It rained yesterday evening for the first time since we arrived in the valley nearly 3 months ago! A slight drizzle which cleared the mugginess and filled the air with a sweet earthy smell. Today it’s like we’re living in a completely different place; no blue sky, no sunshine, the mountains are cloaked in white and everyone is going round wrapped up and complaining about the weather. To us, who are used to the rain, it’s quite refreshing.
We have just over a week left here in Morocco and are starting to wrap up our work. We have been testing the prototype sand filter every day now for a week and it seems to be working pretty well although often we arrive in the morning to find that the kids have helpfully opened the tap and drained it! We held a sand filter workshop for them last week which was a little chaotic but seemed to be a success in getting them involved and interested in our work.
Yesterday we had a day off and walked from Tafraout to the painted rocks; a load of rocks in the middle of nowhere that a Dutch artist with the help of a local team of firemen painted blue and pink in the early ‘80s. You can actually see them on google earth and when we eventually found them (this was our 2nd attempt as they are not clearly signposted!) they were pretty impressive.
Today we showed Wall-e on the projector in the community centre for the children and for the rest of the week we’ll be working on finishing our reports and writing a presentation to give to the village on Saturday before leaving for Tiznit and the start of our long journey home on Sunday.
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
A weekend of sheep and breathtaking views
We spent all day Sunday walking in the mountains from 6am to 6pm! After an easy walk along the winding road up to Tagdicht we continued on up the mountain to the summit. The views from the top were incredible! We could see the whole of the Ameln Valley and the mountains continuing for miles beyond. I’ve posted some of the photos but they don’t really do it justice.
We were expecting to have to eat a lot of sheep at Mohammed’s family’s house but I think the worst thing I ate was sheep’s lung (at least I think that’s what it was but it was hard to tell!) which wasn’t too bad.
The weather has suddenly turned really cold here (relatively), especially at night and early in the morning. Our house doesn’t have any heating so we’re wearing lots of jumpers (well, I am!) and drinking tea in an effort to keep warm. Seeing as it’s 1st December we’ve been playing xmas songs all day whilst finishing our irrigation report!
We were expecting to have to eat a lot of sheep at Mohammed’s family’s house but I think the worst thing I ate was sheep’s lung (at least I think that’s what it was but it was hard to tell!) which wasn’t too bad.
The weather has suddenly turned really cold here (relatively), especially at night and early in the morning. Our house doesn’t have any heating so we’re wearing lots of jumpers (well, I am!) and drinking tea in an effort to keep warm. Seeing as it’s 1st December we’ve been playing xmas songs all day whilst finishing our irrigation report!
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Eid-al Adha
Today is the day when 6 million sheep (and many million more in the rest of the Muslim world) are simultaneously slaughtered across Morocco for the religious festival of Eid-al Adha. Every family sacrifices their best animal to commemorate Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son for Allah. Hoping to avoid this spectacle we are walking to Mohammed’s family’s house today to spend the weekend there. It’s a 3 hour walk but now that the weather has cooled down a bit it should be a pleasant stroll. On Sunday we are getting up early to walk to a small village called Tagdicht which is perched high up in the mountains. Then Monday we’ll walk back to Imin’Tizeght to carry on our work.
I know the blog entries are becoming few and far between but we are really busy trying to complete all our work and achieve what we set out to do with only 3 weeks left in the country. Yesterday we finished building the prototype sand filter with the ‘help’ of some of the village children. It’s great to see them taking an interest and getting involved. Next week we’re hoping to run a sand filter workshop for them to explain how it works. It was great to actually build something rather than researching and writing reports. We got completely covered in dust from head to toe but are very excited about testing the filter now!
I know the blog entries are becoming few and far between but we are really busy trying to complete all our work and achieve what we set out to do with only 3 weeks left in the country. Yesterday we finished building the prototype sand filter with the ‘help’ of some of the village children. It’s great to see them taking an interest and getting involved. Next week we’re hoping to run a sand filter workshop for them to explain how it works. It was great to actually build something rather than researching and writing reports. We got completely covered in dust from head to toe but are very excited about testing the filter now!
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Scorchio, scorchio
We’ve just got back from a weekend in Madrid and are feeling revitalised and ready to solve all of Morocco’s problems in the remaining 5 weeks we have here. We popped across to Espagne as it is easier than trying to get our visa extended. After 2 and a half months in Morocco, Madrid seemed like unbelievable luxury and for the first afternoon we just wandered round in awe marvelling at the Museum of Ham, drinking thick hot chocolate and enjoying the glorious anonymity of a European city.
