Greetings Family!
As most of you know Melissa is serving in the Peace Corps and is currently in Morocco. For any of you who has not seen a copy of her recent email where she gives some details about her adventures there, here's a reprint.
We are all proud of Melissa and her work in the Peace Corps.
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From: Melissa Kimbrell [mjkimbrell@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 6:32 PM
Subject: Well hello there
So I apologize for being so MIA lately. I have finally over come the epic battle to obtaining a house to live in for the next two years. I found out that women never really live alone in Morocco, outside of all of the volunteers here, and that it really isn't taken lightly for a female to do so. Actually, let me rephrase that and say that the cities of Morocco probably have some women that live an independent
lifestyle- however, I don't live anywhere near a city and it is as if city-folk are worlds away. I find this hilarious as women do everything here and I would expect a man would be far more lost living on his own after being pampered all his life by Moroccan women. Women tend the fields with babies strapped to their backs, harvest the fruits of their labor, clean and cook, raise the children, all whilst accomodating the men's needs. Please know I am not speaking from any feminist biast when I say that men don't do a lot of anything in my town. So far, there are maybe three men that work. One man sounds the call to prayer five times a day, one man is the nurse in my town and works accordingly, and one man repairs bicycles/locks/and other various handy work. Sometimes men help their wives in the field-but basically all I see them do is sit around in clusters, smoke, and watch TV. Yeah-- pretty sure girls are alright to do their own thing.
They wouldn't because of the stigma and the communal mentality-but theoretically they'd be more than adequately equipped to venture out into their own home and sustain their health and household. Anyways...
The issue of sex wasn't the only obstacle- even my male site mate struggled to get into a house in Tazarine. Our town is so small there weren't even many houses available- in fact, other than the two that we are currently inhabiting, I only know of rooms in homes that are available for rent. Beyond that, a lot of people were under the impression that if the Americans live in their homes, they will get paid big money by Peace Corps. This is largely due to the fact that it is true. If Zach and I lived in anyone's home, Peace Corps would pay them 500 dirhams a month to sustain our living environment. Our host families got paid 2,000 dirhams per month for hosting us during our community integration. It is painful for them to part with us for a lot of reasons-but saying goodbye to that kind of income is probably towards the top of the list. It feels like we are walking dollar signs sometimes. Hey, if I lived in the kind of poverty that exists here - I also would let any opportunities pass me without a full frontal effort.
I also have a lot to say regarding my host family that I will probably skip for now. We ended my homestay on a very sour note.
Well, a quick recap:
I had a grandmother and grandfather, host father- who was the grandparents son and a host mother who married into the family ( she was also younger than me and had a two year old), and me. The relationships with my grandmother and host father was what soured. As far as I'm concerned, they are off my list for life. The short and narrow is that they should never have had the opportunity to host a Peace Corps Volunteer as they had zero respect for other ways of life, America, or even for their own town and religion. ...but, as I said, I'll skip this pessimistic stuff for now.
Right, on to the good stuff: I HAVE A HOUSE! It's medium sized, mud/ chalk/hay walls, with cement floors. It has three rooms, a kitchen area, a bathroom, and a hammam (basically a cement floored room where you can bucket shower and it drains into the turkish toilet). It took me three days just to sweep and wash the floors. These houses are actually owned by the Moroccan government and were built two years ago for the staff of the local clinic. However, no one ever lived in them as the Ministry of Health has no money to actually pay a clinic staff-- only enough for one nurse. So the thatch like roof combined with a long time of exposure to snow/rainstorms made quite a mess to be cleaned up. I loved every minute of it....and there's still a lot of fixing/patching/americanizing to do. For instance, there are no storage spaces, shelves, etc.
My current projects are as follows:
putting screens on all windows to keep out the bugs, installing two wood ovens in preparation for winter time (we get knee level snow for two to three months at a time--definitely need some sort of fire. It's weird to think of not being able to step inside to a warm, centrally heated area after being outside exposed to the cold---should be interesting, eh?), building and installing shelves. Currently I don't have electricity, and I only have running water from 6-7 A.M. each morning. It sounds rugged, but honestly- it's refreshing.
Not to venture off into some cheesy tangent about living a wholesome life or anything stupid-but I now really do appreciate what it means to conserve water. I have fully realized just how much I used to use everyday. I also have an appreciation of how dirty clothes get--and am still not used to looking at the bucket water after I wash. It is disgusting to see what comes off of seemingly clean clothes. Ick.
