Why are we driven to Volunteer?

One of the reasons I came to the Peace Corps is because I felt the impulse to place my concerns on the shelf and help those with more pressing issues than I. With the creation of this Blog Website to chronicle my process, I have had numerous individuals commenting on my website about how they too wish they would have joined the Peace Corps. However, being a Peace Corps Volunteer is just a name given to those who desire to help the less fortunate. Moreover, we are each given an opportunity to help others in need, and it is truly a gift to be placed in a position where you can aid others. So, I would say those that are annointed with this impluse, that there are other ways to show your support.

Now as you might imagine, the world news travels alittle bit slower to me here in this small village of Morocco. And it is a rare opportunity that I reach the internet or therefore have access to an english journal. However, just the other day I found an english newspaper crumbed in the waste-bin of some restaurant. And as I began to read the featured article, my eyes began to unconsciencously flood with the breaking of each sentence. I'm talking, of course, about the recent tragedies happening in Louisiana.

My first reaction was "helplessness", as I sat there with no phone or way to immediately communicate with my friends/family. I became somewhat angry with myself, as I was a prime example of why Americans should be spending more time tending to the problems on their own domestic soil, rather than trying to uproot the international ones. I couldn't help but contemplate my existence, as I sit here in Morocco, placing 2+ years of my life in the poorest parts of a 3rd world country, when my own homeland is being struck with one of its worst natural diasasters since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

As I think more about this tragedy, I can't help but recount the words of my childhood friend, who once said to me, "Something that has always puzzled me all my life is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on whom I have no claim."

"Life is Calling. How far will you go?"

In addition to this print ad and others, the Peace Corps has launched a brand new recruiting campaign. It's my opinion, that they have successfully replaced the 1960's hippy stereotype and given it a bit of a face-lift, which is only about 50 years past due. (it's government though, so what do you expect)

I just saw the commerical, and it's pretty good, I must say. They casted Matthew McConaughey to do the voice-over work. Here is a direct weblink if you'd like to watch the commerical... http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.psaShowVideo&vd=psaE&bwd=whbe

(Transcript)

How far would you go to help someone?
Would you go to the end of your driveway?
Would you cross a street?
Would you cross an ocean?
To a place 6,000 miles from home?

And how long would you go?

Would you go for a week?
A month?
A year?
Would you go for 2 years?
Would you go if you could use your knowledge to teach someone and, in the process, maybe learn something yourself?

Life is calling...

How far will you go?

It's September 11th, dare I say "Happy" Anniversary?

Today marks my 1 year Anniversary with the Peace Corps service, and I can now comfortably say to you: That although the Peace Corps may seem like it's blowing wind up your skirt with their commonly coined phrase, "It's the hardest job you'll ever love", in reality it is as perfect of a phrase as any with regard to this experience.

So, as I close in on the half way point of this adventure, I thought I would take a brief moment to reflect on what I've learned thus far...

• I've learned how easy it is for Moroccans to "comfortably" accomidate 8 (full-sized) men and 2 (live) lambs into a Mercedes Benz.
• I've learned that Marrakech is as much a hand-holding city as San Francisco, as it's customary for men of all ages to embrace eachother in this manner.
• I've learned how easy it is to lose 55lbs in a year's time, by eating 95% carbohydrates.
• I've learned that it's better to have a dead carcus of a lamb hanging outside your bedroom door, than it is to have assisted in the process of de-bowling it.
• I've learned that a typical Moroccan home consists of; 3 windows, 2 doors, 1 kitchen, 1 bed, 1 lamp, 4 cats, 7 girls, and 3 boys.
• I've learned to adapt my eyes to viewing a Muslim woman fully covered, but how I'm still far away from my eyes' adaptation to the ironic nature of this same Muslim woman fully covered during one of her very public breast-feedings.
• I've learned how utterly useless movie "coming attractions" are here in Morocco, since by the time the Director says "it's a wrap", these same movies will have already been selling in Marrakech for only $2 dollars.

On a more serious note...

Today, September 11th, will now wear an even heavier patriotic star on my soul than that of our Independence Day. Having experienced the tragedy of 9/11, and being introduced to Arab/Muslims in a manner that was only fueled by hatred and fear, and then four years to the day I find myself willingly on a plane aimed for Morocco.

