Morocco is a-MAZE-ing!

Hey all! It feels like a lifetime, but only a week ago, I arrived in Morocco from Niamey, Niger. Last week was a very emotional time known as the Transition Conference. Many volunteers closed their service (COS) and a few people made decisions to continue volunteering elsewhere. A few people from my stage that had just begun service in Niger decided to ERS (expedited return to service), which means they all gone home and begin their service all over again in Philly with a new stage to a new place. Volunteers who chose this option are going to Costa Rica, Namibia or Malawi. Ellie boo is going to Malawi, a fellow Maradi volunteer that I know is going to Costa Rica. Best of luck to those ERS peeps. The volunteers that are still here in Morocco will be continuing in one of the following countries: Senegal, South Africa, Guinea, Rwanda, Malawi and...CAMEROON which is where I am going! People going to these countries will be leaving right from Casablanca, Morocco in the near future. When we get to our country, we will have a specialized training (language, culture, technical skills) and be placed at our site. It is going to be a challenging transition to start over again, but I knew that I wanted to continue servin' in Africa!

Morocco is pretty sweet! Yesterday, I took a train to Fez with some friends. Three of them were going to stay there so we went to a youth hostel and dropped their stuff off. Then we walked around the Medina, or huge old market, that is the heart of Fez. The streets are tiny and we got lost several times, but it was fun because we weren't really looking for anything. So we're walking around the MAZE of stores and people are trying to sell us stuff and this one guy is like would you like to go to a restaurant and brings us into this side street? We're like ok, this is sketchy, but we have two guys in our group walking around so we're ike what's the worst that can happen? So this dude ends up bringing us into this huge back area where they're selling rugs. We buy yummy sandwiches from him and he tells us the history of rugs in Morocco and Fez. We go upstairs for a demonstration of women making the rugs. The rugs were gorgeous and the guy was really nice and wanted to sell them to us but we were like sorry man we are poor college graduates who are traveling there's no way we can haul these things around the African continent. No it was cool though. Then he had one of his friends bring us to a tannery. So we walked through the labyrinth to this huge leather store that looked down into where they do all the dyeing. It was super cool!

 Looking down on all the beautiful rooms in the sketchy rug store

 Leather tannery, vats used to dye the leather

Entrance to the Medina (only one entrance/exit, fire hazard anyone?)

I tentatively leave for Cameroon February 6th. So, in the mean time, I may head back to Fez and do a desert tour through Morocco. Stay tuned!

BES Note:
Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of Flat Stanley in Niger, but yesterday in Fez, Morocco I took pictures of him in the market.

Mr. Stanley on a Moroccan rug

Flat Stanley will be coming with me to Cameroon and then I will send him back to Vermont!

Sad News...I'm in Morocco

18 January 2011
      Sooooo change in life plans. I am currently in Morocco. Due to safety reasons, all Peace Corps volunteers were evacuted from Niger. Here is the safety reason:

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/09/niger.abduction/index.html?iref=allsearch
        
    I was in my wonderful village for 8 days. I said goodbye to everyone in one day, packed up all my stuff, gave away all my food and home supplies to friends and mayor in my village, and traveled to my regional capital. From the regional capital, we traveled to Niamey and flew out early Monday morning. We are currently undergoing a Transition Conference in Morocco which is similar to a conference volunteers would have AFTER their two years of service are complete. It is really sad for us and for our villages and Niger as a whole, but I am grateful that we are all safe. We are completing a lot of paperwork, medical evaluations, and most importantly, discussing options for the future. There are quite a few options available.

    Thank you all for your support and love through this difficult and emotional transition time. I will keep ya'll posted as I determine what the next step in this journey will be.

First post in village

11 Janvier 2011

        Hello all! Greetings from my site in the desert! I arrived here on Tuesday, January 4th. When our group of Maradi volunteers first arrived in the region, we did a lot of shopping. We needed to buy everything for our sites; from trunks to dishes to food for a month to soap and more. We spent the morning of Monday, January 3rd going around the city and introducing ourselves to important people such as the Governor, National Guard, Gendarmes/Police, Chief of Maradi and others. We traveled around with three Peace Corps Staff who live in this area and are responsible for us while we live close to Maradi. They did most of the talking; which was good because all the people we met spoke Hausa/French fluently, and we're not up to par yet on language. The meet-and-greet is a respectful formality but also a way of letting influential people know that we are here so they can keep an eye out for us. On Tuesday morning, we met with the same types of governmental figures, but in an area more specific to my site. For security purposes, I cannot give the name of my specific region or town over the worldwideweb :). On Tuesday afternoon, they dropped me and all my stuff off at my site. We were greeted by a lot of people in the town and one of the Peace Corps Staff held a brief meeting outside of my home to tell people who I was, what I would be doing here, so on and so forth. My home is located inside of the town mayor's (called magori in Hausa) concession. There are many relatives that live in our concession so there is always someone around and always kids playing. Three weeks ago, a previous Peace Corps volunteer moved out of the house. I am grateful to her for leaving dishes, a wonderful bookshelf and two tables great for cooking and putting my water filter/dishes on. I had debated about buying these things before coming out but am glad now that I didn't. I spent the first afternoon unpacking and getting settled into my home. I also visited the magori and the health clinic to see my supervisor. Here are photos of my new home sweet home:

