing, and everything! I am thoroughly impressed.
Friday we went to souk (after a mishap with my host dad’s car. We were hoping he would take us since we had all the luggage, but his car broke down and we had to walk half of the 3 miles before a pick-up full of men going to souk stopped and let us ride the rest of the way), and started our trek back to Marrakech. We were able to stop in Agadir at my favorite Lebanese place for lunch, and then completed our trip. In Marrakech we did some shopping and enjoyed a nice dinner on the terrace of a restaurant overlooking Jma lFna, the famous Marrakchi square. The next day I was so incredibly sad to say good-bye to them, after spending a great week together. Fortunately I was distracted from thinking about missing them because I had to travel back to Agadir for a week of English Immersion Spring Camp.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports sponsors Spring Camps throughout the country to Moroccan youth to attend. There are Moroccan volunteers (mostly teachers, some college students), who run certain activities and handle the logistics of the camp, and there are Peace Corps Volunteers who teach English and various other activities. Our camp in Agadir had 96 participants, between 13-17 years old. It was truly amazing to spend a week with city kids, since I am so used to kids from my rural area. We had an absolutely phenomenal time. The Moroccan volunteers made our camp what it was. It was inspirational to see them get the kids so excited, sing songs with them, while at the same time keeping them under control. And of course, our camp was in Agadir, so the climate was perfect. We were able to take the kids to the beach for games on day, and spent a lot of time outside.

After the camp was over on Sunday, I spent 8 hours traveling to Azilal, where the new group of Peace Corps Health trainees are spending there training time. My boss had called me up a few weeks prior to see if I could come speak to the trainees about the health education work I have done thus far in my site. I was very lucky to arrive on Sunday night, because by Monday morning the strike had begun.

For some reason, the local taxis were not striking on Tuesday, so the trainees were able to get to Azilal from their CBT host families. The Health Education Workshop went well, and the trainees had a lot of questions for us. It was definitely surreal to be back at training after a year. I really feel like that was me like last month!

On Wednesday I was planning to go visit my friend Doug’s site in the region, but the strike was back on. Today is Saturday, and there is no transportation going in or out of Azilal. Some of the local restaurants are even closing because they can’t get food delivered from Marrakech. Rumor has it the strike might be over on Monday, but we’ll see.....