First Post

            In exactly one week I’ll be leaving for Morocco!  It has been eight months since I finally heard back from the Peace Corps with an assignment, and almost a year and a half since I started the application process.  I’ve anticipated this for a long time, and now that’s its finally here I couldn’t be more excited!

            I’m writing this blog so that my friends, family, former professors, and anyone else who might be interested can follow my adventures in Morocco in the Peace Corps for the next two years.  In it I hope to share with you all the unique and fascinating place that Morocco is.  I’m planning to incorporate photos, video, and even audio recordings (if that’s possible), into the blog so that you’ll get a fuller picture of what I’m doing and experiencing over there.  I’m not sure how frequently I’ll be able to update this while I’m over there.  It will all depend on if I have Internet access at my site.  According to the Peace Corps Morocco Welcome Book most volunteers have relatively easy and frequent access to cyber cafes, and some even can set up wi-fi at their homes.  I hope that I’ll be able to update this site at least once a month, preferably every few weeks, but it will all depend on Internet access and how many stories I have to tell!

            This first post will be short; I just want to introduce the blog and my work in Morocco, and also to give you something to read this first week before I’ve actually left.  For those of you who don’t know, my work in the Peace Corps will be in youth development.  I’ll work at a community youth center, called a Dar Chebab (House of Youth) in Arabic.  Here is a brief outline of the Peace Corps work in the Dar Chebab from the Welcome book:

In 1995, education Volunteers began teaching English in community youth centers (Dar Chebab), enabling youth to practice the English they learned in school. While content-based English teaching is still widely used, the program today focuses on youth leadership, strengthening youth networks, capacity-building of professionals who work with youth, and promotion of girls’ education. Volunteers work with local professionals and youth to promote volunteerism and youth leadership through activities such as sports, study of world geography, libraries, exercise classes, environmental projects, project management training, thematic English teaching, and self-esteem activities for girls.

            To finish up this post I’ll answer the question I’m sure you’ve all been asking,  “Who is Joha and why are you searching for him?”  Joha is a character I was introduced to in one of the many books about Morocco I’ve read since I received my invitation.  I first encountered him in Tahir Shah’s In Arabian Nights, a book about the folk story-telling tradition in Morocco (something I’m fascinated by and really want to explore while I’m over there).  Joha stories and jokes date from at least the middle ages.  He is a wise fool known throughout the Muslim world from Morocco to China.  He is called Joha in North Africa, Hodja in Turkey, and Mulla Nasrudin in Afghanistan.  At this point I’ll leave you with a couple of my favorite Joha stories from Shah’s book.  Hopefully when you check again in a couple of weeks I’ll have some more Moroccan stories, both traditional and my own, to tell you!

            Nasrudin was sent by the King to find the most foolish man in the land and bring him to the palace as Court jester.  The Mulla traveled to each town and village, in turn, but could not find a man stupid enough for the job.  Finally, he returned alone.

            “Have you located the greatest idiot in our kingdom?” asked the Monarch.

            “Yes,” replied Nasrudin, “but he is too busy looking for fools to take the job.”

–The World of Nasrudin by Idries Shah (introductory quote to In Arabian Nights by Tahir Shah)

            Joha was a known smuggler, and would cross the frontier every day.  The patrol guards would search his donkey each time, but could find nothing in their loads of hay.  Sometimes they would confiscate the hay and set fire to it.  Despite having no income, each week Joha became more and more wealthy.  One day he became so rich that he retired across the frontier.  Years passed and one day the police chief bumped into him.  He said to Joha, “We spent years trying to catch you, but we could not.  Tell me, brother, what were you smuggling?”

            Joha smiled and said: “Donkeys, I was smuggling donkeys.” (212)