So now that we’re back we have a lot to do in 5 weeks. We’re hoping to build and test a prototype sand filter so see if it can effectively remove detergent from water. Hassan has bought us a 200l plastic barrel and we think we finally managed to explain to him that we need 3 different sized sieves to prepare the sand so we’re hoping they will have got these sorted by the time we get back to the village. As a bit of a side project we’re hoping to run sand filter workshops with the children as something to entertain them and to teach them a bit about what we’re doing in the hope that the information will get back to their parents. EWB already have workshops set up that they run in schools in the UK so we’ll just adapt them a bit for Morocco.
As well as sand filters we’re looking at other options for reusing or recycling the water from the wash area. The simplest, low cost option would be to use the untreated water on plants and trees that are more resistant to high salt levels. To avoid human contact with the grey water it would be best to apply the water directly to tree roots but finding a suitable area of well-established trees may be tricky so we’re looking at creating crop fields which can be rotated to reduce the build up of salts in the soil.
Another option for water purification which we’ve been looking at recently is constructed wetlands. We hadn’t really considered this option in depth as we thought the rate of evaporation would be a problem but then came across some research done by a professor at a university in Marrakech in which she tested reed beds and found them to be very effective even in an arid climate. We just found her contact details today so have e-mailed her for some more info.
This afternoon we’re going into the DPA office to discuss our ideas with Hassan and then back to the village tomorrow hopefully. Next weekend we have the festival of Eid Mqqurn to look forward to during which every family slaughters a ram. We’re really hoping we don’t get invited to watch this spectacle!
So now that we’re back we have a lot to do in 5 weeks. We’re hoping to build and test a prototype sand filter so see if it can effectively remove detergent from water. Hassan has bought us a 200l plastic barrel and we think we finally managed to explain to him that we need 3 different sized sieves to prepare the sand so we’re hoping they will have got these sorted by the time we get back to the village. As a bit of a side project we’re hoping to run sand filter workshops with the children as something to entertain them and to teach them a bit about what we’re doing in the hope that the information will get back to their parents. EWB already have workshops set up that they run in schools in the UK so we’ll just adapt them a bit for Morocco.
As well as sand filters we’re looking at other options for reusing or recycling the water from the wash area. The simplest, low cost option would be to use the untreated water on plants and trees that are more resistant to high salt levels. To avoid human contact with the grey water it would be best to apply the water directly to tree roots but finding a suitable area of well-established trees may be tricky so we’re looking at creating crop fields which can be rotated to reduce the build up of salts in the soil.
Another option for water purification which we’ve been looking at recently is constructed wetlands. We hadn’t really considered this option in depth as we thought the rate of evaporation would be a problem but then came across some research done by a professor at a university in Marrakech in which she tested reed beds and found them to be very effective even in an arid climate. We just found her contact details today so have e-mailed her for some more info.
This afternoon we’re going into the DPA office to discuss our ideas with Hassan and then back to the village tomorrow hopefully. Next weekend we have the festival of Eid Mqqurn to look forward to during which every family slaughters a ram. We’re really hoping we don’t get invited to watch this spectacle!
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Dancing, weddings and irrigation systems
This weekend was one packed full of Moroccan culture. On Saturday night Hassan knocked on our door at 9pm to tell us that there was a dance in the neighbouring village from 11pm to 3am! So we headed down there in the dark and found a place to sit amongst the women. I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned it before but the women in this region of Morocco wear a black robe called a hemelheff (not sure its spelt like that – might also be called an amelheff not sure) which covers them from head to toe and which they pull across their face so that only their eyes are showing when they see a stranger. All the women had dressed up in amazing brightly coloured sparkly robes but with their black hemelheff over the top so that you couldn’t see any of the splendour! The men and women sit separately at these events and watch a group of men singing and dancing non-stop for 4 hours. There seem to be two parts to the show; firstly the men sing/chant to a drum beat and kind of jiggle round in a circle, then they stop dancing, line up in a row and two men sing/wail at each other and people go up and stick bits of foliage in their collars to show their appreciation for the performance. The women show their appreciation by making a very high pitched (almost beyond the human hearing range) warbling kind of sound. They repeat this many times for 4 hours. Stacey describes it as ‘a marathon for the ears.’ Anyway we managed to escape at 2am as we were pretty cold and tired.
