My Life, The Novel
Hey All!
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: A quick May Update
Chapter 2: Cavities, Parasites and Tuberculosis!
Chapter 3: Ugg.. Peace Corps...
Chapter 4: Birds, Beach and Bongos
Chapter 5: In Conclusion
Epilogue
Introduction
Definitely been a long time since I last sent out one of these group e-mails so you'll have to bear with me if I get a bit long winded. I'm going to write it out in book format with Chapters just to make it easier and more fun to read... If you want you can print it out and take a trip to the beach and read all about my life and times for the last two months! I should also definitely start out by asking how things are going for all of you back home or abroad with whatever is going on and wherever you've managed to travel. I just talked to my brother for the first time in months yesterday and discovered that he's trying out for parts in movies, working with movie companies and has a new girlfriend! I like surprises but this is a bit much... so write me and get me the updates! I don't want to come home and find out everything all at once... it might sent me into shock... E-mails are always good and my addresses are as follows... just a reminder... I love to get mail
Andrew Tibbs
Douar Amsouzarte
C.R. Toubkal, Askaoune
Taliouine, Taroudant
Maroc (morocco)
(NOTE: Please DON'T Send packages to this address... Letters only)
OR
Andrew Tibbs
B.P. 56
Ouarzazate 45000
Maroc (morocco)
(Packages AND letters are fine... things get to this address faster but I check it less often)
Chapter 1: A quick May Update
So... Not to much of interest happened in May up in the village (actually not to much of interest happened in May period) so I'll be brief... Maybe...
Now that I had been out and about for a while and gotten the birds project running at full steam, trees planted in my own village, and feeling refreshed from vacation I went home ready to get going on the next project on my villagers wish list... A tower/covered pool for drinking water for the 3/4ths of the village that currently lives without this "luxury." Personally, with the training I've received and with my own common sense thoughts I figured that this was an important project because it will save the women and children hours of time each day that they spend hauling heavy water jugs too and from the spring located at one extreme end of the village. This would allow them time to do other things, arts and crafts, socializing, etc. (at least in theory) I jumped right in with both feet and with the assistance and support of the governing body of the village development association we made schematics, checked out the site and determined the budget for the project. We also assigned roles for the next steps, which included getting official receipts for the goods that set the fixed price in advance and prepping the grant request, collecting pledges for transportation money for the goods etc. I felt pretty good about this and better about my role in the village than I had for a long time. Despite this new "progress" the after affects of the trees planting were already defiantly starting to wear off and we were back to the "well what is HE doing here again?" attitude from much of the village...
Work related but outside the village in May I presented my second topic at the Stage for new volunteers in Ouarzazate on the 8th and 9th on Moroccan Biodiversity. This was excellent because my own incoming group didn't' have enough training in this area. Unfortunately I still didn't have much training in that area and had to spend a day on the computer researching stuff. Most of the presentation was on birds though (because most of the remaining biodiversity in Morocco is avian!) and I borrowed pictures and a presentation from a friend that she had created for our in-service training back in December. I had plenty of material but alas! the projector didn't work and I had to revamp the whole thing off-the-cuff and on the spot. Given all that I still think that it went pretty well and I got a lot of good feedback. (sure beats session number 82 on harassment!)
Personally, I took one of my weekends off at the end of May to visit with friends near Marrakesh. It was a blast but all too short. We spent a lot of time touring gardens in and around the city and there are some beautiful ones, including a cactus garden put together by a Frenchman in 1948. We saw an owl there too! My totem animal and definitely a good omen! Also we splurged on Ice-cream... which is all homemade here and tastes different than ice cream in the states... but is still delicious... especially the fruit sorbet!
There was still no word on the transportation and travel difficulties that were causing me trouble in April and I hadn't received any feedback from my report on the situation except that they scheduled a meeting for me at the beginning of June when our entire environment group was going to the capital for Mid-Service Medicals, our yearly checkup and dental cleaning...
After the weekend off it was back to site for the end of May and the beginning of June!
Chapter 2: Cavities, Parasites and Tuberculosis!
