Laying a Foundation, Starting to Build

What exactly have I been doing the last six months? It’s a good question but not one I’ve been very good about answering. I’ve realized lately that I’ve been pretty negligent in keeping people up to date on what I’ve been doing at my site since I arrived. Here is an explanation of the work I’m doing and what’s been going on in my home in the Mid-Atlas Mountains of Morocco. If you are looking for an exciting blog entry, this isn’t it! If you’re interested in better understanding where I am in the Peace Corps process, and exactly what I’ve been doing for the past six months, read on.

The first three months in my site, May through July, were really about laying a solid foundation for my service. Forming relationships, establishing myself in my community, gathering information, and developing my language skills were the primary goals. Peace Corps defines this time as the “Community Assessment” period. The idea is that in order to be involved in successful projects, volunteers must have a deep understanding of the community they are living in and be well-respected by community members. The first part of my community assessment focused on understanding my site as a whole. I needed to gather information on things like population, demographics, water and sanitation, transportation, local authorities, health services, schools, and local businesses.

The second part of my community assessment looked at health issues as they relate to the community as a whole. My technical job title here is Community Health Educator so in my community assessment I set out to understand what health issues exist in my site, how those health issues relate to the community as a whole, what factors contribute to these issues, and what resources exist in the community to promote good health. A large portion of my time was spent at the community health clinic, visiting local schools and talking to community members. I made visual assessments of the physical environment, made observations of patients and procedures at the local health clinic, and asked a lot of questions to the doctor, nurses, teachers and community members about health in the community. I officially work for the Moroccan Ministry of Health, so time was also spent developing relationships with staff at the provincial Ministry of Health and learning about local and national health priorities and initiatives.

Throughout the process I took note of resources that could potentially be utilized. For example a well-staffed local health clinic; the existence of functioning Associations, both men and women’s; schools; as well as a successful weaving cooperative are all assets to the community. Beyond that, great potential lies in the educated individuals and spirit of community activism that already exists in my site. Peace Corps projects are oriented towards facilitation and capacity building within a community and should be sustainable after the volunteer leaves. No project can or should be carried out in isolation by the volunteer, so having good local counterparts to work with within the community is essential.

In the past three months I have started to build on the foundation I laid during the first three months and have begun to utilize the many existing resources in my community. Health issues such as diarrhea, skin and eye infections, poor dental health, and illness related to poor nutrition were identified within the community. To address these issues, I built on the work of past Peace Corps volunteers to develop a health curriculum for the local schools with lessons on hygiene and sanitation, nutrition, and dental hygiene. With the help of the local principal and teachers I will begin teaching formalized health lessons this month.

Maternal and Child Health was also identified as a serious concern within my community and is considered a top national priority by the Moroccan Ministry of Health. I’ve used connections at the local health clinic and associations to start a Maternal and Child Health peer-education group. So far four training classes have been completed, addressing issues such as nutrition and hygiene during pregnancy and the importance of pre-natal exams. Over the next two months, in partnership with the head of the local women’s association, the training of the first group peer-educators will be completed and the program will expand to surrounding villages (inchallah).

The next step in the process will be monitoring and evaluating current projects, expanding existing programs, and potentially planning and implementing new community health projects. While the community assessment period was officially the first three months in site, it will be an on-going process. Throughout the remainder of my service I will continue to learn about my community, develop new relationships and partnerships, and improve on my language skills. I have learned so much over the past six months and have formed really wonderful relationships with people in my community. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next 18 months of my service brings.

To Eat or Not to Eat: Meat

When I made the choice to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, I knew that certain sacrifices would have to be made. Giving up being a vegan was one of those sacrifices. Living in a small rural village there is no access to soy milk or tofu, or health food stores stocked full of veggie burgers. I determined early on that eggs and milk would be necessary to stay healthy during my service and I have had no qualms about switching to being a vegetarian.

