Barnaby in Morocco - January to June 1997
TAROUDANT
Having originally planned to work elsewhere this summer, our thoughts
for Taroudant didn't start until May. Daisy Conroy, Charlotte Phillips,
and I wanted some overseas voluntary work in July and August, and
with the previous St. David's group leaving at the beginning of
July, the timing was right for us to spend the summer in Taroudant.
I think the Trust was keen to use this opportunity to try out the
summer months, which had previously been thought of as too short
and too hot for a group to work.
A week prior to departure, three became four as Alfie Gathorne-Hardy
was accepted by the Trust. A few communication problems meant that
we were able to speak only twice on the phone before meeting at
Luton airport, very early in the morning, Monday 1st July; too early
for more than a few grunted hellos. However, we had a day and a
half of plane, bus, boat and train journeys ahead, by the end of
which we were all fairly well acquainted.
The journey was either scattered with problems, or a bit of an
adventure, depending on your nervous disposition. I was searched
in Luton airport under the suspicion of carrying an eight inch knife,
delaying us to within minutes of missing the plane. The ferry really
did fill up before it left, and filling up took us about three hours
past the advertised time of departure. This presented us with the
problem of having about 15 minutes in Tangier to find the train
station, and meant that we missed out on our meal in the mystery
cafe. Daisy and Charlotte then proceeded to make no friends in the
train at all, with their hearty renditions of songs learnt last
summer whilst working in Croatia. I thought I had made a friend
with an American traveller, to whom I lent DH200 for his train ticket,
only to find, or rather not find him at all at the other end where
he had very believingly promised to return the money. At Marrakech,
David and the Land Rover were a sight for sore and tired eyes, and
in his capable hands, the rest of the journey was fun, easy and
if you overlook David locking the keys in the boot at our lunch-stop,
incident-free.
WORK
Following a few days of acclimatisation, and general feet-finding,
the necessary introductions and explanations were made to the Delege,
Mr. Tome, and his staff at the orphanage. Our arrival conveniently
coincided with the previous groups, so with Alice and Cathy we were
able to leave any formalities behind and meet the staff on much
more of a social level.
Initially the older children were still in school for most of the
day, so we spent the first week or so getting to know the younger
children, and putting together some projects that could be completed
during our stay. Outside the orphanage we set to work on our Arabic,
and to a lesser extent, our French. After about ten days, we had
acquired a very basic understanding, and keen to put the hours in
at the orphanage instead of in front of a blackboard, we stopped
the lessons. However, Arabic lessons never stop in Morocco, they
just take different forms, and needless to say, our Arabic did continue
to improve slightly. However, although with the younger children
it was not so noticeable, our relative lack of Arabic proved to
be a problem when communicating with the older children. As with
groups of children the world over, their behavior was often dictated
by the actions of the naughtiest individual, and we were soon to
be labelled as a soft touch; especially when put in the context
of traditional Moroccan child-minding. For this not to become a
label that sticks with St. David's volunteers, I think a greater
grasp of at least a few choice disciplinary phrases is needed.
In retrospect, this small problem helped to steer us towards our
first project. This was to do some maintenance work on the play
group. We uprooted and replanted three small palms, the sharp pointed
leaves of which could have caused some injury. This took more effort
than that one sentence does justice to, but only because, fresh
from English classrooms and lecture theatres, we had a sun-slowed
work-rate. We also removed all lower branches from the other trees
and bushes in the playground. We then set to work repainting the
shelter following the advice of Hammed that this should be done
every six months. The children naturally wanted to join in what
was probably the biggest colouring-in game they had seen, so we
restricted our painting sessions to pre 9.00am and the afternoon
siesta.
In financial terms, our main project was the framing of 7 new posters
in Agadir. We then had to secure them firmly to the walls of the
orphanage, as the falling weight would, I imagine, prove fatal.
It was agreed afterwards that in future, it would be better not
to bother with the glass cover, which, whilst no doubt lengthening
their lives, adds considerably to the weight and cost of the pictures.
