The Big Announcement

Yesterday the 40 members of my "stage" traveled from our small training communities to the city of Ouarzazate, our training hub site. In the morning we presented health lessons, in our local language, that we developed based on an issue identified during the community analysis portion of training. Issues ranged from waste management, to diabetes, to hydration, to nutrition, to hygiene, to traffic safety. Lessons included demonstrations, songs, posters, group activities, and drama geared to people of varying ages and education levels. It was amazing how many great ideas could be learned just from other trainees.

Site announcements were held in the afternoon and nerves were high as we waited to hear where in Morocco we would be calling home for the next two years of our lives. In an effort to calm our nerves we decided to hold a silent rave prior to the announcement. The members of the staj, and even a few of our language teachers, could be seen dancing wildly on the roof of the hotel, each to our own music.

Sites were announced by province, with volunteers spread out across 9 provinces. The diversity of landscape and geography in Morocco made the announcements all the more suspenseful. Volunteers will be living and working in the desert, in the mountains, near the beach and everywhere in between.

After 6 weeks in-country, I finally know where I will be serving. My site is one of the most Northern of the group, located in the Boulmane Province. It’s a community of 2000 people, located in the Mid-atlas Mountains, about two and a half hours from Fes.

While there are still several weeks of training left, tomorrow I will travel to my site, and visit my new home stay family, with whom I will be staying for the first 3 months of my service. I’ll have the opportunity to meet local officials, visit the sbitar (health clinic), and talk to current PCVs in the Province about the projects they are working on. I’m incredibly excited to finally explore my new home and to meet the people I will be living, working and sharing my life with. If my current training site is any indication of the people, places and experiences I have to look forward to, the next two years will be absolutely amazing.