PC in Morocco and Harassment

Someone kind of high up in PC Morocco may have told me that the reason PC still exists here is because Morocco is a Muslim country. If you want my point of view on that statement, let's chat in person.

This year, PC has also redesigned its program: discontinuing the small business development, health education, and environmental education programs to focus just on youth development.

This means that the training groups in the near future will consist mostly of fresh-out-of-college (FOOC) kids--worldwide 80% of all PCVs--who are assigned to work in the Dar Shebab (youth center). Reminiscing to my FOOC days, I find it unwise for a FOOC-me to be developing the youth of Morocco. Happy hours which turn into sloppy late nights? Learning to live on my own? A salary for shopping sprees? Yes, please. Useful here? Not really. Decades of life experiences definitely translate into skills that FOOC people don't have yet. Yes, I'm generalizing and digressing...

So...even though I know some PCVs spend much of their time watching movies, cooking feasts, and traveling around (allowing a couple hours a day for "community integration"), I was bummed to hear that the SBD sector would be no more. The mudir (director) of the artisanat center, the local artisans (weavers/carpenters/entrepreneurs/couscous makers/metalworkers/jewelry makers/crocheters), my budding artisans (the girls who make products and attend PC-planned national craft fairs), my friends, and my hanai ohana seemed more bummed by the news. On one hand, some cried and said I needed to stay in Morocco; on the other, some just wanted another American to associate with (especially if that American was just like me). Others are just friendly with me on the surface and could care less about the future of PC.

Awwwww, right? Even if it takes two years to really understand the language and culture, humble myself and my expectations, and feel integrated--

Oh wait; I'm still getting harassed daily for being "Chinese" or for my body. Now that the school year is over, herds (yes, herds) of boys are free to roam around town calling out Arabic/French/English obscenities to my face and mostly to my back.

So today, I realized I agreed that YES, PC should invest resources in YD PCVs (ones that actually care to learn, plan activities, and participate in their communities). Perhaps if more Americans collaborated with more Moroccan youth and made each Dar Shebab a bustling center of fun and personal advancement, youth wouldn't care as much about harassing me for their own ignorant entertainment. Be-my-girlfriend proposals from boys over a decade younger than me may or may not stop, but Asian PCVs like me may get less harassment. And yes, everything comes back to me.

Seriously though, there have been soooo many days of school strikes this past year, kids who don't even attend school, and neglectful parents who are too busy sleeping through the day or working 10-hour days to provide for whole families. There also are many qualified, unemployed Moroccans (and PCVs) who could teach school subjects, computers, music, sports, dance, and theatre (all activities kids in general have expressed interest in) to those who say they're bored in Btown. What about promoting unexpressed interests in business training, safe sex classes, debate teams, chess teams, reading rooms, etc.? Besides the Dar Shebab, Btown has a cultural house, meeting spaces, and artisanat center that are underutilized. Any extra-curricular activities paired with a dedicated teacher/coach/counselor in a safe (perhaps I mean gender-divided/drug-free/open-minded?) environment to occupy kids' free time and develop their creativity and interpersonal relationships = PRETTY AWESOME.

Bottom-line, volunteerism doesn't really happen in Btown when one must first take care of himself and his family, and appearing to keep up with the Jones' is uber important here. Who would fund or contribute resources to any youth-development activities? Especially when these kids aren't part of the same family or tribe? How would such activities actually develop the youths' character, view on life, and amount of harassment to Chinese-looking people? Are those even the point of having extra-curricular activities?

I'm completely satisfied (sometimes exhausted) with my work projects; very, very close relationships with certain Btowners, and many superficial friendships with everyone I know in this town. The policeman: townspeople ratio is 1:714; American, townspeople, 1:50,000 (to be updated to 1:25,000 next month!). With 4 months left in country, I am not willing and able to tackle this extracurricular activities proposal (or wherever I'm going with this blog entry...dinner calls soon).

Personal experience has shown me though that a frisbee and motivated instructor (ie me) can mean more than a game of ultimate frisbee to a group of kids. That being said, sidewalk art and a motivated instructor (ie me) can only be fun for 15 minutes when the sun shines too brightly at the same time. To end on a positive note, those kids did say they enjoyed the project (liars?), wanted to take photos with me (in the shade) afterward, and no "chinouiya" was yelled.