It's my hope that by the completion of my Peace Corps experience, I will not only have accomplished the statements of our late President Kennedy's final State of the Union address when he said, "Nothing carries the spirit of American idealism and expresses our hopes better and more effectively to the far corners of the earth than the Peace Corps", but I will return to my home soil with a newly found understanding of Arab/Muslims' peaceful ideals and hopes for the future, and begin to rebuild what was once brought to ruins.

SBD Project ("Help potters with new designs")...

So, this is one of my current 4 potters that I am beginning to work with here in Amizmiz. And if you have been reading some of my previous posts, than you should already know that one of my first projects (delegated by the ministry in charge of the artisan sector of Marrakech) has asked that I assist these potters with new designs. In my site of Amizmiz, there are close to around 300+ potters, and the following examples of their pottery is identical across all 300+ potters. This particular gentleman is named Hassan. Hassan has been a potter for most all his life, and lives in the mud homes on the crest of the Middle Atlas Mountainside there in Amizmiz. The hole behind him is the area that he uses to fire his pottery.

And here is a common example of Amizmiz pottery. It's unfinished and fairly simple to make. They are created in parts, as they basically create two bowl shapes, then later attach the two ontop of eachother. These pots take about 10 minutes to make and their wholesale price is about 1-4 dirhams ($0.10 - $0.40).

Here are a few of the other samples of Amizmiz pottery. Again, this is about the extent of the pottery designs. There's one potter, Mohamed Boumlik, who is fairly innovative, but that's only 0.001% of the potters at my site.

As you may have read earlier, I was planning to take a few of my potters to this Imichil Festival that I have been talking about since last January. Unfortunately, I was not authorized to go. I was not authorized to go because I didn't really have a reason to go as it turned out. After discussing with my potters, the Imichil Festival and the task on their part to come up with 3 new designs based on my 30 conceptual design sketches, they failed on their commitment to me. So, after providing them with 3 weeks to simply come up with concepts that we could later tweak, they didn't even come up with anything!

I was fairly disappointed and niave in my automatic assumptions that they would simply produce the new designs I set out for them. On time, and without fuss. So, now my disappointment has turned into a new optimism, because I now see this as just another part of the process of Peace Corps. It's a challenge, and if overcome, it's a success story. So, I took a step back and a deep breathe in order to organize my approach. I returned to meet with these potters again, and they explained to me that the time they take away for new R&D (research and development) is time taken away from their staple income. That's a no brainer that I didn't even consider. But, I assumed with the Delegation meeting with them and my explaination about the benefits of moving into new marketplaces, that they would immediate pick up on the idea and run with it without hesitation.

But, when I began to think more about it, it's my belief that these potters have a nightly pressure placed on them to sell their work. They desprately need to sell their work in order to provide for themselves and their family. At the moment, they don't see the value in coming up with new designs. They are, for all sense and purpose, just labors that manufacture products dictated to them by their current market. They aren't "artisans" per say, with the freedom for creation. They are subjected to these designs for economic reasons. So, when I come to them and say, "Okay, we're going to do new designs". The first thing they think of is "time versus money". In retrospect, I wish they would have just told me earlier so I could deal with it headon, since I had to cancel reservations made to place them at the Imichil Festival. But, then again, it's their culture to just say, "Yes, okay, this is good". They're not like most Americans, in forwarding their opinions.

So, at the moment, the work with the potters is on hold. I need to reflect about what I will do next. This isn't the Peace Corps way to use your own pocket change, but I'm contemplating the action of just paying for the new design concepts (materials and labor) with my own funds. Then, hopefully these new designs will pay for themselves in the future with the retail price placed on them. Just like when I was selling software at Oracle and Unisys, the potential customer that you're trying to persuade with your product is somewhat wearing on investing in an unproven product. I need to make some small successes, which is why I'm willing to place my own funds into R&D.

Another challenge that I'll quickly talk about it, is the skill level of the collective potter community, the availability of funds/tools, and finally the quality of the clay veins found in Amizmiz. Each category of this challenge is sub-par. I need to develop a design(s) that aren't too much of a stretch for my potters, while still creating a product that can be sold in the outer markets of Amizmiz. So, just like in basketball, if you're the coach of a team, then you need to do the best with the players that you have. I need to not so much enforce my designs, as to work with them to come up with a reasonable product that will accomplish our collective goals.