Yay for not having any! Well... maybe... My TB test was inconclusive and it definitely reacted more than it has any of the past times that I've been tested for it. The docs say that they will let it go and test me again when I close service next July... fine by me.
Mid-Service medicals were the first week in June and it was great to be back together with the group for three relatively stress free days. Of course everyone was running around like crazy to different appointments but we had evening more or less free and had several good group dinners. Ok... so good group conversations... the dinners were a bit lacking. We had a reservation at the American club the first night but they were rotten to us and refused to serve us the full menu... allowing us only hot dogs and Hamburgers, then overcharging some of us... Seems a little strange... We ate at a Chinese restaurant a few nights later and it took 3 hours for some people to get food, which they were making one plate at a time. It picked up at the end of the week though and ended up being a great time. I stayed on an extra day to do some work and to hang out with friends a bit longer since I couldn't get home that early anyway... more on that to follow
Chapter 3: Ugg.. Peace Corps...
During medicals we also had individual meetings with our Program staff as well as a group environment meeting. Apparently PC Washington has been getting on PC Morocco's case about the "capacity building" component of our projects. If you're not sure exactly what that means... don't worry too much because neither do I. What it means for me is that the water tower project that I've been working on and reporting on for a year without feedback of any kind is now not acceptable because it does nothing to build the capacity of the community. (what?!?) The capacity that they are apparently looking for is the ability of the community to go out and find funding sources on their own and to be able to write their own grants etc. In my village they are more than capable of deciding what they want and asking for it... the key component that they are missing is LITERACY! To build them the capacity they need I would first have to learn Arabic, then teach them to read and write it. Then, since all the resources are available only in French or English I'll have to teach them those languages too... as well as having to learn to use a computer that they can't afford even to travel to... And here I thought that one of my roles was to act as a liaison between my community and the modern world... silly me.
One of my other friends got told that all her work with AIDS education and awareness and her strides towards woman's empowerment in her village were not really "accomplishments." Sometimes (frequently) I wonder what we ARE doing here since we always find out after the fact that the things we were trained to do and are doing well are actually the wrong things... The answer to that question is apparently Environmental Education... which we are all supposed to start work on hardcore in September. This plan is fraught with problems, not the least of which is that no one in the villages is interested and they have no reason or ability to change their current behavior even if they were. We also have no resources and our ability to discuss environmental problems is difficult in a language that isn't our first and in which technical terms for the problems don't even exist. I'll let you know how it goes since I have little choice but to attempt it anyway
Finally, we submitted some of our standard problems as a group for potential solutions and have since received back standard answers... Ahh well... it was worth the shot. Morale is definitely down in PC morocco and in my group especially with a few notable exceptions. I was not immune to the funk but have since started to consciously try and pull myself out of it. My friendships that I have developed since I got here and that I maintain through correspondence back home have been fantastic!
My meeting about my transportation situation went alright... but didn't really solve any of the major issues that I brought up in the report... only offered us concessions to make it more bearable and workable. We are trying it for three months to see how it goes but after that it will be so late into my service that moving would just be silly. Final verdict.. I'm probably staying where I am and likely getting nothing accomplished for the next 11 months of service.
Chapter 4: Birds, Beach and Bongos
After medicals I returned to my site for a week before departing again on a vacation. This time I went with a friend to the south along the coast to do some serious bird watching and see some of the rarest birds in the world, then up the coast some to the beach and finally up the cost further to a music festival.
The vacation was great... we met out in Marrakesh and then headed south to the town of Massa where there is a National Park that is supposed to be the most developed of any in Morocco... This is a sad state of affairs if true because its nearly impossible to find. Luckily there was a PCV in Massa who helped us out enormously and gave us the scoop. We found the park right as the sun was setting and saw the birds that we had come to see right away. After trying to bribe a park official to let us camp in the park he ended up letting us do it for free because we were clearly "bird experts." It was fun to camp down along the beach and allowed us to get an early start the next day. We saw lots of other great stuff but I'll spare you the details. The park itself was actually quite nice, once you know where it was.... but definitely nothing like a park in the states would be.