Anyway, it's nice. A slow pace of life where laundry takes two or three hours of vigilant work. Where washing dishes is a once a day task, done on the floor in a big bucket whose water will serve to flush my turkish toilet after the dishes are clean. I shower with one
5 gallon bucket of water every three to four days. That is actually a lot compared to homestay where I went for up to 16 days without showering. Yes, you can in fact smell yourself--and yes, it does turn your stomach when you catch wind of your own body odor. Haha. Sorry to gross you out--I'm just being honest.
Having a house is the biggest breath of relief I've had since being in Morocco. I've enjoyed everything but living with a host families for
1/3 of year has certainly weighed on me. I didn't full comprehend the weight of it all until the first day I moved into my house. I layed down in the middle of the day, on my newly bought bed, and slept the best sleep I've had since leaving the United States. I woke up feeling a new surge of energy and control. I'm a happy camper. Things aren't perfect, as they aren't for any of us, but oh my lord is it nice to get up in the morning and boil water and eat a bowl of oatmeal instead of being forced to eat bread (..for every meal...) with vegetable oil and mint tea. I was literally a walking pot of mint tea. I drank no less than 7 glasses a day every day because it was inhospitable to do otherwise. Know how many glasses I've had today? 1. One solitary cup.
I went to Zach's host families after a hike up the mountains and they let me away with one little glass of tea. I am giddy just thinking about it.
I've gained like 15 pounds since I've been here---thanks sugary tea, bread, and oily tagines.
However, let it be said that I am thankful for every minute of my homestays. The good and the bad.
Language is still coming along. Good days and bad. Some conversations just go places that my vocabulary just can't accomodate yet-- especially in health topics. I am pacing myself. I am satisfied with little projects for now. Helping other volunteers with their field days at schools. Facilitiating games that talk about the benefits of brushing teeth, good nutrition, properly using and cleaning the bathroom. I am also doing "lessons" at the health clinic in my town.
I basically talk to women - who refuse to talk to the nurse because he is male- about very minor health concerns and provide guidance on home remedies. One of the biggest concerns right now is dehydration because they work all day in the fields trying to get everything harvested in time. It is really hot and they drink more mint tea than water. Also a lot of children have issues with diahrrea in the area due to the untreated water- and if they are already dehydrated from sun exposure, it is just ten fold worse to try and recover from a bout of stomach issues. I advise them on a simple way to make a rehydration fluid from a mixture of salt, sugar, and water. There is really no way to determine how effective this is but it makes me feel helpful to try and put the information out there. I also have continued petitioning the Ministry of Health in Errashidia to make it a priority to get an ambulance up here. All these people have no way to get to a hospital in the event any sort of health crisis occurs.
Even issues that are treated rather simply in a hospital, such as placenta retention, have mortal consequences up here. It is absolutely senseless. Anyway--In two weeks I have my first work-based training with Peace Corps in an area called Azrou. It's neat because I get to travel somewhere new and I get advised on grant writing and other really necessary tools for my work here. I am excited and I'll keep you posted on any pertinent outcomes of the training.
I've made a lot of really dear friends so far in Peace Corps. In my region, there are 5 girls and 8 guys that I have gotten to know really well. A few are small business development volunteers, others youth development, three are environment volunteers, and the majority are health volunteers like me. The Youth Development volunteers and Small Buisness volunteers live in city areas that are developed. The health and enviornment live in the countryside and learn the berber languages. It's interesting to see all the different walks of life in the Peace Corps. Every site is completely different and what is ok and not ok--what is frowned up on or accepted are all wildly dissimilar.
For instance, very few people in my site pray - though we have a mud hut mosque that is not well kept- and women and men interact on the streets. In a site not so far away, everyone prays, a majority of the town's money is flooded into the mosque's upkeep and women are never seen anywhere other than the fields or the kitchen- never eating or interacting with men. Education levels are also vastly different, meaning the level of ease of interaction with the town's people is also highly variant. As a rule of thumb, the less educated - the more hesitant the site to accept the idea of Peace Corps ---or anything new, to be honest.
Alright, Alright----I've talked about myself quite enough. Again, I'm sorry I've been so aloof for the past month.
I have my own house and am working on my own schedule now. I hope this bodes for better communication.
I may not have electricity, but I am thinking this might not interrupt my computer access--I can charge my laptop at the clinic during the day : ) SO-------what is going on with you? how are your families? how is work? how are vacations? I want the good gossip too!
...only hearing gossip about whose bread is better than whose in town has done my nut in.
honestly. i need the juicy stuff like why angelina and brad are fighting. haha. ; )
I miss all of you dearly.
I love you.
liss
