As I sit down to write this blog post on August 10, you may
be wondering why it is you have not heard from me since the first day of
Ramadan. I figure it best to begin with the present, as when I blogged about my
experience being sick, and then we can journey back into the past together. I
currently find myself sitting atop the roof of a very unaesthetic Moroccan
hotel I have been forced to stay in due to my first three options of lodging
all falling through. I am in a big city, one of the biggest in Morocco in fact,
that I will not name because I traveled here for a personal weekend and that is
exactly what it will remain. Perhaps my time here will come up in stories when
I see those of you I am in close contact with, but I firmly stand by the belief
that sharing personal information on the Internet disqualifies a personal
weekend as being personal. I been
without volunteers for these past couple of days and I have really appreciated
what God has done in my life in Morocco when I am in these sorts of situations
where I have to make every decision for myself in a place (specifically a city)
that is all too unfamiliar to me.
I arrived here from my new hometown where we volunteers organized a Space Camp at a local association. We had somewhere between fifty and sixty youth attend and I had four volunteers from other communities stay with me overnight to help with the camp. It was a great bonding experience for us to be with each other every day for a week, I really feel a very close bond with each of them. Shout-out to Cameron, Marc, Michelle and Paul for helping with the camp and acting crazy with me for a week. I truly have developed a deep affection for all of you.
The week before Space Camp was one of the most fun in my life. I traveled to Kenitra, a large city near Rabat, to help out with what is officially called the Global Peacebuilding and Social Development Summit (Google it :p ). I did not know what to expect when I arrived, but the experience definitely exceeded the non-existent expectations I had felt before coming. Basically, I got to spend a week with like-minded people my age from over thirty countries. Amazing conversations took place about global issues and cross-cultural relationships were forged at the most cherished levels. I made more wonderful friends than I can count, but the ones that stand out in my mind are: Demhat (pronounced Damn hot—yes, this guy is really that awesome. Truthfully, a very nice man.) from Istanbul; Gehad (aka the Pharaoh), Rowan (with whom there is an agreement we will work together professionally one day) and Menna (my new pen-pal. She had to Google it to figure out what it mean, but she’s down for some correspondence) – all from Egypt; Demba from Ghana (who is one of the most gifted young leaders I have ever met); Soufian (aka Soufflé—a Corps Africa volunteer with more swag than the rest of us put together), Mariyem (one of the most friendly people I have ever met), Lamiaa (one of the most deep-thinking and open minded people I know) and Khaoula (with whom the hours I spend with pass by as if they were minutes) all from Morocco. I also was bunk-mates with fellow PCV T.J. and while we were friends before the summit, I feel that he is now one of the closest friends I have here in my new life. The week was spent in conversation about global issues and showing our international friends (and we PCVS) some of the most famous things people can see in Rabat and Kenitra (like observing a session of Moroccan Parliament, for example).
I arrived here from my new hometown where we volunteers organized a Space Camp at a local association. We had somewhere between fifty and sixty youth attend and I had four volunteers from other communities stay with me overnight to help with the camp. It was a great bonding experience for us to be with each other every day for a week, I really feel a very close bond with each of them. Shout-out to Cameron, Marc, Michelle and Paul for helping with the camp and acting crazy with me for a week. I truly have developed a deep affection for all of you.
The week before Space Camp was one of the most fun in my life. I traveled to Kenitra, a large city near Rabat, to help out with what is officially called the Global Peacebuilding and Social Development Summit (Google it :p ). I did not know what to expect when I arrived, but the experience definitely exceeded the non-existent expectations I had felt before coming. Basically, I got to spend a week with like-minded people my age from over thirty countries. Amazing conversations took place about global issues and cross-cultural relationships were forged at the most cherished levels. I made more wonderful friends than I can count, but the ones that stand out in my mind are: Demhat (pronounced Damn hot—yes, this guy is really that awesome. Truthfully, a very nice man.) from Istanbul; Gehad (aka the Pharaoh), Rowan (with whom there is an agreement we will work together professionally one day) and Menna (my new pen-pal. She had to Google it to figure out what it mean, but she’s down for some correspondence) – all from Egypt; Demba from Ghana (who is one of the most gifted young leaders I have ever met); Soufian (aka Soufflé—a Corps Africa volunteer with more swag than the rest of us put together), Mariyem (one of the most friendly people I have ever met), Lamiaa (one of the most deep-thinking and open minded people I know) and Khaoula (with whom the hours I spend with pass by as if they were minutes) all from Morocco. I also was bunk-mates with fellow PCV T.J. and while we were friends before the summit, I feel that he is now one of the closest friends I have here in my new life. The week was spent in conversation about global issues and showing our international friends (and we PCVS) some of the most famous things people can see in Rabat and Kenitra (like observing a session of Moroccan Parliament, for example).
