| About | Membership | Volunteer | Newsletters | Souk | Links |
Peace Corps in Morocco
On
First Overseas Visit, New Peace Corps Director Welcomed by Moroccans and
Volunteers
Peace Corps Morocco-related News as captured by Peace Corps
Online
Humanitarian
Effort Leads To Peace Corps in Morocco
By Maggie Wolff Peterson Special to The Winchester Star (VA)
You could call Paul Negley an adventurer. After his 1998 graduation from Handley High School, Negley decided to backpack alone across Europe and was gone from August to December. You could call Negley an achiever. When he returned from his cross-continental trek, Negley entered Lord Fairfax Community College, with the goal of making his way into the College of William and Mary. He earned a grade point average of 4.0 and did. Or, you could call Negley a humanitarian. With his college degree in government and philosophy, Negley entered the Peace Corps. Today posted in Morocco, Negley lives in a dirt-floor hut and works against the spread of AIDS in Africa.
HOW
ATLAS MEN MARRY: Chatting
up single women all over the world
by Sharif Erik-Soussi
in NPCA WorldView Nov-Dec 2004
The Hajj and I generally keep our conversations limited to topics of health and weather because of either his disinterest or my poor Arabic. He may, on rare occasion, ask me if I worked that day, to which any response brings an "llyawn." May God help you in your task. So it was of considerable surprise the day he asked me to teach him how to use the Internet. I couldn't imagine that the Hajj, the grandfather of my hosting family, would have much use or much interest in the Internet. He has, on more than one occasion, seen me answering e-mail and asked me why there was no sound coming out of my "special television."
I asked if he knew what the Internet was.
"No,"
he replied. "But my wife is dead, and I know if you know how to use the
Internet, you can marry a foreign bride."
Morocco
Welcomes New Peace Corps Volunteers to Work in Health and Environment
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 3, 2004 – A group of new Peace Corps volunteers
officially began their service on Thursday, May 20 in Morocco. The swearing-in
of this second group marks the successful re-entry of the Peace Corps into Morocco.
United States Ambassador to Morocco Thomas T. Riley attended the ceremony and addressed the volunteers and their host families. Morocco’s Peace Corps Director Bruce J. Cohen presided over the ceremony and expressed his appreciation for the support of Ouarzazate’s Governor, Ahmed Merghich, who also participated in the event.
The new Peace Corps volunteers have completed 11 weeks of intensive training in the Berber language dialects of Tashelhit and Tamazight, in Arabic, and in cross-cultural communications skills. They also received technical training. These new volunteers will work for two years in the sectors of health and environment in predominantly rural Moroccan communities.
In the health sector, the volunteers’ objective will be to increase sanitation and safe water supplies in rural areas. Environmental volunteers are stationed in Morocco’s national parks and ecological reserves with the dual goal of making these areas user-friendly for eco-tourism while increasing environmental awareness among local community members. A second group of volunteers, who will work in the areas of youth development and small business development, will arrive for training in Morocco this fall.
Volunteers reentered Morocco earlier this year based on the successful 42-year history of the program as well as the Moroccan people and government’s strong support of the Peace Corps in the country. Morocco is one of five predominately Muslim countries that the Peace Corps either entered or reentered since 2003. Currently, 20 percent of Peace Corps volunteers serve in predominately Muslim countries.
Since 1962, more
than 4,000 Peace Corps volunteers have worked in Morocco in education, environment,
health, and small business development. Volunteers in Morocco have completed
projects ranging from designing English curricula to working with artisan groups
on income generating projects to helping address water quality and sanitation
concerns.
Douglas
High grad who was in Morocco during bombings decides to go back
By Karl Horeis Article published
August 25, 2003 on Nevada Appeal.
Douglas High School class of '93 graduate Natellie Yurtinus was far from home
when several nearly simultaneous bomb attacks struck the Moroccan coastal city
of Casablanca. But she wasn't far from the blasts. "A few of my friends and
I were at a Spanish restaurant (in Casablanca)," she said. "A maitre d' at the
restaurant told us what happened he said there were two bombs." Over the next
24 hours, they learned there were actually five bombs, which killed 31 bystanders
and 12 suicide attackers and injured more than 100 people...... "I decided to
do another year. I just figure my friends are there so I'll go back and finish
my contract."..............