From there we went to Agadir and just hung out and relaxed for a few days. Did some more bird watching and lounged on the beach. The food was fantasic (as it had been for the whole trip! Yay not Moroccan food!) and we headed north again feeling relaxed and refreshed!
The music festival was in the old Portuguese fort city of Essouaria and the place was crowed with music lovers from all over Europe and Morocco. The city is already famous for its musical ex-pat community. I stayed with a group of other PCV's in a really sweet apartment overlooking the beach and inside the old city marketplace. It was an amazing place at an amazing time. The views of the sunset from the roof were fabulous and everywhere you went there were people singing and playing drums. The music itself is called Gnouan and its a blend of Moroccan music and the music of the slaves that the sultans of old brought in from sub Saharan Africa. Lots of drums and metal finger cymbals as well as some crazy dancing. There were also Jazz artists from France and elsewhere and some groups that blended the Gnouan music with Bob Marley style Regee that was pretty good. The only thing that was better than the location, the food and the music was the company!
Chapter 5: In Conclusion
Took a meandering route home, buying a real bed on the way (not sure why I never did this before... so comfortable!), and spent what little remained of June in my site watching the world cup on a TV powered by a car battery and a solar panel and lashed to a tree with waterfalls in the background and a cool breeze blowing down the valley.... Life could be worse I suppose :-) July is going to be a long month in my village after this weekend, followed by our programing staffs site Visit and a meeting with our moroccan counterparts in the begining part of August then another vacation... I'll get back to you then!
Epilogue
So... that's it for May and June... As always I probably could have gone on for quite some time about this or that... but that should get you the general idea and if you want more details you can always write (I don't want to beg! Don't make me!). I'm going to try and get an illustrated version of this e-mail up on my journal on-line but I'm not sure if I'll have the time this go round or not... If not then next time... but the text is all up to date on there so check it out! http://atibbs.blogspot.com/ Tell all your friends... I miss you all! Till the next time stay well.
Love and luck in Everything
Cheers!
-Andy
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: A quick May Update
Chapter 2: Cavities, Parasites and Tuberculosis!
Chapter 3: Ugg.. Peace Corps...
Chapter 4: Birds, Beach and Bongos
Chapter 5: In Conclusion
Epilogue
Introduction
Definitely been a long time since I last sent out one of these group e-mails so you'll have to bear with me if I get a bit long winded. I'm going to write it out in book format with Chapters just to make it easier and more fun to read... If you want you can print it out and take a trip to the beach and read all about my life and times for the last two months! I should also definitely start out by asking how things are going for all of you back home or abroad with whatever is going on and wherever you've managed to travel. I just talked to my brother for the first time in months yesterday and discovered that he's trying out for parts in movies, working with movie companies and has a new girlfriend! I like surprises but this is a bit much... so write me and get me the updates! I don't want to come home and find out everything all at once... it might sent me into shock... E-mails are always good and my addresses are as follows... just a reminder... I love to get mail
Andrew Tibbs
Douar Amsouzarte
C.R. Toubkal, Askaoune
Taliouine, Taroudant
Maroc (morocco)
(NOTE: Please DON'T Send packages to this address... Letters only)
OR
Andrew Tibbs
B.P. 56
Ouarzazate 45000
Maroc (morocco)
(Packages AND letters are fine... things get to this address faster but I check it less often)
Chapter 1: A quick May Update
So... Not to much of interest happened in May up in the village (actually not to much of interest happened in May period) so I'll be brief... Maybe...
Now that I had been out and about for a while and gotten the birds project running at full steam, trees planted in my own village, and feeling refreshed from vacation I went home ready to get going on the next project on my villagers wish list... A tower/covered pool for drinking water for the 3/4ths of the village that currently lives without this "luxury." Personally, with the training I've received and with my own common sense thoughts I figured that this was an important project because it will save the women and children hours of time each day that they spend hauling heavy water jugs too and from the spring located at one extreme end of the village. This would allow them time to do other things, arts and crafts, socializing, etc. (at least in theory) I jumped right in with both feet and with the assistance and support of the governing body of the village development association we made schematics, checked out the site and determined the budget for the project. We also assigned roles for the next steps, which included getting official receipts for the goods that set the fixed price in advance and prepping the grant request, collecting pledges for transportation money for the goods etc. I felt pretty good about this and better about my role in the village than I had for a long time. Despite this new "progress" the after affects of the trees planting were already defiantly starting to wear off and we were back to the "well what is HE doing here again?" attitude from much of the village...
