School's Out for Summer...and then we fast!

June 18, 2015

Well, the first draft of this blog post is actually being written on the very first day of Ramadan, which means I currently have very little energy and concentration to accomplish the task and am sure it will take a few days before the proofread version of this has been published.  As you can probably tell, I have decided to participate in the full-fast for Ramadan. However, I have decided to make one minor change in how I observe this month and that is that I will not participate in Ramadan fasts on Sundays. The reason I am doing this is because I am participating in Ramadan to develop an appreciation for the significance of this month for Muslims and its value in strengthening mankind’s relationship with God and with one-another. I am not practicing two religions and the same time nor do I wish to practice another religion temporarily. I would not participate in Ramadan at all if I did not appreciate the many beautiful aspects of the Muslim religion. However, the reason I have chosen to not observe fast on Sundays is because of the Resurrection. In Christian fasting history and tradition (Lent from my experience), fasts are not observed on Sundays because that is a day to celebrate the Resurrection. I feel that my Ramadan fast should follow these standards at least because my celebration of this special time for my brothers and sisters of a different religion should not supplant celebrations at the core of my own faith.

I know that it has been over a month since I last blogged for my friends and family back home and so there is indeed a good deal of information I have to update you all on. My decision to start my service with English teaching has thus far proven to be a very rewarding experience. I was able to get plugged in with the local high school and a local association to do about 6-8 hours of study sessions a week in order to prepare students on the verge of high school graduation and entrance into university for national exams that are essential for both. I also met with a good friend of mine, Simo, every week because he has approached me about volunteering with him for his big Peace Club project. Our goal is to be able to organize an extracurricular activity that combines a model-UN type of program with local volunteering and eventually a week-long camp in January that can pull in kids and Peace Corps volunteers from other regions.

Recently, I also had my site visit with my regional manager Lahcen and we talked a lot about what I would like my service to look like for these next two years. We spent some good time speaking with my host-sister about my volunteering with her association for the disabled as well, which is something I very much want to play a big part in my service. A project that I wish to initiate in my own community is something revolving around historical preservation and cultural celebration of our town’s long gone Jewish community. Given the fact that our town is so small, I feel it very important to do activities centered on the theme of multiculturalism. Another cool thing I am excited about is matching the French classes of my godmother at Santa Teresa High School in San Jose with a French class here in my site for the purpose of launching a pen-pal program between the two classes. This may end up being digital, but I feel such a program would really provide special exposure to all youth involved. During Ramadan, I will be doing a discussion-club for six hours a week with the same students from the association I did test prep with.  Hopefully this will give them some listening and speaking skills with the English language before they head off to university. This is the only local institution which has expressed interest in having a volunteer during the summer (and particularly Ramadan). The Dar Shebab is still closed and the other two associations I have had contact with do not seem to wish to be active during Ramadan.

Personally, I have been doing well this last month. Helping the students prepare for their exams was a really rewarding experience and I felt the sessions we did really helped address their needs. I am also happy to be relatively busy with three English classes a week during Ramadan. This portion of service can be a bit difficult because of what I would deem ‘island fever’. Peace Corps policy states we are not allowed to leave our sites for the first three months of service and I have mentioned to many volunteers in a spirit of kidding that I would have a hard time with such a policy if implemented in San Jose (a city of nearly a million people). So this isn’t to say I’ve felt sad in site, I’m actually in a state of holistically very good health, but I do definitely have a burning desire to get out for a week or so for a change of scenery. Our training next month will be a much-welcomed experience and there are also some camps I would like to volunteer with out of site during the summer. In addition to these opportunities, I would also like to add a couple of vacation days to a weekend and go check out a tourist spot here in country for a little r&r.