Interview
with Sarah Chayes (TEFL/Fish? 84-85?) on "Fresh Air":
The
Sahara unveiled Valley
of the Casbahs: A Journey Across the Moroccan Sahara by Jeffrey Tayler
352pp, Little, Brown, £16.99
Matthew Collin discovers much more than sand dunes in Valley of the Casbahs
by Jeffrey Tayler and Sahara by Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle
Saturday April 12, 2003 The Guardian
Jeffrey Tayler succumbed to the mystique of the Sahara long before he ever visited it. As a young student of Arabic, he dreamed of shimmering dunes and inscrutable Bedouin, and of following the caravan route of the postwar British explorer and writer Wilfred Thesiger. But his first sight of the desert was less idyllic than he had imagined he got lost and almost died of thirst. Nevertheless, he returned, beguiled by accounts of the Dra Valley, an ancient trading path stretching hundreds of miles across the Moroccan Sahara to the Atlantic
Article
on the Guardian on a new book by RPCV who served in Morocco ('88'90), Jeff Taylor
(Valley of the Casbahs). You can read more about Jeff on this RPCV
Wrtiers and Readers newsletter page
Peace Corps Suspends Program in Morocco
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 3, 2003
Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez today
announced the temporary suspension of the Peace Corps program in Morocco.
Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco were consolidated on March 20 to allow Peace
Corps staff in country and at headquarters in Washington, D.C. to evaluate the
political and public climate in Morocco as a result of the events in Iraq. Peace
Corps also offered volunteers the option of Interrupted Service for those who
preferred not to continue their service.
“After a thorough assessment of safety and security issues it was determined
that it would be in the best interest of the Peace Corps volunteers to temporarily
suspend the program in Morocco. Moreover, the uncertainty of a date or time
for the volunteers to return to their job sites has proven to be a disruption
to the continuity of their work,” stated Director Vasquez.
The Moroccan government has been extremely supportive of Peace Corps volunteers
and programs in their country and very attentive to the needs of the volunteers
during these difficult times. The Peace Corps values the relationship that has
been established for more than 40 years and looks forward to returning volunteers
to Morocco in the near future. Peace Corps staff will continue to operate the
Peace Corps office in Morocco.
Family members may make inquiries about Peace Corps/Morocco by contacting the
Peace Corps’ Office of Special Services, which maintains a 24hour a day, 7 days
a week duty system. The telephone number during normal business hours is 18004248580,
extension 1470. The after hours number is 2026382574. Special Services can also
be reached via email at ossdutyofficer@peacecorps.gov.
Read this and other Peace Corps/Morocco-related News Releases
Peace
Corps Swears in New Country Directors
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 20, 2002 Peace Corps sworein twelve new Country Directors
in a ceremony held at the Peace Corps Headquarters. The new Directors will be
going to countries in the Regions of Africa, Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia,
as well as InterAmerica and the Pacific.
Peace Corps Country Directors are responsible for management
and direction of all aspects of the Peace Corps program in the country of assignment.
The Country Directors support 50 to 225 Volunteers as they live and work in
a developing country. They lend their skills and energy to meet its development
needs and promote a better understanding between the host country people and
Americans.
The Directors assignments include:
Morocco
Bruce Cohen has been with the Peace Corps for 20 years. He
began his career as a Volunteer in Tunisia from 196769, where he taught English
as a foreign language (TEFL). He also spent 14 years in the Peace Corps recruitment
office, starting as a recruiter in Indiana and moving on to become the manager
of the recruitment offices in Miami and Atlanta, the Regional Service Center
Director in Chicago, and the National Director of Recruitment in Washington,
D.C. Cohen was also Peace Corps Country Director in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (then Zaire) and Senegal. After leaving the Peace Corps, he became
Director of Americorps Recruitment at the Corporation for National Service,
Director of International Programs including the Jewish Volunteer Corps at American
Jewish World Service in New York, and Director of Volunteer Services at the
U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Cohen's educational background includes a Bachelor of
Science of Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and an M.A. in Western
European Studies from Illinois State University.