It's all a learning process, but I find that I can draw upon other expiences to guide me in my decisions. ;)

Essaouira (escaping the heat of Marrakech)

Essaouria - untitled

Essaouira (Summer, 2005) 

Villa de Skala - Essaouira (Summer, 2005) 

Rabat re-visited...

From time to time us Peace Corps volunteers have to go to Rabat in order to visit the Peace Corps Morocco Headquarters. So, I took alittle time to do the tourist thing, and stepping onto the other side of the camera for a change. This is in front of the King Hassan Tomb.

This is within the King Hassan Tomb, where in a marble casing lays the body of the King. In the corner there, you have a holyman praying over the body.

This is really cool! They have Royal Guards on horses that stand at the gate. The horses are in sand, as to not damage their legs from standing so long, which were very well tamed.

From the King Hassan Tomb, this is a shot of the Hassan Mosque.

What does a Moroccan look like?

...and what shade of skin color defines you as a Moroccan?

To be completely honest with you, a person's shade of skin color does and does not play a role here in Moroccan society. I say that it "does play a role here", because it's my experience that Moroccans immediate catagorize you by skin color. Not separate you in a way of "isolation and bigitry", but just sort of know that you're not one of them. And if you're of pale or white or red skin tones, than you're almost immediately from "France". If that doesn't seem to fit, than you're almost certainly "German". And if that doesn't compute, and you're speaking english, than you must be "British". The last thing Moroccans believe you are is "American". And they're always shocked when you give them this information.

Now it's a given that this country is "Arab". And being "Arab", there's an immediate image that comes into my mind if you're trying to picture what an "Arab" might look like. And even to this day, my ignorance continues when it comes to deciphering the many Asian "looks". But, because we are in "Morocco", there's still a very rich Berber influence. And because of this, the color of a "Moroccan" can vary. Berbers have many shades amoungst them, and I have even seen blue-eyed and blond haired Berbers. Now, as most Americans can agree, we are a melting pot of skin colors. So, I think we tend to pick out the non-Americans by notice of their speach, and secondly by their choice of dress. If we as Americans were just to pick out someone by skin tone alone, than we'd be in trouble.

As for me here in Morocco, I arrive to Morocco with a very average skin tone. I have my own personal issues to deal with here as an American of "color", and I won't go into the fine details of this just yet. I can just say, that my experience(s) as an American of "color", has been both bad as well as good. But, this whole topic of "skin" color was certainly recognizable at the TIMITAR Festival in Agadir...

During the TIMITAR Festival, it was the first time since swearing in on December 3rd that I had a chance to see my fellow (light skin toned) SBD Peace Corps volunteers speaking and interacting with the Moroccans. I can't tell you how cool it was to just sit back and watch these Peace Corps volunteers speak to the Moroccans (primarily Berbers) and just watch their mouths drop when they spoke to them in their native tough! I personally don't get this "mouth dropping" when I speak, due to the fact the Moroccans here just assume I'm Moroccan too. So, during the festival, I would just sit back and watch. Regardless of their skin color, their language bonded them together, and the "Americans" were not singled out as time went on. It makes me proud to see my fellow SBD Peace Corps volunteers speaking a language that is idenifiably not their own. And at the same time, it's good not to be a French person who just comes to Morocco and speaks their own native tough that the Moroccans adapted to since 1912 during the French Protectorate.

So, as I move quickly away from these philosophic and social topics, I'll just share with you some pictures with my fellow SBD Peace Corps volunteers interacting with the Moroccans...

Laura (a.k.a. "Lo" & "Hashak") - Region of Tafrout

Brian - Region of Kelaat M’gouna

Victoria - Region of Imichil 

Andy... (a.k.a. "Georgia") - Region of Tinjdad 

Cybele - Region of Marrakech

TIMITAR (Berber) Festival - Agadir

Hereafter are a few words on what I've been doing over this summer. As well, as what I will be doing in the upcoming future...

During the "Nomadic Caravan" to Agadir, hosted by ATA, I was able to survey the various challenges and rewards that artisans face while selling their work at these craft fairs. As a Peace Corps volunteer, without an artist, it was my role to assist wherever possible, and to learn all that I can about these Nomadic Caravans and how they could benefit my group of artisans.

During the TIMITAR Festival in Agadir, I had the opportunity to cooperate with the local artisans from the many remote villages that Peace Corps volunteers are placed in. I had the opportunity to see the various crafts that are presented throughout Morocco, but are unseen in my site of Amizmiz. This provided me the opportunity to see what is selling in the marketplace, and allow me to understand the requirements needed for my artisans to sell at these types of venues.

