My dear friends and relatives, my supporters and interested people!
Now I can do it even for once to sit down and write my second, long overdue newsletter. I want the whole for those who do not have time or inclination to read it all, short preface: I have meaningful work, no Moroccan real good friends, but acquaintances with whom I can do something. In addition, German friends in other cities. My days are filled and I have for my time in Morocco for many plans. I'm fine! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all my supporters sincerely thank everyone who supported me financially or mentally, and support. I experience great things here and learn so much, and without you and you would not be possible! Thank you!
Now starts the part that is closer to me, my situation, my work and Morocco deals and will vary accordingly longer. I take the liberty of you and to "you" together, I think the "you" makes it easier to write the whole letter and personal. Happy reading!
My first month in Morocco was superb and in Casablanca, Dar Beyda, Casa, together with the seven other new EIRENE volunteers. We were staying in a cheap hotel, eight young people who are all super nice and interesting, all excited on the great adventure that can only be so awesome. The adventure is: 14 months Morocco. We already knew from the course and have to leave due in large part to our now very good and deep friendships, especially the common time in Casablanca.
The purpose of this month was one part of a language course, on the other hand, the common acquaintance of land and people. The course, a week French, three weeks Moroccan Arabic, has unfortunately largely as a rather poor herausgestellt, was uns zwar daran gehindert hat, in diesem Monat Arabisch zu lernen, nicht aber daran, uns an Marokko heranzutasten, viele tolle und weniger tolle neue Dinge zu entdecken und eine riesigen Spaß zu haben. Währenddessen lernten wir auch die beiden Freiwilligen kennen, die schon seit September 2007 ihren Dienst in Marokko leisten. Hier nochmal ein besonderer Dank an Julien, der uns Grünschnäbel in der ersten Woche begleitet hat und das ebenso nett wie pragmatisch und gut gemacht hat. An den Wochenenden standen Projektreisen in andere Städte Marokkos an, um unsere zukünftigen Arbeitsplätze und ein bisschen was vom Land kennen zu lernen (ich berichtete).
Ende August ging es dann für uns in all the cities that should be for the next 13 months the whereabouts and perhaps a bit of a second home. For me this meant to Marrakech:
Marrakech, the pearl of the Orient, the red city, former caravan rest stop, King City and namesake of Morocco, is a great city. A huge Medina (old city), only (!!!) red houses, greenery and friendly people have delighted me from the beginning, and all Moroccan cities, I know, I like only Essaouira better. It happens to me frequently that I TRACE deep in thought to myself, suddenly look up and wander from one Sonnenuntergang hinter Palmen beeindruckt werde. Doch trotz all ihrer Schönheit hat auch diese Touristenhauptstadt Marokkos ihre Schattenseiten, Marrakech ist eine Stadt der Gegensätze: einerseits Heerscharen von Touristen, dementsprechende Preise, aufdringliche Händler, zumindest für den Ungeübten, viele hier automatisch reiche Ausländer, v.a. Franzosen, die sich teilweise wie Kolonialherren benehmen, reiche Marokkaner mit dicken Autos und riesengroßen Villen, andererseits Armutsviertel, Straßenkinder, Bettler, Kinderarbeit, illegale Prostitution, Drogen, Leute, die nicht wissen, was sie morgen essen sollen und entweder kein oder zu zehnt ein schlechtes und sehr sehr kleines Dach über dem Kopf haben. Auf einem dieser problematischen Gebiete arbeitet AL KARAM, „meine“ Organisation:
AL KARAM heißt auf deutsch „Freigiebigkeit“, existiert seit ca. 12 Jahren und arbeitet in Marrakech und Safi auf dem Gebiet des Kinderschutzes. Der Name ist meiner Meinung nach nicht ganz richtig gewählt, denn es geht nicht um Almosen, aber dazu später mehr. Ich arbeite in Marrakech, wo die Organisation seit 2004 aktiv ist und 3 Zentren hat: Ein Jungenzentrum, das auch die Verwaltung beherbergt, ein Mädchenzentrum, und ein „Centre d’Ecoute“ (écouter = zuhören) in der alten Medina, also eine Anlaufstelle für Kinder und Mütter mit Problemen und außerdem ein Ort, where children can get there and be looked after. In the boy's home life always 5-25 boys, girls home a maximum of 12 girls. This day come external children who come are to eat, work, play and care while their parents (usually just the mothers) to go make money or at least try.
