Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Busy, busy, busy

The last two months have really flown by! December was jam packed with a craft fair, mid-service medical exams, and then my flight home for Christmas. I felt like I was always rushing around, but had a lot of fun and felt like I got a lot accomplished.
The banner design for all of the Marche Maroc craft fairs. 
 The craft fair was the fourth in a series of craft fairs run by PCVs here in Morocco. A group of us got together to organize one for early December in Marrakech, in hopes of catching the winter tourist crowd. Although sales weren't amazing, I really learned a lot about running the fair. I enjoyed working with the other PCVs and meeting the artisans from all over Morocco. In addition to my cooperative, we had 26 other cooperatives and associations from (mostly rural) sites around the country. In total, we brought in 44 artisans!

Some of the fair organizers with the American Ambassador to Morocco, Samuel Kaplan, and his wife, Sylvia. They were in Marrakech for the film festival and made a special trip out to see our craft fair. 
The goal of the craft fair is two-fold: we want to give the artisans a chance to sell their products AND have some training for them in basic business. The fair was held from December 1st - 5th at the Ensemble Artisanat in Marrakech. The delegate for Marrakech (the head of the Handicrafts division of the government) was very helpful. He arranged for tables and chairs, as well as let us have the use of a room for training and the awards ceremony. Talking with him was a bit of a problem, because those of us organizing the fair only spoke Tashelhit (Berber) and the delegate only spoke Arabic and French. Still, with the help of our program manager, Tariq, we managed to get everything worked out eventually.

Thanks to a grant from USAID, we were able to provide each artisan with a place to sleep, a certificate of participation, and a couscous lunch. On top of that, we used the grant to print posters and flyers to advertise the fair, as well as programs to hand out at the door. Although not everything went perfectly, most artisans said that they learned something at the workshop and almost all of them said they enjoyed networking with other artisans. Its amazing what you can get for only a few thousand American dollars. (For example, the ingredients for the couscous lunch for about 75 people was only about $200, including renting all the equipment. Can you imagine feeding 75 people for $200 in the US???)

Me with Angelica and Linda, two of the PCVs that live close to me. They are both lots of fun :)
These fairs are a lot of work, but I think its important to give rural artisans (especially women) a chance to get out of the village and meet other people. It was great to see how the more experienced participants helped out the newcomers. Our biggest seller for the fair was a woman from a very tiny village in the High Atlas Mountains. This fair was the first fair she had EVER been to. She didn't speak a word of Arabic or French, but her welcoming smile (and the help of the experienced participant next to her) meant she sold more than any other person at the fair. (Of course, it didn't hurt that she had beautifully made natural-dye carpets with unique designs).
The beautiful carpets of our top seller. They are all natural dyes.

The fair ended on Sunday, December 5th. After a quick stop at the artisan hotel to make sure everyone was packed and ready to check-out, I made my way (with a few other fair-planners) to Rabat for medical exams. Halfway through Peace Corps service, all volunteers are required to get dental check-ups and physicals. Luckily, I was healthy (no parasites!). Although not all parts of the medical check-up are fun, it was great to see everyone from my training group again. The last time we had been together was for a week long training in June!
The 19 of us from my training group!

A few days after I got back to my village, I was traveling again. This time, it was to go home for Christmas. I was a little worried, since many of the airports in Europe were closed due to snow in the days before I was set to travel. I also had my friend Linda, who lives 10km away, watching the mountain pass for me. (It closes a lot for snow in December and January.) Amazingly, I made it to the airport in Casablanca and then all the way to St. Louis without missing any flights!

Being home was wonderful. I loved spending time with my family and enjoying all the luxuries we take for granted (central heating, hot water on demand, fast-food, a car, etc.) I think I ate out at least once a day. I definitely tried my hardest to take advantage of Mexican food, veggie burgers, cheese and the amazing tofu lettuce wraps from Pho Grand. I was even able to help celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. The ten days I was home was definitely packed, but I really enjoyed it. It was a great break from Morocco, although I missed my English students and the ladies I work with at the weaving cooperative. They are all wonderful people and lots of fun to be around.

I flew back to Morocco on January 3rd and am now back in my village. Its definitely winter, although no snow in the village yet (I can see it higher up on the mountain peaks.)