The last couple of weeks have been a series of ups and downs for me. I was designated by our mudir as being responsible for assuring that boys and girls who enter our dar chebab classroom have membership cards.  While the garden/environmental club has helped a few boys earn their cards, many kids want to join in our activities who don’t have their dar chebab membership.  I felt like a bouncer, stopping kids at the door and tracking down those who managed to sneak in to tell them “sir” (go!)  This was very stressful and unenjoyable for me.  I finally decided that we are here primarily to work with at-risk youth, and it is not my responsibility to ensure the membership of all participating kids.  With that decision, my stress level dropped significantly, and it’s a relief to feel optimistic about my Peace Corps service again.  Sadly, two of my Peace Corps friends have departed Morocco for various reasons, and they won’t be returning.

Now, with the onset of the holy month of Ramadan, dar chebab attendance has dropped to only a handful of kids.  Youth over the age of 7 must fast for 16 hours, including no water, until about 8 pm.  Our dar chebab hours of 4 to 7 pm come near the end of the fast, so only the hardy venture out to play.  

Soukaina and family are ready to break the Ramadan fast.

My class of middle school kids ended with the close of the school year (not that I expected or wanted it to draw to a close).  Also, the Scouts group hasn’t been meeting at the dar chebab, as the mudir is on holiday and not opening the main doors to the gym where the Scouts typically meet.  And Mal’s very successful Frisbee tournament was held the day before Ramadan, so that has concluded.  

All of our regular kids are intent on winning 
the Frisbee tournament.

We were delighted to have participants from the local 
handicap association. Tofik came in fourth place!

At least 20 boys participated.

Getting the nedi neswi (preschool) kids fired up.

The little kids were given tennis balls to throw 
instead of frisbees.

We provided free ice cream for all participants.

Our first place winner.

Second place.

Our third place winner is also from the 
handicap association!

Currently I am working with the garden club, while Mal is clearing a space for introducing his next hand sport game, horse shoes!  He has to have horse shoes specially made, though, as donkey shoes are too small, and donkeys are all we have in this section of Morocco!

Garden Club sign up sheet.

Earning some dar chebab cards.

Clearing the garden areas.

Washing tires before painting.

This made me hungry thinking about donuts.

Road stripe yellow.

There are quite a few more left to paint.

Eventually, the tires will be filled with dirt and flowers 
or shrubs.  Enshala.

Mal's future horse shoe pit.

At the beginning of July, all new Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) will travel to the Rabat area for a week of in-service training.  Shortly thereafter, Mal and I will travel out-of-country, and return after the celebration of Eid.  Our dar chebab is closed for the month of August, so we anticipate working at various camps for the remainder of the summer.  In September, our programs will begin again, enshalla.

We're always so busy from the time we arrive at our dar chebab until closing that we'd neglected taking photos of the many activities of a typical work day.   Well, we've been pulling out the camera over the last couple of weeks, and here is a brief summary of some of the fun:

I've been doing a fair amount of English teaching, with my largest class consisting of a co-ed group of about 60 Scouts.  I really enjoy working with these young people, who are so polite and attentive.  I recently taught pronouns with an activity that involved watching an old video of The Beatles performing "I Saw Her Standing There" and the students were asked to listen closely for as many pronouns as possible.  They got all of them: she, you, I, her, my, mine, we.

There were fewer Scouts in attendance than usual as many are 
studying for their high school final exams.

Yesterday, the Scouts didn't have access to their typical meeting space, so they squeezed into our little classroom.  Aladin is an excellent Scout Master, and Scouts young and old enjoy each two hour meeting.

In the meantime, Mal has been busy with his hand sports club, organizing a frisbee tournament with much ingenuity in designing stations, including a refrigerator box turned into Spongebob Squarepants.

Our mudir (director) enjoyed creating this target - goodbye washtub!

This is Tofik's favorite target!

And it burns, burns, burns...

A number of neighborhood boys come from poorer homes who cannot afford membership at the dar chebab.  We've begun offering dar chebab scholarships if these boys put in a couple of days' hard work in beautifying the grounds of the center.  This could eventually turn into the environmental club I've thought about creating, inshalla.