Sunday we decided to have a day off and walked along the valley to visit a traditional Berber house museum in a neighbouring village called Oumsnet. We came across a herd of goats on the way but they were too busy being herded along to climb trees for us to take photos of. Oh well, next time! The guide who showed us around the house spoke very good English and after the tour we sat down to drink mint tea and got talking about our work. We explained the work we were doing looking at the pollution from the communal washing area in Imin’Tizeght and he explained that Oumsnet had the same problem and that he was looking at ways to solve it. After tea he showed us the village’s washing area and the work that is currently being done to line the earth irrigation channels with concrete. He said that unlike Imin’Tizeght the villagers of Oumsnet are very happy that the work is being done on their irrigation system because it means that there is a lot more water available for irrigation. After the disastrous meetings we had with the women (there was another one on thurs with a government minister which descended into chaos – we’re glad its not just our meetings!) it was refreshing and inspiring to see a village where improvements really are being made. We took the guys e-mail address and promised we’d keep him posted on our work. We’re thinking about extending our work to fins a solution that would suit Oumsnet also. The idea is that we’ll produce a report with different options for solving the problem which can be used in any village in the valley.
Got back late to find that we were supposed to be at a wedding but noone had told us! Berber weddings are very different to English weddings. The whole village is invited and the men and women sit in different rooms and celebrate completely separately. We were sat on the roof with all the women and luckily Maggie was there to tell us what was going on. The night kicked off at 8pm with singing and dancing. Then around about 11.30pm we sat down to eat. The first course was cous cous (very hard to eat with your fingers) covered with amlou which is a kind of syrup made from almonds made locally. Next we were presented with 2 whole roast chickens, then there was another course of beef with prunes and finally a massive plate of fruit. Usually at a Berber wedding it is the tradition for the bride and groom to go off and consummate the marriage and then show the freshly soiled marital sheets to everyone to show that the bride was a virgin. Unusually and luckily for us for some reason this didn’t happen at this wedding! Then everyone headed outside for another session of watching the same group of men sing and dance for 4 hours. It’s amazing to be amidst so much rich Berber culture and tradition but sometimes a little confusing and tiring.
Sunday we decided to have a day off and walked along the valley to visit a traditional Berber house museum in a neighbouring village called Oumsnet. We came across a herd of goats on the way but they were too busy being herded along to climb trees for us to take photos of. Oh well, next time! The guide who showed us around the house spoke very good English and after the tour we sat down to drink mint tea and got talking about our work. We explained the work we were doing looking at the pollution from the communal washing area in Imin’Tizeght and he explained that Oumsnet had the same problem and that he was looking at ways to solve it. After tea he showed us the village’s washing area and the work that is currently being done to line the earth irrigation channels with concrete. He said that unlike Imin’Tizeght the villagers of Oumsnet are very happy that the work is being done on their irrigation system because it means that there is a lot more water available for irrigation. After the disastrous meetings we had with the women (there was another one on thurs with a government minister which descended into chaos – we’re glad its not just our meetings!) it was refreshing and inspiring to see a village where improvements really are being made. We took the guys e-mail address and promised we’d keep him posted on our work. We’re thinking about extending our work to fins a solution that would suit Oumsnet also. The idea is that we’ll produce a report with different options for solving the problem which can be used in any village in the valley.
Got back late to find that we were supposed to be at a wedding but noone had told us! Berber weddings are very different to English weddings. The whole village is invited and the men and women sit in different rooms and celebrate completely separately. We were sat on the roof with all the women and luckily Maggie was there to tell us what was going on. The night kicked off at 8pm with singing and dancing. Then around about 11.30pm we sat down to eat. The first course was cous cous (very hard to eat with your fingers) covered with amlou which is a kind of syrup made from almonds made locally. Next we were presented with 2 whole roast chickens, then there was another course of beef with prunes and finally a massive plate of fruit. Usually at a Berber wedding it is the tradition for the bride and groom to go off and consummate the marriage and then show the freshly soiled marital sheets to everyone to show that the bride was a virgin. Unusually and luckily for us for some reason this didn’t happen at this wedding! Then everyone headed outside for another session of watching the same group of men sing and dance for 4 hours. It’s amazing to be amidst so much rich Berber culture and tradition but sometimes a little confusing and tiring.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Market Day
Market day is my favourite day of the week. Something random or interesting always happens so I thought I should write a blog entry about a typical trip to the souk in Tafraoute.
We get up early and walk up to the road by 8am to wait for transport into Tafraoute. This is sometimes a bus that passes on its way south, sometimes a min-van or sometimes a taxi with 10 people crammed in the back on top of each other. We prefer the bus which is what we hopped on this morning as it slowed down just enough so that it was still moving but gave us time to jump on.