The children work with which we are always at a disadvantage socially strong, be it by extreme poverty, domestic violence, economic or sexual exploitation, or simply by the absence of family structures. They often come from the road coming into the organization voluntarily or are referred by police or juvenile court judge us. Others are brought by their parents because this it is purely and simply can not afford to feed them. "Our" children had really been any kind of problems that you can imagine, from the beating of relatives and child labor abuse to drugs (glue) and court proceedings for allegedly or actually committed crimes. And this list could be quite likely to continue indefinitely with all health, regards civil and social status. But back to our work. Even if we have beds and stay accessible children in the organization, we are not a children's home in the true sense. The goal of AL KARAM it is, rather, with the children and working families, both for their respective roles and to sensitize the child at the end, if possible, to reintegrate into their own family. In the problem-solving time the children are then placed in the organization and be (re) introduced to a normal life. If there is no way to integrate a child back to his own family, as a solution remains primarily the children's home, in some cases, the children stay long with us because they do not meet the admission criteria for children's homes, and very rarely there are host families and adoptions. The social workers, mostly teachers, so will work with the children in the center, give children and families medical, administrative and sometimes legal assistance work at night on the road and document all of this That is also free medical care in partner hospitals, obtaining the "Etat Civil", ie the child to give a formal identity, psychological support from some volunteer psychologists, and in extreme cases sometimes represent a child in court.
There are several programs with international partners like the EU, UNICEF, Monaco or the Bureau International du Travail, for example, to support young people in apprenticeships and job search, training and literacy of mothers and the simultaneous Care for their children or the awareness of society for the rights of children.
The other level, working on the AL KARAM is in fact precisely this awareness of society for the rights of children. Although Morocco has ratified the 1994 Convention on the Rights of the United Nations, but in practice, and the minds of many Moroccans, this arrived only sporadically. It is to be placed in front of tourist monuments, among other bands with the rights of children as meetings with representatives of police and judicial cooperation and with the organizations of artisans, because child labor is a big problem. In addition, the educators of course work directly with the children and their social environment and enter food for thought, to raise awareness of the value and rights of children as well as the responsibilities we have as parents.
much at the moment to the work of AL KARAM. I am after 4 months here now come to the conclusion that this organization actually do good and important work, of which I was not really convinced at first. It's just hard work and a struggle for every single case, but now I think what always tell everyone: AL KARAM is among the best children's organizations in Morocco. In my opinion, has done much so that a French organization, the Fondation Auteuil, "or" Auteuil International works closely with AL KARAM, at least annually conducts seminars on education, in terms of organization and management know-how of this campaign and are also involved in most projects with other international partners. In some years, the primary responsibility of "Auteuil", who was recently there, he can imagine, AL KARAM hardly needs support from them.
When I started the first of September my work, I have gone, was welcomed, and I have been waiting for now. That gave me the opportunity to know, Nelly and Cecilia learn, two French interns, had her first day and waited. You should stay just under four months and prove to be a great support, very nice and end up being good friends. My living situation was not clear, neither family nor home found, and since it is so beds in the organization and one of the teachers there also lives in one of two dorms, I found myself once housed there. As for the work, me neither a clear task was given, yet said what I could do, so I have to wait for now. This has unfortunately meant that I had in the first period of long hours spent doing nothing and have begun to doubt the meaning of my existence. Added to this was that even on my more or less intrusive requests for help in finding accommodation was barely a reaction, and I so in the first three weeks was no difference between work and leisure, because everything has played in the same place. Of Ramadan, which started on my second working day, has not contributed to the activism of the employees, but on the other hand, it was a great experience to witness and join him for two days. eat nothing all day and drink around zipper (!!!) a while already, but not as bad as you think. Then taste the Ftor ("Breakfast") at sunset all the better. Still, I was glad when I finally found a room, and my existence is no longer limited to the organization, but sometimes I could do something again, without me it's always someone watching.
This room is my home now, so for this time here, and I like it, even if there is no shower and only cold water. I did it to me nicely, and I am glad to have a room with door to go on. It is unfortunately quite far away from work, and in the meantime bought my bike has broken down more and more, but I just go on foot and also find another solution.
In the work I've taken some time for idleness, boredom, frustration and self-initiative and me piece by piece davon wegbewegt: Peu-à-peu habe ich erst mit Cécilia und Nelly angefangen, einen Jonglageworkshop aufzubauen, Material organisieren, zum Teil sogar aus Deutschland, die Jongliersachen zusammen mit den Kindern herzustellen, und dann eben Jonglieren anzufangen. Das macht mir und den Kindern Spaß, auch wenn sie nicht immer so wollen wie ich, und Bälle und anderes Jonglierzeug anders durch die Luft fliegen als es vorgesehen ist. Nicht zuletzt durch diese Aktivität mit ihnen habe ich mittlerweile – trotz immer noch großer Sprachbarriere – einen guten Draht zu ihnen. Es lohnt sich schon deswegen, hier zu sein, weil ich jeden Tag mit freudigen Blicken zu hören kriege: „Jonglage?“ Zweimal die Woche kann ich then "yes" answer and it will be a happy day for them and for me. We have a lot of fun together and with many of the children I have my own little thing, a sign, any nonsense that one does when one sees oneself. I like totally love, and me too.
