To Market, To Market

Tuesday is a big day, market day. Actually, we have 3 market days, but Tuesday's is the largest. Every Tuesday, people from all over the region pile into vans, buses and taxis and head to the Ait Ourir souk (translation: market). On any other given day, cars will take you into the city center of Ait Ourir, where there's a bank, a post office, a few shops, cafes, and a grand taxi stand for getting to other places like Marrakech. But not on Tuesdays. On Tuesdays, all transportation takes you to the outer edge of Ait Ourir, a place deserted every other day of the week. On Tuesdays, this side of town is where it's all at. 
 
Two weeks ago, Jon and I decided it was time to learn how to navigate our own way to and through the market. It might not sound like such a big task, but learning how to get what you need and where to get it is one of the greatest initial challenges of any Peace Corps volunteer. We planned to keep our purchases to a minimum, just to avoid any major frustrations should we not be able to locate something. But to add to our relatively short list, we arranged to have lunch at souk with our host father, Xali Hassan (translation: Uncle Hassan), who cooks tagine at souk every week. During our site visit in May, we had been given a brief tour of the market layout, and even eaten at the cafe where Xali Hassan cooks. We thought, "We can surely find him, inchallah," (translation: God willing). 
 
Inchallah, indeed! We left our host family's house around 9:30 in the morning, and began our 3 km walk into Timzalit, the closest town to get transportation. At any given time of day, the walk to Timzalit is beautiful. We walk through Timzguida to the start of the cliff, just at the river's edge. Even in the heat of the day (which nowadays is around 105 °F), the view of the valley from the bridge is worth stopping for. Once across the river, the shade of olive and fig trees lining the fields is a welcomed changed of temperature. Popping up on the other side of the fields, Timzalit straddles the only road we use for transportation outside of the commune. Left to Ait Ourir, right to Tighedouine, and straight to Touama. 
 
It's quite easy to find a ride on souk day. The only complication is finding the right one. Some vans are for vendors only. I have yet to figure out how to tell the difference between the white vendors-only vans and the white all-aboard vans. We just wait to see which one the most people pile into, and then we get in line. It is not uncommon for one typically 8 passenger van to seat 12-18 people. Though perhaps not the safest way to travel, it's the surest way to get to souk. 
 
When we arrive in Ait Ourir, the first thing we do is clear away from the road as quickly as possible. For all the traffic that comes in and out of the area, there is no parking lot. The road's edge at souk is packed with vans, buses, cars, and taxis, not to mention carts and horse-pulled buggies. Once in the clear, there is but a small moment for a sigh of relief before being swept up into the foot traffic of the market. Think of the check-out lines at toy stores and bulk superstores on Black Friday, and you might come close to imagining the aisles at souk. Jon says it reminds him of the loitering crowds and barnyard animals found at a county fair. Vendors lay out their goods over sheets, in buckets, on tables, and hanging from tents. Since there are no fixed prices, people shout prices from one end of an aisle to another. Sheep and goats are shuffled along as they pass to new owners. Men and boys wheel carts full of things like nuts and bolts or cigarettes through clusters of people, all trying to collect or sell their weekly groceries. 
 
So, how do we find that one cafe where we ate with Xali Hassan last time? "Let's just see how it goes," my suggestion to Jon as we peered into the mass of tents. We made our way through the first few turns on memory, but once we got to a main aisle, we knew we needed some help. After asking a few people, "Manza tifiyyi?" (translation: Where is the meat?), we found the butchers' section (side note: directions come in the form of "go straight to the rugs, go past the spices, and turn left at the plastics"). The sight of all the meat and butchering tables is not exactly pleasant, so we decided to wait next to the fish vendors on the outer edge of the "tifiyyi" to have Xali Hassan meet us there. It turned out we were almost correct in navigating our way to the cafe; one small turn will not be missed next time!
 
After eating tagine made especially by our host father, Xali Hassan led us to the fruit section of the market to begin our grocery shopping. We figured we'd be fine choosing the fruit for ourselves, but Xali Hassan knew better. Here we are, two very obvious foreigners, standing in the middle of a giant market? Easy target for making a few dirhams. I can't really blame people for wanting to charge us more than the typical price per kilo of apples, but we have to remember that we are paid a fixed low income equal to the average standard of living in our village, and we can't really afford to be scammed every time we buy something. Thankfully, Xali Hassan showed us to a vendor with good-looking fruit and decent prices, and helped us purchase the few bags of fruit we came for. Thank you, Xali Hassan! And even though a grocery cart might be nice sometimes, there's a sort of satisfaction in buying only what you can carry.
 