While I made the choice to eat eggs and milk during my service, it was very important to me to stay vegetarian. I haven’t eaten meat since I was four years old, and my concern for the treatment of animals is a big part of who I am. Since coming to Morocco I’ve made changes in my appearance and behavior to show respect for my community and have embraced many aspects of Moroccan culture. Being a vegetarian was one very important piece of me that I could maintain.

While not eating meat has been met with surprise or confusion in many cases, Moroccans have been overall very understanding of this difference. Some people even make vegetarian dishes if I’m coming over now. We were warned during training about the possibility of it being culturally offensive not to eat meat but after several months of benign reactions to my vegetarianism, I became confident that it wasn’t a big deal. I maintained this confidence until a few weeks ago.

It was a cold, rainy day and I was hiking over the mountains with another Peace Corps volunteer to a very remote part of my site. I’m hoping to do some work there and have been trying to establish relationships with people. After about three hours of hiking we were cold and very muddy. From the distance we heard a man yelling for us to come inside and drink tea. We veered off the path towards the man and gladly accepted the offer.

We were taken into a small one-room home with a miniature wood burning stove stationed in the middle. The house was warm and comfortable and we sat down gratefully in front of the fire. We spent time with two men and two women drinking hot, sugary tea. When they heard that I’m involved in health work one of the couples shared that they had lost a young child recently. I took the opportunity to discuss some aspects of maternal and child health with them and ways to stay healthy during pregnancy, delivery, and post-delivery that I have been teaching in a Maternal and Child Health class. Afterwards they told me, “You are always welcome here; we are family now.” It was a perfect situation in my mind. I made new contacts, did some impromptu health education, and had a highly enjoyable afternoon with some great Moroccans.

A little while later one of the women left the room and went outside. Before I knew it there were feathers flying in the air outside of the door. I covered my face with my hands; I knew exactly what was happening.

The family had killed one of their chickens for me, a hugely generous gesture. My heart started beating faster. I thought I was just coming in for tea, and these people had no idea I didn’t eat meat, what was I going to do? It was already dead and there was no way to leave. The woman proceeded to pluck the feathers and brought the chicken inside to prepare. I turned away to avoid the bloody process. Thoughts were racing through my head. Being a vegetarian is who I am, and if I eat meat now they’ll expect me to eat it again when I come back, I don’t want to do that. If I eat meat after being a vegetarian for such a long time I’ll probably get sick, how will I hike back over the mountains if I’m sick? These people killed a chicken to welcome me into their home and to show their respect for me, how can I disrespect them by not eating it? It was the first time in 20 years that I contemplated eating meat.

We waited as the chicken cooked. Back and forth I went in my mind. Finally the chicken was served in the traditional communal fashion. A loaf of bread was torn and distributed. While the others dove into the chicken, I began eating the bread plain, knowing full-well that it wouldn’t go unnoticed for long.

“Eat!” They told me. “Why aren’t you eating? Eat!” I hesitated. “I don’t eat meat,” I finally said. “What do you mean you don’t eat meat? Eat!” I explained that I’m a vegetarian in the US and that I’m a vegetarian in Morocco. There was clear disapproval and disappointment. The chicken was finished in silence as I tried to eat as much as I could of the bread. Suddenly one of the men declared, “You ate nothing!” I tried to explain that I had eaten a lot of bread and drank a lot of tea, but I was interrupted. “No, you ate nothing.” I felt guilt wash over me like a wave. I had been afraid that not eating the meat would be offensive and it was.

When it was finally time to hike back, the family again emphasized that I was welcome in their home and that I was a part of their family. I felt relieved that they still had a positive image of me but the guilt continued to weigh heavily. Since that day I have gone back over that experience in my mind many times, and I still don’t know if I made the right choice. While under most circumstances here it’s acceptable to abstain, in those situations where it can be offensive not to graciously accept a kind gesture, the question remains: To eat or not to eat meat?