It's good to be back in site.I recently returned from a regional meeting (that included Health, Environment, Small Business Development, and Youth Development volunteers from two provinces). It's good and bad to be home. It's good because all of the contact with other volunteers had led me to developing (or spreading...don't know which one) a pretty nasty cold that requires me to stay put in site for a while. It's also bad because I just found out that good friend of mine is having a birthday celebration down south (Tata Province) this weekend and I would love to be there to celebrate with her. But, as always, the positives surpass the negatives...
Winter break (for schools begins today/tomorrow) so there will be children galour for the coming week or so, which means that it is a perfect time for me to do the week long tooth brushing curriculum that I have been working on/planning and to gather materials for the health club at the middle school. I also have quite a few things that I need to site down and do (reports,be a reader for nominations from the National Abolition Hall of Fame, etc.) The point is...I'm back in site after a great week of productive work, meeting to discuss upcoming projects (with PCVs and Moroccan organizations), lots of good conversations (in English), and sleeping on many different surfaces (which is the Peace Corps way).
Although Peace Corps is a pretty unconventional job...it's still a job where mini-conferences are sometimes needed. Here is a brief overview of our schedule/what we talked about at this last regional meeting.
Saturday
Afternoon arrival—Snacks
4:00-6:00 – Introductions, Team Building, Schedule Check, Assigning Responsibilities (e.g. timekeeper)
7:00pm – Dinner
Sunday
8:00-9:00am – Breakfast
9:00-10:00am – Project Updates / General Q&A Session
10:00-10:45am – Working With Associations (Cory & Melissa)
10:45-11:00am – Break
11:15-12:00am – Gender Relations in Morocco (Felicia)
12:00-2:00pm – Lunch Break
2:00-2:45pm – Health/Sports/Yoga Club (Wes)
2:45-3:15pm – Nomad Health Hikes (Hanna)
3:15-3:45pm – Women’s Leadership Conference (Amber)
3:45-4:15pm – Region-wide Event Small Group/Sector Brainstorming
4:15-4:45pm – Tea Break
4:45-5:15pm – Boundary Setting/Clear Communication (Kaytea)
5:15-6:00pm – Wrap-up / Evaluations / Tentative Plans for Next Meeting
7:30pm – Dinner
Monday
8:00-9:00am – Breakfast
9:00-10:00am – Departure
In particular, I found the "how to work with associations" session to be one of the most helpful sessions. Associations are usually small organizations within each community. In rural areas, usually each town has an association and (outside of the sbitar-health center- and schools) they are one of the main governing bodies that PCVs work with. In my area, most of the associations are inactive, so I have to find other venues to work through. But associations, that are active, often have elected officials and meet regularly to discuss the needs of the community. They also have some sort of funds for community activities and tend to have motivated individuals at the head (who are willing to coordinate projects and whatnot). Although, like any organizations, there are associations that can be defunct or corrupt, they serve as a sustainable venue to perform projects through by helping to provide capacity building skills to association members so that projects and skills can continue to grow after a PCV has left the community. An example is a waste-management project that two volunteers in my area are doing. They worked with an association and their local sbitar staff to gain support for better waste management which has resulted in an unused landfill being re-groomed, the purchase of a trash motorcycle that will be run by the association/commune, several trash pick-up events and education have been implemented, tons of community meetings have been held, and tras bins/barrels have been placed around the community. The hope is that once the volunteers leave, the association and town will continue to contribute (financially and logistically) to make sure that trash is better managed and therefore less diseases (especially those transmitted by flies and rats) will occur.
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