Work related but outside the village in May I presented my second topic at the Stage for new volunteers in Ouarzazate on the 8th and 9th on Moroccan Biodiversity. This was excellent because my own incoming group didn't' have enough training in this area. Unfortunately I still didn't have much training in that area and had to spend a day on the computer researching stuff. Most of the presentation was on birds though (because most of the remaining biodiversity in Morocco is avian!) and I borrowed pictures and a presentation from a friend that she had created for our in-service training back in December. I had plenty of material but alas! the projector didn't work and I had to revamp the whole thing off-the-cuff and on the spot. Given all that I still think that it went pretty well and I got a lot of good feedback. (sure beats session number 82 on harassment!)
Personally, I took one of my weekends off at the end of May to visit with friends near Marrakesh. It was a blast but all too short. We spent a lot of time touring gardens in and around the city and there are some beautiful ones, including a cactus garden put together by a Frenchman in 1948. We saw an owl there too! My totem animal and definitely a good omen! Also we splurged on Ice-cream... which is all homemade here and tastes different than ice cream in the states... but is still delicious... especially the fruit sorbet!
There was still no word on the transportation and travel difficulties that were causing me trouble in April and I hadn't received any feedback from my report on the situation except that they scheduled a meeting for me at the beginning of June when our entire environment group was going to the capital for Mid-Service Medicals, our yearly checkup and dental cleaning...
After the weekend off it was back to site for the end of May and the beginning of June!
Chapter 2: Cavities, Parasites and Tuberculosis!
Yay for not having any! Well... maybe... My TB test was inconclusive and it definitely reacted more than it has any of the past times that I've been tested for it. The docs say that they will let it go and test me again when I close service next July... fine by me.
Mid-Service medicals were the first week in June and it was great to be back together with the group for three relatively stress free days. Of course everyone was running around like crazy to different appointments but we had evening more or less free and had several good group dinners. Ok... so good group conversations... the dinners were a bit lacking. We had a reservation at the American club the first night but they were rotten to us and refused to serve us the full menu... allowing us only hot dogs and Hamburgers, then overcharging some of us... Seems a little strange... We ate at a Chinese restaurant a few nights later and it took 3 hours for some people to get food, which they were making one plate at a time. It picked up at the end of the week though and ended up being a great time. I stayed on an extra day to do some work and to hang out with friends a bit longer since I couldn't get home that early anyway... more on that to follow
Chapter 3: Ugg.. Peace Corps...
During medicals we also had individual meetings with our Program staff as well as a group environment meeting. Apparently PC Washington has been getting on PC Morocco's case about the "capacity building" component of our projects. If you're not sure exactly what that means... don't worry too much because neither do I. What it means for me is that the water tower project that I've been working on and reporting on for a year without feedback of any kind is now not acceptable because it does nothing to build the capacity of the community. (what?!?) The capacity that they are apparently looking for is the ability of the community to go out and find funding sources on their own and to be able to write their own grants etc. In my village they are more than capable of deciding what they want and asking for it... the key component that they are missing is LITERACY! To build them the capacity they need I would first have to learn Arabic, then teach them to read and write it. Then, since all the resources are available only in French or English I'll have to teach them those languages too... as well as having to learn to use a computer that they can't afford even to travel to... And here I thought that one of my roles was to act as a liaison between my community and the modern world... silly me.