Upon arrival in Tafraoute we usually find a dustbin to dispose of our rubbish that accumulates over the week. There is no waste collection service in the valley so rather than throw it in the river bed like everyone else does we prefer to take it to Tafroute once a week. We then head to the souk to buy our fruit and veg. We usually buy a massive bag of veg for the equivalent of about £1.50 and various dried pulses and spices. Today we bought a 3.5kg squash for 80p!! We’re going to carve it into a lantern for Halloween. Then we head up to a café at the top of town where Stacey usually sits writing postcards and getting chatted up by the locals while I go to find things like cheese and cereal. These things are a rarity and usually take a while to find but the shopkeepers are really friendly and I usually learn a bit of Tashleheet from them at the same time. Occasionally while we’re sitting in the café French tourists will come and chat to us. Today 3 french aid workers came to ask us whether there were any nightclubs in town! No such luck, there isn’t any alcohol within a 150km radius of Tafroute! They must have just arrived.
Once we’ve got everything we head back to the taxi rank usually bumping into a few people we know from the village on the way. We have to sit and wait until there are enough people wanting to go to Imin’Tizeght to fill a taxi. Moroccan transport is crazy and we never quite know what we’ll be in for on the trip back to the village. Today we got a lift with a guy who was taking an oven to someone in the village. The oven was wedged in his boot with more of it sticking out than in. We were wedged in the back as usual with a couple of women trying to talk to us in Tashleheet, fearing for our lives as the taxi driver navigated the numerous potholes in the single track road back to the village whilst turning round often to ask us questions in French. I’m always so happy when we arrive back at the village in one piece!
We get up early and walk up to the road by 8am to wait for transport into Tafraoute. This is sometimes a bus that passes on its way south, sometimes a min-van or sometimes a taxi with 10 people crammed in the back on top of each other. We prefer the bus which is what we hopped on this morning as it slowed down just enough so that it was still moving but gave us time to jump on.
Upon arrival in Tafraoute we usually find a dustbin to dispose of our rubbish that accumulates over the week. There is no waste collection service in the valley so rather than throw it in the river bed like everyone else does we prefer to take it to Tafroute once a week. We then head to the souk to buy our fruit and veg. We usually buy a massive bag of veg for the equivalent of about £1.50 and various dried pulses and spices. Today we bought a 3.5kg squash for 80p!! We’re going to carve it into a lantern for Halloween. Then we head up to a café at the top of town where Stacey usually sits writing postcards and getting chatted up by the locals while I go to find things like cheese and cereal. These things are a rarity and usually take a while to find but the shopkeepers are really friendly and I usually learn a bit of Tashleheet from them at the same time. Occasionally while we’re sitting in the café French tourists will come and chat to us. Today 3 french aid workers came to ask us whether there were any nightclubs in town! No such luck, there isn’t any alcohol within a 150km radius of Tafroute! They must have just arrived.
Once we’ve got everything we head back to the taxi rank usually bumping into a few people we know from the village on the way. We have to sit and wait until there are enough people wanting to go to Imin’Tizeght to fill a taxi. Moroccan transport is crazy and we never quite know what we’ll be in for on the trip back to the village. Today we got a lift with a guy who was taking an oven to someone in the village. The oven was wedged in his boot with more of it sticking out than in. We were wedged in the back as usual with a couple of women trying to talk to us in Tashleheet, fearing for our lives as the taxi driver navigated the numerous potholes in the single track road back to the village whilst turning round often to ask us questions in French. I’m always so happy when we arrive back at the village in one piece!
Friday, 23 October 2009
A frustrating week in Tiznit
We’ve just got back to our house in the village after another rather frustrating week in Tiznit. After the 1st disastrous meeting with the women last Thursday we had a very constructive meeting with Brahim (one of the members of AIDECO) to discuss our proposals for the treatment of the water from the communal washing area and then another disastrous meeting with the women on Saturday. This time Maggie was present so she was able to explain things in Tashleheet and it started off well with just a few women. Maggie explained the sand filter system we’re proposing and they seemed to understand and said it was a very good idea, but then some more women turned up and it all kicked off again!