addition to working with the children, I spend most time on the computer. I have some time I translated the annual report of the 2007 AL KARAM from French to English, no easy task for a German, but certainly good for the languages. How good was the English that has come of it, I do not know. I'm out of sheer French is a bit of a sense of lost. One of my other responsibilities is fundraising, for example, for a construction project of the organization is to unite the three centers in Marrakech and a pretty big part. I'm an absolute rookie, of course not a cent so far brought, but let's see, maybe that will still change over time. Since early January, our "Administrative Coordinatrice" three months on maternity leave, and I have replaced. Her, and now my job is office work, so e-mails, letters and faxes to read, write and manage to keep a little overview of the various partner projects and new projects and donors to to write or find. Also, I am now in charge of a project with a French and Monegasque donors. It's going to crash course training for women and care for their children. The goal is to help parents to play their part again to be able, economically, educationally and emotionally. The reports on this project were the same at the beginning of time to bring in high speed on its feet, so reports to make dossiers for children and mothers re-enter everything into Excel tables, please look to the participants.
The good thing about the job that I'm just really important work, because I can easily be integrated into the team and the whole French correspondence'm coming in a bit more upmarket style. The bad is that it is an office job and I can not spend as much time with the children. I am but determined, when I worked myself a little bit, back to me free up some time for them to spend with the children. And after three months then Amina is back again. My working hours are normally leave 9:00 to 5:00, which twice a week, two hours of language course. But I can of course always happy to work longer or more, or just spend time with the children, and will also soon begin to walk at night on the road and I look at the at least once. Weekends there are often Activities such as Hammam, cycling or excursions to nearby parks, and sometimes I am there among them. Right now it is again quite cold and there is almost nowhere heating, so I'm happy in bed and less like outside.
Linguistically, I am quite fit now in French, in Arabic, unfortunately, despite the less price. The problem here is simply that almost everyone speaks French, and there really is no compulsion to learn Arabic. Also French to get there just fine and for everyday communication with their children smattering of French and my few words of Arabic-rich, the rest is by gestures, facial expressions and characters. I must force me so to learn and speak, and I thank God at least one advantage that I am all day surrounded by Arabic, Moroccan talk to each other that is certainly Arabic, mixed with, according to educational level, social class and issue a different number of French words , phrases and sentences. This, and the course I do, I'm now buying it but already in a position to at least a few things or to order food. The dealer wants to sell you in a mixture of at least five languages, spices, handicrafts and carpets, in Arabic, I can smile and pat or wring a flood of Arabic phrases, which I of course then again do not understand in any case, he can more or less from me. How well my knowledge of Arabic this year are, in effect, I can not estimate today. Therefore one must also know that on the one hand are the classical Arabic, is written in, and then an infinite number of dialects, which differ in part from this very high level language. Moroccan Arabic, for example, Darija (pronounced Dariescha) is heavily influenced by English and French and also varies within Morocco supposedly pretty. I give my best in any event and we'll see what happens.
have friends I found, though still not Moroccan, but German, go through the same thing as me. While in other cities. I have a few good Moroccan friends who are very nice but either too busy or not on the same wavelength. Generally I can say that the difference in mentality, especially among people my age, is greater than I had thought. The company is simply so much to a large extent shaped by a popular belief that religion whose rules and traditions for many people a dominant theme discussions. What makes a discussion but difficult is that the Koran is the word of God and is therefore not in doubt. This also produces statements such as: "If one in front of the food no Bismillah [ Namen Gottes] sagt, kommt der Teufel vom höchsten Punkt des Hauses und isst mit dir!“ Und das hat jemand gesagt, der zwanzig ist und mit dem ich ab und zu mal was mache.
Grundsätzlich habe ich natürlich überhaupt nichts gegen irgendeine Art von Glauben oder Frömmigkeit, aber ein Problem ist meiner Meinung nach dabei schon die Unreflektiertheit und die Unfähigkeit vieler, selbst zu denken, die damit einhergehen. Andererseits ist es interessant, wie eine Gesellschaft aussehen kann, wenn eine Volksfrömmigkeit vorherrscht und große Bevölkerungsanteile (zumindest offiziell) nach relativ strengen Regeln lebt. Dieses Glauben von Dingen, die einem gesagt werden und die mehr oder weniger ubiquitäre Submission to God ("inschaallah", "God willing") do have my opinion too much with the situation of individuals and the overall situation of the country. Your destiny is your destiny and you are you at your predetermined course, you've already earned it the way it is, you can do it anyway to change only very limited. On the one hand, that of course the good that people create in their situation, on the other hand, it brings with it an incredible phlegm. Will the commitment to change traditional structures in their own countries are rarely available.