One of my other friends got told that all her work with AIDS education and awareness and her strides towards woman's empowerment in her village were not really "accomplishments." Sometimes (frequently) I wonder what we ARE doing here since we always find out after the fact that the things we were trained to do and are doing well are actually the wrong things... The answer to that question is apparently Environmental Education... which we are all supposed to start work on hardcore in September. This plan is fraught with problems, not the least of which is that no one in the villages is interested and they have no reason or ability to change their current behavior even if they were. We also have no resources and our ability to discuss environmental problems is difficult in a language that isn't our first and in which technical terms for the problems don't even exist. I'll let you know how it goes since I have little choice but to attempt it anyway
Finally, we submitted some of our standard problems as a group for potential solutions and have since received back standard answers... Ahh well... it was worth the shot. Morale is definitely down in PC morocco and in my group especially with a few notable exceptions. I was not immune to the funk but have since started to consciously try and pull myself out of it. My friendships that I have developed since I got here and that I maintain through correspondence back home have been fantastic!
My meeting about my transportation situation went alright... but didn't really solve any of the major issues that I brought up in the report... only offered us concessions to make it more bearable and workable. We are trying it for three months to see how it goes but after that it will be so late into my service that moving would just be silly. Final verdict.. I'm probably staying where I am and likely getting nothing accomplished for the next 11 months of service.
Chapter 4: Birds, Beach and Bongos
After medicals I returned to my site for a week before departing again on a vacation. This time I went with a friend to the south along the coast to do some serious bird watching and see some of the rarest birds in the world, then up the coast some to the beach and finally up the cost further to a music festival.
The vacation was great... we met out in Marrakesh and then headed south to the town of Massa where there is a National Park that is supposed to be the most developed of any in Morocco... This is a sad state of affairs if true because its nearly impossible to find. Luckily there was a PCV in Massa who helped us out enormously and gave us the scoop. We found the park right as the sun was setting and saw the birds that we had come to see right away. After trying to bribe a park official to let us camp in the park he ended up letting us do it for free because we were clearly "bird experts." It was fun to camp down along the beach and allowed us to get an early start the next day. We saw lots of other great stuff but I'll spare you the details. The park itself was actually quite nice, once you know where it was.... but definitely nothing like a park in the states would be.
From there we went to Agadir and just hung out and relaxed for a few days. Did some more bird watching and lounged on the beach. The food was fantasic (as it had been for the whole trip! Yay not Moroccan food!) and we headed north again feeling relaxed and refreshed!
The music festival was in the old Portuguese fort city of Essouaria and the place was crowed with music lovers from all over Europe and Morocco. The city is already famous for its musical ex-pat community. I stayed with a group of other PCV's in a really sweet apartment overlooking the beach and inside the old city marketplace. It was an amazing place at an amazing time. The views of the sunset from the roof were fabulous and everywhere you went there were people singing and playing drums. The music itself is called Gnouan and its a blend of Moroccan music and the music of the slaves that the sultans of old brought in from sub Saharan Africa. Lots of drums and metal finger cymbals as well as some crazy dancing. There were also Jazz artists from France and elsewhere and some groups that blended the Gnouan music with Bob Marley style Regee that was pretty good. The only thing that was better than the location, the food and the music was the company!
Chapter 5: In Conclusion
Took a meandering route home, buying a real bed on the way (not sure why I never did this before... so comfortable!), and spent what little remained of June in my site watching the world cup on a TV powered by a car battery and a solar panel and lashed to a tree with waterfalls in the background and a cool breeze blowing down the valley.... Life could be worse I suppose :-) July is going to be a long month in my village after this weekend, followed by our programing staffs site Visit and a meeting with our moroccan counterparts in the begining part of August then another vacation... I'll get back to you then!
Epilogue
So... that's it for May and June... As always I probably could have gone on for quite some time about this or that... but that should get you the general idea and if you want more details you can always write (I don't want to beg! Don't make me!). I'm going to try and get an illustrated version of this e-mail up on my journal on-line but I'm not sure if I'll have the time this go round or not... If not then next time... but the text is all up to date on there so check it out! http://atibbs.blogspot.com/ Tell all your friends... I miss you all! Till the next time stay well.
Love and luck in Everything
Cheers!
-Andy
posted by Andy & Erin | 5:06 PM
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