One amazing thing that happened during the Summit was that I
was able to sneak to Rabat one Sunday morning (left Kenitra at five in the
morning and bumped into Akram, who had been working all evening) for one of the
only English masses held in Morocco. I made it in time, was able to say
confession in English and worshipped in my native language for the first time
since January. I had only had about three or for hours’ sleep that night and
was absolutely exhausted when I was there, but I was alert for this. It was
mission Sunday and I felt a very special blessing from the Church as a Peace
Corps volunteer that day. As I walked up the aisle to receive the Eucharist,
the choir sung one of my favorite hymns (I don’t know the official name, but
its chorus is “We are many parts, we are all one body. And the gifts we have,
we are given to share. May the Spirit of love make us one indeed.”) and tears
started to pour down my face as I received the Body of Christ. It was truly an
amazing experience.
I left to attend the library workshop in Rabat for a couple of days with my counterpart Ali (congratulations on the certificate) because we want to start one in a local association in my site. While there, the PCVs from Kenitra (with swag-filled Soufflé) came into town to celebrate Jane’s birthday and so we all had a real nice evening together while I was up there. When this workshop ended, I had so much darn fun and had developed so many deep relationships in Kenitra that I decided to return to the summit for one day before heading back home. I was so excited to return that I actually left Rabat immediately, without saying good-bye to hardly a single soul. I arrived in Kenitra early in the evening and spent a night awake in fantastic company underneath the night sky, one of the best of my life. I was consequently very tired the next day, but participated in full because it was my last at the summit. One really nice thing we did at the summit was write “love notes” to each other to share our affection with those new friends we had made. I received a lot of love, but want to especially thank my Egyptian hommies Menna (who gave me a wonderful present), the Pharoah and Rowan for expressing such beautiful sentiments to me.
I left to attend the library workshop in Rabat for a couple of days with my counterpart Ali (congratulations on the certificate) because we want to start one in a local association in my site. While there, the PCVs from Kenitra (with swag-filled Soufflé) came into town to celebrate Jane’s birthday and so we all had a real nice evening together while I was up there. When this workshop ended, I had so much darn fun and had developed so many deep relationships in Kenitra that I decided to return to the summit for one day before heading back home. I was so excited to return that I actually left Rabat immediately, without saying good-bye to hardly a single soul. I arrived in Kenitra early in the evening and spent a night awake in fantastic company underneath the night sky, one of the best of my life. I was consequently very tired the next day, but participated in full because it was my last at the summit. One really nice thing we did at the summit was write “love notes” to each other to share our affection with those new friends we had made. I received a lot of love, but want to especially thank my Egyptian hommies Menna (who gave me a wonderful present), the Pharoah and Rowan for expressing such beautiful sentiments to me.
What I had learned at the summit was that a certain Miss.
Aloui from Oman and I share the same birthday, but I (being the overly-cautious
person I am) booked the bus-ride home on my birthday the next day. I had not
expected to share this information publically, but the relationships developed
at the summit were so close that it did come up. Demhat (Damn hot!) and Khaoula
made a decision to organize a surprise party for the two of us that day. So
Menna and Rowan kept me busy talking about random events in history while
things were getting wrapped together for this shin-dig. Then Khaoula isolated Miss. Aloui and
myself from the rest of the participants and then took us to a giant surprise co-birthday
party. “Happy Birthday” was sung to us in four or five languages, we danced to
music from many different countries and ate absolutely sensational cake. Akram,
the event organizer, said good-bye for me before I had to leave and also kindly
organized the transportation for me to get to the train station on time. There
was no sleep that day, but it was one of the most love-filled moments of my
life and I thank everyone involved.
Me and Demhat before I departed from Kenitra!
Our Birthday Cake!
The week before Kenitra was spent in Goulmima having
meetings, catching up with old friends and celebrating 3id l-ftur (which
commemorates the end of Ramadan). It definitely was an interesting period of
reflection for me as I looked back on Ramadan. This season of fasting was
actually the most difficult time I have spent in Morocco and I think this is
especially because I am a foreigner. I felt religious-differences maximized
during this time of year and it is difficult spending a long period of holiday
away from my family. I had actually drafted a blog post about the experience,
but I had found it more appropriate as a private journal entry because I was
too negative in what I had said. Looking back, I am so blessed to live in
my community and the
hospitality of people during this sacred time of year I did not know only four
months ago has positively impacted me as a person.
These next ten days (11-21) will be spent doing an English language immersion camp in El Jadida. It will be a blessing for a Sarahawi such as myself to spend a week away from the heat of home and next to the beach.
Until next time,
These next ten days (11-21) will be spent doing an English language immersion camp in El Jadida. It will be a blessing for a Sarahawi such as myself to spend a week away from the heat of home and next to the beach.
Until next time,
Steven
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