Renewing
ties with old friends in Morocco
By Jabeen Bhatti THE WASHINGTON TIMES
They had traveled to Morocco last month to visit development projects, old haunts
and longlost friends and to revive ties to a land they can never forget. They
are "Friends of Morocco."....................
Edina
Butler: Finding peace, and a husband, in overseas adventure
Monday, December 02, 2002 By TOM BENNETT The Daily Astorian tbennett@dailyastorian.com
Edina Butler was searching for a "drastic, dramatic change in my life"
when she signed up for a twoyear stint with the Peace Corps teaching health
education in the west African nation of Mauritania......
U.S.
should talk with Arab youth, not at them
By Avi M. Spiegel (RPCV Dar Chabab/Morocco)
U.S. officials directing the latest drive to sell America's image to the Muslim
world might learn something from students at a youth center in rural Morocco.
While I was a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English to teenagers and young
adults in Morocco from 1998 to 2000, I decorated my makeshift classroom with
the only pictures around: posters of life in the United States designed by the
U.S. Information Service
Imagining
Reality: Reflections on Development
Jonathan Bringewatt
I had spent two days at another Peace Corps volunteer's site in the High Atlas,
Morocco. He lived in a oneroom house without electricity or running water. We
collected water from a nearby natural spring. Isn't it strange that I should
have to categorize the stream as "natural?" Perhaps that is a reflection
of just how "urbanized" I was: down in the provincial capital, where
I was living, I could access the internet and listen to the BBC before going
to bed every night. The people in this village were farmers, growing wheat,
corn, apples, and walnuts............................
Tales
from the Bazaar.
August 1992 by Robert D. Kaplan
For Jack McCreary, it was a moment of sweet satisfaction. A self-described "child
of the sixties," who had spent nearly two decades of his life in the Arab
world, McCreary was the U.S. embassy's press and culture officer...............
Speech of HE The Ambassador to
the “FRIENDS OF MOROCCO” at
residence in Celebration of 40+1 years of Peace Corps on June 21, 2002
Peace
Corps Deserves Better Than GOP Deadwood.
By Judy Mann Friday, November 9, 2001; Page C08
At a time when the United States needs friends abroad more than ever, President
Bush has nominated to head the Peace Corps a discredited California party hack
whose principal public achievement to date has been to help bankrupt the richest
county in his state.
No
Time to Be Shortchanging Foreign Aid
Judy Mann Washington Post Nov 14, 2001
Susana de la Torre was a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco from 1987 to 1989.
On the evening of Sept. 11, the first e-mail she received was from her Moroccan
"family." They knew that her husband worked for the Department of
the Army and that the family lived near the Pentagon. "They had tried
for several hours to call me by phone," de la Torre told me, "but
had been unsuccessful and then resorted to e-mailing. I simply cried when I
got their e-mail, and I was moved though not surprised at the depth of their
caring for me and my family. They contacted us way before many family members
ever did to inquire about our safety." MORE
The Future
of the Medina: Rethinking the Lessons of the Past
By Tom O'brien
Sunday, March 04, 2007
I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Missour in the TEFL program from 1986 to 1989.
In September 1995, after completing a Masters Degree in Urban and Regional
Planning, I returned to Morocco as a Fulbright Scholar.
The aim of my six-month research was to build upon an architectural and
urban design study begun in the spring of 1995 by the Aga Khan Program for Islamic
Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
This study sought to develop a reconstruction plan for the Essaouira
medina, in particular the mellah. I
was interested in determining how plans for its reconstruction might consider
the importance of traditional urban form to the life of the city's inhabitants.
I also wanted to obtain responses to initial reconstruction plans from City
residents, addressing such issues as the appropriateness of designs for the
region's climate and the needs of the resident work force. MORE
..............................................................................................
These postings and links are provided without permission of the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the identified copyright owner. The poster does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the message, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Return to Friends of Morocco Home Page
| About | Membership | Volunteer | Newsletters | Souk | Links |