We shopped around on our own for a few treats (dried figs, plums, and apricots), but the rest of our time at souk was spent just taking it all in. It's easy to get swept up in the fast pace of walking and bargaining, but it really is quite the place to learn the local culture and customs if you only relax and look around. The term "grocery shopping" does not mean a quick trip to the nearest store with the best deals of the week. It's a time to talk with new people and learn new things, a time to drink tea with friends, and a time to hand-pick your groceries from the source. 
 
It's difficult to really capture everything we're experiencing, the sites, the smells, the people. Hopefully this gives just a bit of insight into our daily lives. More to come soon!

Love,
alexandra

** Since we are still getting comfortable with our new shopping environment, we haven't taken any pictures of the market just yet. But we'll try and take some to post after next week's market!

Busy little bees

From Peace Corps swearing-in and training in Ourzazate to a USAID workshop in Rabat to a CDRT (Center for Development of Tensift Region) meeting in Marrakech, in the past week, Alex and I have been hopping all over Morocco.  Now that we're back in Timzgida with our new USB dial-up modem, we can give some updates about how we're getting down to business.  Amongst looking for houses to rent, finding a French language tutor, obtaining a Carte de Sjour (like work visa), establishing a P.O. box, studying Tashlhiyt, completing Peace Corps paperwork,  reviewing Tissilt Association project documents, integrating into our local community, and figuring out/implementing all of these new development tools; we've been pretty busy.  Fortunately, we feel very well supported, and surprisingly, we've had very few misunderstandings with our partners, counterparts, and host family.  In a word...Awesome!

We'll be helping the Tissilt Association move into their new big office this week, and we hope to take some pictures to show you where we'll be working.

Best,
Jonathan

Mawazine music

Alex and I just met up with some 1 and 2 year Peace Corps Volunteers to see a band on the Atlantic Coast of Rabat after drinking some delicious sweet mint tea.  We listened to Staff Bendi Bilili, a band of musicians from the Congo crippled by Polio...they were fantastic, energizing, and great to dance to.  Here's a few songs to check out:

Their story song with subtitles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzCUcO_d1qI

Their real concert sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtVZhaZp6Ng&feature=related

1st time in Rabat and lovin the coastal sunsets already...we waved hi to all our friends across the ocean today =)

Time to get some sleep as USAID workshops start early tomorrow...it's going to be interesting learning our other boss's expectations...

-J

Video

Berber jam session...our host dad (blue scarf) is playing the lotar just left of the village president, who is playing the ribob, a one-stringed violin.

Jawel slappin on the gimbri.

High cliff view of our new village and surroundings at Timzgida.

Success!

Success!  Alex and I passed our language proficiency exams, and can happily report that we are speaking Tashlhiyt at an intermediate level after only 2 months of intensive training.  In addition to our language success, we are also really pleased with our training projects which proved beneficial to the community at Ait Ben Haddou.  We hosted an environmental education day and trash cleanup with 60 local children, conducted a grant writing workshop, and helped coordinate a capacity building workshop for the local association via training by another successful association in the region.  We also helped the community to obtain 6 trash cans for the town.   Thanks to all of our friends and community partners in Ait Ben Haddou for helping us adapt to the wonderful Moroccan way of life and prepare us for successful projects at our new site!  Now that we've finished our training months and said our goodbyes to our training group and host family, we'll be sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers on May 25th, 2011.  Next, Alex and I are headed off to Rabat for USAID workshops.  Also while in Rabat, we will be attending the Mowazine International Music Festival, with such headliners as Joe Cocker, Cat Stevens, Shakira, Nelly Fertado, Elton John, Lyonel Richie, Kayne West, and several other famous musicians from all around the world (http://www.festivalmawazine.ma/en.html).  The BEST PART...it's FREE (i.e. Government sponsored)!   Beginning in June, we'll be starting our new lives in Timzgida (translation: Place of Worship).  We will find a house to rent there, and will then open our PO Boxes (Yeah for care-packages ;-).

Here's a pictoral recap of our last month of training:

Many evenings after class were spent rock-climbing on the garden boulders

Me protecting my girl in ABC Osh-gosh overalls.  I made this in-between study sessions.

Mehdi's pigeon (translation: atbir) that he caught coming out of a hole in the wall (He waited for days).

Goats and sheep on the cliff over-looking our new village, Timzgida.