kitchen and back room

When I walk into my house, where I set up my bed outside

   I go to the health clinic Monday-Friday from 8:00am-12:00pm and then again from 3:30pm-6:00pm. The health clinic is called the CSE and is staffed and funded entirely by the Nigerien government. This past week and a half I have been observing what happens there. The mornings are the most busy thus far. When I arrive in the morning, there are many people waiting outside, mostly women and their babies. There is one area of the hospital for general illness consultations. These involve mothers bringing in their ill children to be seen and get medication. When a mother brings in her child, she has to bring the child's Carnet which is the form of ID. The Carnets are given to women when they have a child. However, if a child was born at home and thus did not receive a Carnet, they can be purchased for 100CFA at any time. For the majority of consultations that I have observed, the illness has been malaria. The clinic has rapid-malaria blood tests for adults, but for children the most common symptom is a fever. If a child has a fever, then it is most probably malaria and they are given medicine (magani) for it. If the fever is 40 degrees Celsius or greater (which is 104 degrees farenheit) they are given medicine but also a shot (allura) because their fever is so high.       

       Another area of the clinic is reserved for prenatal consultations and pregancy care. In Hausa, pregnancy is called haihuwa (pronounced hi-hoo-wa). In one room, the sage femme gives consultations to pregnant women. These consultations involve weighing the mother, measuring her stomach for the size of the baby and listening to the baby's heart. If there are no other problems, then the mother is given iron tablets and prophylaxis medicine so that she will not develop malaria while pregnant. There is a birthing room as well and an observation room for women who stay overnight at the CSE after they give birth.

     One room of the clinic is the pharmacy where people pick up medicine after their consultation. I have been impressed at how quickly the turn-around is. During the mornings, there are a lot of people around and waiting in line for a consoltation may take some time, but today for instance, there weren't many people around and I watched a woman walk right into the CSE into the consulltation room and then into the pharmacy to get the medicine and leave again. The whole process didn't take more than 10 minutes. There is also a room called "epicentre" which is a mini laboratory/immunization area. Someone from the city comes up on weekdays to work there. I have also seen the head doctor/my supervisor conduct wound cleanings and dressings in that room.
     
       Saturday and Sunday are my days off. Last Saturday, I cleaned my home with the help of some boys in town. We moved all the stuff from one room into the other and cleaned the ceiling and walls free of cobwebs, dust and bugs. Thankfullly, there are not too many creatures around the homestead. My favorite thus far has been a spider as large as my hand (don't worry, I had some boys kill it) and cockroaches in my latrine. I bought some insect powder to kill them but I'm pretty sure they're immune to the stuff. The bugs still freak me out at night in my house but I'll have to get used to it. This is the winter season after all. Just wait until the summer for the big creatures to come out of hibernation EEK what am I doing in Africa? I detest buggies. Oh well.

         On Sunday, I went to the market. I took one of the magori's sons with me to bargain and make sure I knew where the heck I was going. We took a bush-taxi from this village to the market town. We met up with Carolyn, a volunteer in a close-by village. It was nice to see her and to speak some English :). We got egg sandwiches (such a treat) and shopped around. I mostly bought spices and fresh vegetables (both of which I can't get at my site) as well as a big tabarma mat for the floor, flipflops (I need to start going easy on Birkies, they're too loved) and a little lantern to put by my stove at night when I'm cooking. All in all, it was a very successful day. It was just Carolyn and I this time, but I think we're going to make it a Sunday tradition for everyone in this area of Maradi to go into market. It will be nice to catch up after a week, eat some sandwich koys (egg), and buy fresh vegetables.

Hausa Vocabulary for BES kiddos
town mayor/leader: magori
medicine: magani
fever: allura
pregnancy: haihuwa
mat: tabarma
egg: koy (prounced qu-why)