For some reason they were angry that we had called a meeting and said that we should have been having a meeting with everyone in the village including AIDECO to make decisions like this. Maggie tried to explain that we just wanted to hear their views and ideas and that nothing was going to be decided in the meeting but there were a lot of raised voices and then one woman tried to get everyone to leave. A few stayed behind and ate the cake we’d baked for them and apologised for the others but it left us feeling quite disillusioned about what we’re doing here. We thought we were doing a good thing by encouraging community participation in the project and consulting the women about a part of the project that will directly affect them but it seems that giving opinions is something that women don’t do in Moroccan society. They don’t want to be seen to be making decisions because that’s for the men to do. I’m still trying to work out the role of women in Moroccan society, you think you have it sussed and then something like that happens and you’re back to square one.
So on Monday we went to Tiznit in the hope that we would be able to discuss our ideas for the washing area with Mostapha and Hassan at the DPA and maybe find someone who knows about sand filters and could tell us whether our proposals would work or not. We thought being in our office at the DPA we’d have plenty of time to write the report for this part of the project but it didn’t really go according to plan. There were people that Mostapha wanted to introduce us to and things he wanted to talk about which had nothing to do with the project. Despite all the distractions we did get a good chunk of the report done and organised a very interesting site visit. There is a local architect called Salima Naji who Mostapha put us in touch with when we first got here. Last time we were in Tiznit she wasn’t around but this time she phoned us to say that again she was not in Tiznit but that her assistant could show us round and talk to us about the project she is working on in the centre of Tiznit. It is a project to redevelop the ruined Kasbah (a fortified area in the town centre) into an exhibition centre, museum and gardens. We went to look round the site - not a hard hat to be seen! The site office was a tent and there were a group of men lifting cement up to a higher level using a bucket on a pulley system. We climbed up a very rickety ladder to get a better look. They were using traditional mud bricks for much of the new structure and we saw freshly made bricks baking in the sun. Salima’s French assistant told us how they keep coming across parts of the town’s old drainage system and things like grain silos as they are excavating. Salima sounds like quite an inspiration! She’s a successful Moroccan woman, trained to be an architect in france, married a French man and now has her own practice in southern Morocco working on many heritage projects like the Kasbah. Not only that she is a very welcoming and friendly person and despite her evidently elevated status, has taken the time to be interesting in our work. We’re really hoping to meet her next time we’re all in Tiznit. This is her website if anyone’s interested: www.salimanaji.org.
For some reason they were angry that we had called a meeting and said that we should have been having a meeting with everyone in the village including AIDECO to make decisions like this. Maggie tried to explain that we just wanted to hear their views and ideas and that nothing was going to be decided in the meeting but there were a lot of raised voices and then one woman tried to get everyone to leave. A few stayed behind and ate the cake we’d baked for them and apologised for the others but it left us feeling quite disillusioned about what we’re doing here. We thought we were doing a good thing by encouraging community participation in the project and consulting the women about a part of the project that will directly affect them but it seems that giving opinions is something that women don’t do in Moroccan society. They don’t want to be seen to be making decisions because that’s for the men to do. I’m still trying to work out the role of women in Moroccan society, you think you have it sussed and then something like that happens and you’re back to square one.
So on Monday we went to Tiznit in the hope that we would be able to discuss our ideas for the washing area with Mostapha and Hassan at the DPA and maybe find someone who knows about sand filters and could tell us whether our proposals would work or not. We thought being in our office at the DPA we’d have plenty of time to write the report for this part of the project but it didn’t really go according to plan. There were people that Mostapha wanted to introduce us to and things he wanted to talk about which had nothing to do with the project. Despite all the distractions we did get a good chunk of the report done and organised a very interesting site visit. There is a local architect called Salima Naji who Mostapha put us in touch with when we first got here. Last time we were in Tiznit she wasn’t around but this time she phoned us to say that again she was not in Tiznit but that her assistant could show us round and talk to us about the project she is working on in the centre of Tiznit. It is a project to redevelop the ruined Kasbah (a fortified area in the town centre) into an exhibition centre, museum and gardens. We went to look round the site - not a hard hat to be seen! The site office was a tent and there were a group of men lifting cement up to a higher level using a bucket on a pulley system. We climbed up a very rickety ladder to get a better look. They were using traditional mud bricks for much of the new structure and we saw freshly made bricks baking in the sun. Salima’s French assistant told us how they keep coming across parts of the town’s old drainage system and things like grain silos as they are excavating. Salima sounds like quite an inspiration! She’s a successful Moroccan woman, trained to be an architect in france, married a French man and now has her own practice in southern Morocco working on many heritage projects like the Kasbah. Not only that she is a very welcoming and friendly person and despite her evidently elevated status, has taken the time to be interesting in our work. We’re really hoping to meet her next time we’re all in Tiznit. This is her website if anyone’s interested: www.salimanaji.org.
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