Back at Ait Ben Haddou with fellow PCV, Sara, Alex, and my best Moroccan friend, Jawel.  Jawel said this hike was "insane kilometer"...about 20.

Initial segment of environmental education day, with me presenting a poster I made on the benefits of throwing litter in trash cans (i.e. less litter = more tourists = more benefits for families that rely on tourism).  Alex's segment was presenting the kids with environmental photos from the community that were either littered or clean, and then asking them to pick which photos they thought were good and which ones were bad.

Alex's litter pick-up crew with kasbah in background.  We had 60 kids all together picking up trash, and afterwards we threw them a juice, cookie, and comedy skit party...SO MUCH FUN!

My friend Jawel is a wood-worker that owns and operates a Genawa music shop in the kasbah, and he hooked me up with some really nice pieces (e.g. a gimbri, a traditional barn door lock, and mini-kasbah figurines) that he made.  In this photo you can see the door locks on his shop wall and the gimbri (yellow painted man with goat on head) that I bought.  Many days after class, I would hang out with Jawel, and he taught me how to play the gimbri and lotar.

More to come later.

Best,
Jonathan


 

Great googily moogily

Here's where Alex and I will be living for the next 2-3 years (Timzgida photo courtesy of http://www.maplandia.com/morocco/tensift/marrakesh/tidili-mesfioua/; google):

The origin of this ellipsoidal drainage basin, which I suspect was once a continuous ring (slope and dip of bedding planes indicates a massive syncline) of limestone, still eludes me.  Further exploration of the ~14 total miles of cliff line will be necessary to assess regional drainage patterns. 

Our village, Timzgida (translated to: place of worship), is a small rural town (~800 people) that retains many traditional values and a simple yet beautiful way of living. Our host parents rely on local agriculture and animal husbandry as a means of subsistence, and they have a very large family (11 kids and several grandkids) that either live within walking distance, or have moved to bigger cities for work. We are situated on a mountain side just above a large agriculture valley that sustains Timzgida and many other villages via irrigation from a large river nearby, and the occasional well. The people's association in Timzgida is a leader in several development projects in the area, and they have just received a significant grant from USAID to help several other associations in the Tidilli Commune by facilitating development project that intend to improve the standard of living throughout the commune. The project emphasizes the importance of improved water quality and quantity management. We will be assisting 5 associations by helping to obtain/administer more grants, deliver technical expertise, and provide education for improved management practices. Although we will be in a rural setting that is somewhat difficult to access, our location is surrounded on three sides by larger towns that each offer a market (souq) one day of the following: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. One of the towns, Ait Ourir, which is located a 30 min taxi drive away, is quite large and provides many essentials: hospital, bank, post office, police station, and pharmacy.


During our first week, we conducted an interview with one of the associations. We were received very well with a feast and gifted bottles of olive oil. Our interview with the Touerte association identified that their biggest problem is that the village doesn't have the infrastructure and quantity of water needed to irrigate their fields for sufficient agricultural production. In this village, only one well supplies water for all households and livestock. From the well, water is pumped to a 20 ton storage vault above the village. The village is 500 to 600 years old and consists of 400 people from five very big families. Apparently no foreigners visit the area. The village, located 2 miles west of Timzgida, is situated far from the river, where only hand-delivered well water is available to hydrate the plants. Karst springs are situated above the village that have been haphazardly damned off but contain stagnant water that yield less water now than when they were installed ~20 years ago (perhaps conduit breakthrough?...climate change?). Without cooperation from other villages, drought renders Touerte helpless. In fact, from ~1935-1945 prolonged drought and famine led to extreme hardships. Nowadays more civilized means of interaction with other villages preclude this act of survivalism.



After the meeting, members of the association took us on a community walk to show us the springs, well, pump house, and 20 ton storage vault. During our walk, I also spied several climbable rock cliffs, caves, and springs just minutes from the village that I anxiously await to explore. On the community walk, the gentlemen of the association took us to a small scale, association sponsored clothing (i.e. knitting/weaving/crocheting) co-op, and an olive pressing center. I think it was especially nice for Alex to meet the women and girls of the village at the co-op because, while introducing ourselves, we made goofs mispronouncing words and pausing often that ended in friendly laughter, thus helping to take the edge off from the somewhat intense meetings we'd had with the men earlier that day. During all of our introductions, Alex and I have been fed incredible albeit starchy food, supplied with very delicious sweet tea, and been given extensive albeit mildly aggressive welcome. Although for some of these people, we are the first foreigners they've met, our cultural integration and verbal exchange has been facilitated very well by a middle-aged man that has learned all of his English due to a long-time fascination with American films and music. He is the chief financial officer of our village's association. He is friends with and the coworker of our host brother, a resident of nearby Marrakech, who happens to be the president of the association that is primarily responsible for securing the USAID funding. Much work needs to be done, and I've already begun late work nights, but for now we are still enjoying the travel and sight-seeing. In fact, last night on our way back for our last month of training, we stopped in Marrakech, ate an extraordinary rooftop dinner, and later walked through the medina to see dancing monkeys, snake charmers, and traditional Berber music circles.


