2016 is Off and Running!

Hello dear world!

Since I shared my last blog post with you all, I celebrated the holiday season with my family back in San Jose and completed the biggest project of my first year of service shortly after returning back here to Morocco. December-February has been a truly busy and yet blessed time.

To begin with, the holiday season home with family and friends was wonderful. I went eleven months without seeing my parents and made the most of my two weeks back in the states spending quality time at home with them. I also had the opportunity to catch up with some of my best friends from high school who are all doing awesome things in grad school and the world of work. Shortly before New Year’s, our family held an open house for our extended family and close friends and it was a wonderful opportunity for me to enjoy their company and answer all of their very interesting questions about my new life. 

Something unique I had an opportunity to do while back in the good ol’ USA that many of my colleagues in Peace Corps unfortunately did not have was watch Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (twice!) with my parents, who had actually given me the original trilogy for Christmas when I was in kindergarden. My favorite memory from my time back home was being able to discuss fan theories about the film with my parents and best friends (at the same time!). We're all in on the Rey is Luke's daughter theory. I think Kylo Ren will return to the light side and defeat (or at least contribute to defeating) Darth Plagueis. Lastly, the ewoks will return in the form of a massive, furry and light-saber wielding army to the likes the galaxy has never seen (ok, forgive me for this last one).

When the time came for me to return to Morocco, I felt much stronger emotionally than I had when I left to go home. As some of you remember, I was going through a bit of a difficult time last November-December for personal reasons having nothing to do with my Peace Corps service. Having the opportunity to be surrounded by the people who love me most in life was the best medicine I could have asked for. I do remember feeling a bit sentimental, which I think is healthy, while sitting at the San Francisco Airport on January 2nd and focusing my eyes back and forth between a college football bowl game and the beautiful hills that lay aside the 87 freeway.

Upon setting foot in Morocco, my mind was focused on one thing and one thing only: Peace Camp. This is a project that had been my main priority for months and that demanded much attention due to a few factors such as there being a grant involved (which I was responsible for managing—something I never thought I'd do at such a young age) and me having to communicate the majority of my logistical information in Darija with institutions in my town that had not partnered with Peace Corps in development work before. Thanks to one great volunteer team and committed participants who really wanted to benefit from the program we offered during their school break, the camp was a resounding success. As the manager of the project, the fact that it logistically worked out has left me with so much joy giving these students an opportunity that I didn’t even have in high school. This was, without question, one of the busiest weeks of my life.

Now what was Peace Camp?

We organized a weeklong camp for high school students in my town to be held at their high school (an incredible venue) centered on the themes of peace and development. Their sessions focused on the Model United Nations program, conflict resolution, leadership, a painting project of the world, team-building through sports, idea sharing and human rights. They all had so much fun that many of them would actually show up early for camp sessions, which meant everything was nearly always on-schedule!

Left: Brahim, a local youth, leading the participants in one of many selfies.

Left: Students watching a Ted Talks session at the Idea Sharing Session!

Left: My friend Awatif delivering her speech about the value of a university education for young women at the idea sharing session. She killed it!

Left: Volunteers Anooj, Majid and Mustapha with some of our awesome participants!

Left: Brahim taking another selfie with Mustapha, Wafa, Youssef, Simo and Souad. They all helped lead the Model UN simulation of the General Assembly.

Left: Volunteer Painters Nadia and Youssef "peacing" out with the campers at their mural!

There are indeed many more pictures to share, but I think y'all get the gist of it. This was a fun experience!

Once Peace Camp ended, I immediately went to Errachidia to pick up the second shipment of books for the Arabic children's library project my counterpart and I are doing in a small village outside my town. The work that association has done to have a bookshelf built and promote the library to youth has been extremely impressive.

Above: The beginning to our new Arabic children's library project!

After this, I have just been busy continuing my program at the youth center and also updating it a little bit based on a better understanding on my part of how things run in my town. I have been in communication with multiple volunteers about working with them on some very big projects each of them are planning and so my schedule for the spring is actually extremely packed and intense when factoring these in addition to my work at the youth center. I am really excited for what lies ahead though and I think that I will look back on my first year of service with a great deal of pride in my own work at our Mid-Service training in May if I can keep up the good work.

Until next time—bslama!