My Peace Corps service has been filled with ups and
downs. When we first get to country we
get lots of papers about our emotional health, physical health, work,
resources, yada yada. But my favorite
piece of paper is a roller coaster looking chart that explains our emotional wellbeing
during these 2 years. Everyone laughs at
this paper when we first get it, but after about 6 months we realize it’s
pretty much spot on. Good days, bad
days, happy days, sad days, depressed weeks, skipping through the field’s
days…. I can literally experience every emotion I could think of in one
day. Go from dreading leaving my house
to go buy milk, to laughing with people in souk, to wanting to punch a child in
the face outside my house, to being super happy talking to a friend on the
phone to crying during the Justin Beiber movie (yes- this last one
happened.) On top of the everyday
stresses with language, being cold/hot, trying to understand what’s going on
around me, etc. it’s easy to understand why this roller coaster could
occur. Then you throw work on top of
that- that’s the cherry on top of it all.
Work here can be crazy, last minute, unorganized and everything in
between… but it’s why I’m here. So I
wanted to share a recent success and recent failure with you… just so you could
get a taste :)
Let’s start with the failure and just get it out of the
way. In June I was asked by my sbitar
(local clinic) to represent the clinic at a meeting in Ouarzazate at the
delegue (pretty much my Moroccan boss).
I had no idea why I was going- I just knew I was going to a meeting and
I needed to find a lady from a French Association (didn’t even know her
name.) So I show up, am directed every
which way in the building and finally find this lady, her translator, the
delegue, my commune leader and another man from a village nearby. The whole meeting is done in French/Arabic so
you can imagine I’m a bit/a lot lost. I
learn that the French Association wants to bring doctors to my village for free
exams in October. Great news,
right? Fast forward to September.
I’m summoned to another meeting, this time invited by a man from my
village. We discuss the upcoming visit
and hit a major road block. The
Association wants to come November 8th. But that’s L3id (the big holiday in my last
post) so the arguing back and forth begins.
The French Association wins and they plan to come from the 5th,
6th, 7th, break for l3id, 9th, 10th
. Great, right? Everyone agrees this will work, myself and
the other volunteers in the region will help with translation and it all sounds
like peachy dandy…. Now fast forward to
November. About a week before l3id I
go to the sbitar to make sure this is all still happening and am told that the
Association was told not to even come because certain people in my community
didn’t want to work so close to l3id.
I’m (of course) super angry about this and trying to figure out whats
going on. What could we do, could we
still get the people to come, who made this decision… this is all running
through my head in English while I’m trying to ask the questions in Tash. And let me tell you, when I get overly
excited, sad, tired, hungry or angry my language just *poof* disappears!! Finally, I talk to some men that are pretty
high up on the ‘power’ totem and they promise to make some phone calls and see
what they can do. I finally hear back
the day before l3id…. And am told the Association isn’t come. Sucks, right? Want to know what sucks even more?? I heard TWO WEEKS LATER that the doctors
came. There was no one there for the
free exams because no one was told about it and even if people would have shown
up they would have had no one to translate.
So that just goes to show what months of planning and meeting can
accomplish- right? FAIL.
Now, lets rewind to Halloween. I’m in Ouarzazate to use internet,
get money and attempt to get my permission from the ministry to be able to
teach in the schools for the new school year.
I’d been in to get this form once before but was told to return, so I
was hoping this would be a quick trip.
Yeah, right. The man in charge
needed a form from Peace Corps so I called Peace Corps. After they talk in Arabic for a while I’m
handed the phone back and asked by my Peace Corps boss if I’ll be helping with
the health day this week. I had no idea
what he was talking about so he filled me in.
The ministry of Education was hosting a ‘health day’ in my site and
wanted me help. So I hang up and being
asking questions about this (in Tash). The
man knows close to nothing and asking these questions is like pulling
teeth. After about 2 hours of exhausting
language I’m told they want me and the other 3 volunteers in my area to help
with the event. There will be tooth
brushing lessons (that we’ll do), eye exams (we’ll help with) and woman’s
health information (that we’ll do too).
Keep in mind this is Monday that I’m in the office trying to get these
forms and the event is on Wednesday. So
basically I had to organize the other 3 volunteers and myself to get this
together, not really knowing what the heck we were signed up from. Would be have our own classrooms, were we
doing small groups, would we be working together or separate, would we have help? No idea.
So- we show up having ZERO expectations and find all the important
people from the ministry’s in Ouarzazazte, all the village leaders and school
principals there. Luckily, everything
went as best as it could have. We
successfully taught over 200 children about brushing their teeth, about 25
women about some basic health and helped those 200 kids get their eyes
checked. And it all came together in a
few days! I’d say that’s a success!!