As an added bonus, ATA offered me training with regard to costing & pricing, booth display, sales techniques, product development, trends, and consumers relations. This was the first time I had participated in the production of a craft fair, so the training and experience gained was unmeasurable. This experience was truly helpful in allowing me to comprehend what it will take for my artisans in Amizmiz to compete in this very attainable marketplace. Unfortunately, at the moment, my artisans in Amizmiz are subjected to many obstacles that might prevent them from entering this rich marketplace. It is will my hope that I can bridge this gap, and help them realize these prosperous opportunities found at the various craft fairs held throughout Morocco.

My next steps are to find an artisan(s) in my village of Amizmiz, that has the capabilities and motivation to participate as a member of these Nomadic Caravans. My goal is to bring an Amizmiz artisan to one of these future craft fairs (Imichil Festival on August 23rd), and thus provide the same type of training and experience to them as the other Peace Corps volunteers had for their respective artisans.

TIMITAR Festival in Agadir...
So, coming off a very successful Kelaat M’gouna Rose festival, we packed up our belongings and set off for our next destination on the Nomadic Caravan. After much consideration, the ATA staff decided that the second stop of the Nomadic Caravan would be that of Agadir, a southern touristy city in Morocco. As it was, the Berber Moroccan community was also organizing their second annual Festival in Agadir, which is entitled TIMITAR. This year’s festival was held from July 2nd to July 9th, 2005.

In despite of the expected low income tourists visiting the city and the low income population of the city, we found that the marketplace really offers the best classroom. Agadir's crowd offered no "pity sales." i.e. the people that bought products bought them because they were interested in the product, rather than in the idea of helping artisans. We found this to be a very valuable reality check for the artisans. The cheaper crowd and harder sales, gave us an opening to go over costing and pricing and product development in a very tangible way.

At the opening ceremony, the festival aficionados sampled an exceptional menu as the African, Arab and Tamazight cultures met in a unique moment of cultures symbiosis. The Amazigh, or free men, were the inhabitants of most of North Africa before the Arab era.In a distinctive fusion of M'balax, folk and blues, the Senegalese singer Isma‘l spoke racism, poverty and famine and chanted peace and tolerance.The emotion-filled voice of "The African Bob Dylan" charmed the local and foreign music lovers who converged on the Al-Amal Square.Rhythms ascended as "Oudaden" band went on the scene to feature some of their repertoire.

We began with a 25 square meter space and were able to augment it to 75 total square meters by the end of the show. With some negotiation, we were able to take over two other tents halfway through the festival.

We represented a total of twenty-one different artisans/artisan groups. Three of those groups were handicapped (both mentally and physically) and nine were composed solely of women. Only two of the groups were unable to contribute in some way to the costs of transport, food and lodging in some way. Twelve of the groups were totally self funded. Total sales for the festival were 66,354 dh, which is approximately $7,500.

We did one-on-one training with nearly all of the artisan groups. During the trainings we went over the business strengths and weaknesses, costing and pricing, targeting markets, product development, and business planning for the future. The training notes will be summarized and used as a building block for future conversations with the artisans. Thus, when we meet with them at future craft fairs we can follow-up on the Agadir conversations and measure progress.

ATA staff encouraged the artisans/artisan groups to go out into the city of Agadir in order to make other business contacts and sell their wares. This idea was met with enthusiasm. Many groups made contacts and three groups were able to conclude sizeable sales counting for 24 percent of our total sales figure.

Present for the trainings were nine Peace Corps volunteers (including myself) who were also able to benefit from our information sessions and take those trainings back to their sites and respective artisans. We also held a separate lunch meeting with the PCVs and two other mentors working with the handicapped artisans from Tinghir. During this meeting we spoke about how they can help us help the artisans.

The feedback from the craft fair was very positive, both on the part of ATA, the artisans, and the participating Peace Corps volunteers. Next stop on the Nomadi Caravan is the Imichil Festival on August 23rd. More about this particular festival can be found here... http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0501/feature4/index.html

Sponsoring the organization, participation, and funded of these "Nomadic Caravans" are such International Organizations as;

* Peace Corps (www.peacecorps.gov)

* US AID - U.S. Agency for International Development (www.usaid.gov)

* ATA - Aid to Artisans (www.aidtoartisans.org)