Although there are many exciting challenges and some hard truths to learn ahead; we are very happy now, and hoping that you are too!


Peace on dirt,
Jonathan

Final placement info.

Alex and I have learned our final placement info, and are quite pleased at how well it is tailored to our experience, education, and interests.

We have inherited a new and big project that has regional implications.  The site is located 1.5 hours southeast of Marakech in the Douar (Village) Timzgida – rural town Tidili Messfioua - province Al Haouz  (http://www.maplandia.com/morocco/tensift/marrakesh/tidili-mesfioua/).  The site has really interesting mesoscopic geologic structure (i.e. ellipsoidal ring) that I suspect has some history of ancient volcanism (pyroclasts are noted in geologic reports that I've found on the area). Elevation is about 1000m ASL, but peaks within 15 km of site extend up to 2200 m.

Here are some videos of the area we'll be in (note flower-filled, lush green fields and boulders for climbing ;-):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XAFETqyS4E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kvmfHPcGog&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtuYnNlHXX0

I'm a little overwhelmed because no former volunteers have been to our site before, and so we will be trail blazing to some degree.  There is no internet, but we will have access to electricity and tap water.  We will be ~8km walk from our nearest market, which occurs once/week.  Our counterpart is the president of the local association.  We will be working on NGO development with additional support from USAID.  While Alex will be focusing on environmental education and teaching English, my position will be focused more on technical support.  Below is the USAID job description that I found for the position (excuse the grammar/vocab lost in translation from French to English):

"OPINION OF URGENT RECRUITMENT- engineer specialized in water purification

In the framework of a Project of Purification (fitting and durable treatment worn waters) financed by the USAID,the Association Tissilte for the Development (ATD).  Situated in: Douar (Village) Timzgida – rural town Tidili Messfioua - province Al Haouz

Recruit for 3 years an experienced engineer specialized in purification liquidates

-MISSION
The candidate will have for task:
- Elaboration, the supervision and the coordination, when they are executed by offices of studies or businesses or external organisms, of the composing technical of the Project, to knowledge: the realization of the studies of purification and of garbage collection, the dimensionnement of the sewer systems, the dimensionnement of the station of épuration., the establishment of the CPS, Planning of the spots, followed it by the purification works, the system of management of the quality, the studies of environmental impact, the check of quality of waters, the biological treatments and physico-chimiques of worn waters, the mastery of the techniques of analyses microbiologiques, the system of Management of Environment ISO, the éco toxicology of waters and grounds and the analyses of the grounds
- the supervision of all the works on work-site
- The technical elaboration of all the reports (advancement state, quarterly, annual and final) to transmit to the lessors of bottom and to the partners.
-Followed and evaluation of the architectural conception, works on the work-site and informers of performance of the Project
-Supervision and communication with the architect and the businesses.
-The contribution to elaboration, to the execution and to the evaluation of the programs of sensibilisation and of formation of the profitable households of the Project.
The defined benefits above are indicative and at all restrictive

-DUREE OF THE MISSION: three years

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
-Tenured Etre of a diploma of engineer option genius rural or hydraulic with specialized specialization in management and engineering of the services of water and of purification
-To have a previous experience confirmed in conception and followed by the work-sites in purification (5yr);
-To have good aptitudes of communication and the direction of the organization.
-To have a work experience with the NGO and the organizations of community development.
-To have excellent capacities of compilation in French and in Arab; the knowledge of the English language is desirable.
-To have good knowledge in the computer domain: environment Windows: Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint and network Internet.
Nearby City: Marrakesh"

We leave tomorrow for our first site visit to our new home in Timzgida, and will return to Ouarzazate next week for additional technical trainings.  This will be followed by 1 more month of language training in Ait Ben Haddou, and then we will be sworn in after language tests on May 25th.

Stay tuned, and wish us luck =)

-Jonathan