We repaired the carts used for transporting the washing, and provided
a new length of hose-pipe, to eliminate the jigsaw puzzle of metal
and plastic previously required when watering the garden.
Day to day, we tried to split the children into small groups of
4-5, and spend their attention span of about 20-30 minutes drawing,
colouring, doing jigsaw puzzles, and any other stimulating activity
we could think of. This was made easier when we were joined by five
French scouts for two weeks. The children left in the playground,
whilst their friends were whisked away to benches and quiet corners,
were vociferous in their objections, so one of us would stay with
them as 'entertainer'. Unfortunately pencils and books are much
more fun to a 3/4 year old as weapons, and it was especially during
these activities that we would have been vastly aided by a larger
repertoire of Arabic phrases.
TIME OFF
If, at the end of our working weeks batteries needed recharging,
then we used the time from the lunch time Mosque on Friday till
Monday morning to leave Taroudant and sample other parts of southern
Morocco. These included weekends spent in Agadir with Hassan's family,
on the beach in Essaouira, and the desert trip to M'Hamid. For the
desert trip, we asked Mr. Tome for Friday and Monday off and, with
enough notice, this was no problem. Those involved with the Trust
know that most students will take time off from their work to travel
to other parts of Morocco. To the greater extent this is respected;
there is sill cause for some diplomacy in the manner in which this
is approached. Whilst loudmouthing about travels to distant parts
is potentially damaging to relationships in town, so is unnecessary
secrecy. The Trust has experienced little, if any, trouble of this
kind but, nevertheless, awareness should prove useful.
Time-off in Taroudant proved to be a source of a lot of good friends.
We met Hassan during our first week in Taroudant, and he was to
be a very good friend to all of us during our stay. Twice we went
to Agadir and stayed with his family who were all very kind and
amongst whom we had a lot of fun. Kacem came south from Khemmiset
for about ten days. Daisy and I were lucky enough to stop over at
his family house for a couple of days on our way to Gibraltar. Once
again we received tremendous hospitality and were very sad to leave.
We made good friends with Karima who works at the orphanage; she
invited us all for supper with the French scouts, Abdel-Krim and
some of their friends. It was a wonderful evening and it proved
very helpful to have Karima as a stronger link with the orphanage.
For instance, she helped us organise a couscous evening at the main
house, for the other women working at the orphanage. This was a
great success provided that the married women can get back to their
families at a reasonable hour (whatever that is).
My inquiries into possible football games led me to the corner
of the souq where the barbers' shops meet the fashion stalls. There,
Hassan (an Arabic-only speaking goalkeeper) and his friend Mohammed
who speaks fluent French, organise practices on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays at 6.00am, and their team plays matches regularly. I
joined an early morning practice, and then was asked, as they had
many injury problems, if I wanted to play in the team. The away
match, played amongst goats and watermelon fields was such a fantastic
experience that it didn't seem to matter that we lost 8-0.
Hammed's bamboo place provided a very tranquil place to have tea,
see how the house was coming on, say hello to his dogs, and catch
up on news. It was good to have him over to the main house for supper
and some fierce games of uno, which were always won by one of the
Mohammeds.
Any section on time-off in Taroudant would be incomplete without
a mention of the team at the main house. Abdel-Krim was a very thorough
Arabic teacher, and I'm sorry if we made too much noise at the back
of the classroom. He helped with a lot of organisation, and without
whom many of our ideas might have fallen at the first hurdle. Big
and Small Mohammeds were magicians in their ability to continually
serve delights from the kitchen, and so save us from exhaustion
from the sun and children. Many hours were passed listening to Big
Mohammed's tales and insights; I could never grow tired of his relaxed
presence.
And David. Well, none of this would have been possible but for
his tireless hard work often into the small hours of the morning,
and driving ridiculous distances. But it is the special care that
goes into the organisation of it all, so that everyone enjoys themselves
and gains something from their time in Morocco, that makes the difference.
But then I'm probably biased.
B.D.B.D. October 1997
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