A not to underestimate the impact it has is the proximity of Europe I think, because almost everyone has to go somewhere more or less distant dream, to Europe. This makes Morocco for many only the "interim solution" in which one lives just with ailments such as corruption, blatant mismanagement, nepotism and sometimes abstruse, facade-keeping rules. Even, or especially the educated elite shows hardly any efforts to break up old, antiquated and patriarchal structures and open the way for a modern, cosmopolitan society. Girls who have friends who smoke and do go to clubs to do the hiding and play at home the brave boys find it quite normal that their fathers beat them, but definitely not the mothers! Playing in a metal band does not mean that you do not obey their parents without any ifs and buts and has been doing nothing to do with sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. An open rebellion against any authority is very rare, but in my opinion would be that which would bring the country forward. But when it comes to Gaza, the right-sided reporting of the Arab media with dead children on the front pages is believed unconditionally, smashed buses and kiosks, and rushed against the Israelis. It even had a girlfriend here organized by the concert to be canceled with a rapper from pot and Moroccan rappers because of political instability.
Morocco is a land of paradoxes and hidden actions. Officially you live, as it should be, secretly do you do what you want. Take for example the prohibition of alcohol: Alcohol is Muslims, like any drug, prohibited. Now, even after a very conservative estimate at least 98% of Moroccan Muslims or give it before, Islam is the state religion. Of course there is no one in Morocco, would drink the alcohol. All the wine that is produced here and exported, of course, drunk by tourists. These represent an average of 2.3 bottles of wine a tourist so happy for all the drinking is not a European problem, every European family of four that I know is drinking in a week's vacation Morocco loose her 64 bottles of wine, or not?
is similar to hashish, sometimes police officers allegedly even accept this as a bribe. If you are driving car drunk, you put a little baksheesh in the papers, and a good trip! If you stamp on the copies of your passport need and go with a Moroccan man to the office, you look him in how he is a receiver types, the papers, he explains what it is about who goes into the office of his now absent boss, stamp takes on it, makes, something illegible as a "signature" hinklatscht by your friend and for 20 Dirham (about two euros) is replaced. Explanation: "Do you want to come here every day all week?" Marokko ist ein Land mit vielen Einschränkungen, aber auch mit genauso vielen Möglichkeiten, sie zu umgehen, es kommt nur auf die Mittel an. Hierbei zählen übrigens Väter in hoher militärischer Position genauso wie der schnöde Mammon. All das macht Marokko für mich sehr interessant und anstrengend und lehrt mich vor allem, was wir in Deutschland an unserer demokratischen, pluralistischen und sozial abgesicherten Gesellschaft haben. Pressefreiheit, Krankenhaus umsonst und zumindest von Seite der Autoritäten keine Probleme für Randgruppen sind einfach tolle Dinge, genauso wie die deutsche Bürokratie. Auch wenn ihr es nicht glauben wollt, es geht noch viel viel schlimmer.
Wenn man an der Oberfläche bleibt, ist Marokko trotzdem ein tolles Land: Es gibt alles, was man sich an Landschaften vorstellen kann, so sehe ich fast täglich das eindrucksvolle Massiv des hohen Atlas hinter Palmen, fahre keine drei Stunden ans Meer, es gibt Wälder, Skipisten, Wüste, Wiesen, Blumen, Millionenstädte, die niemals stillstehen und Dörfer, die nichts anderes tun, Kamele und Tannen, Äpfel, Kartoffeln, Datteln und Oliven, Autobahnen und staubige Pisten, Karren, gezogen von Eseln, Pferden oder Menschen und viele BMW X6. Aber ihr seht, auch bei dieser Aufzählung schöner Dinge fällt man ganz schnell wieder in diese Ambivalenz, die im ganzen Land immer und überall präsent ist.
The holidays around the calendar year were different than usual and relatively unspectacular, but beautiful. Over Christmas we were five remaining EIRENIES here in Meknes in a beautiful black African-influenced church service with lots of singing and a very loud nativity play, ate pizza and drank beer cans. Our original plan was to go skiing to be postponed due to (alleged) lack of snow and will be implemented at an upcoming weekends. New Year's Eve I'm a French intern and friends celebrated her was at half past 2 in the bed and I have worked on the day before and after. The feast of Aid El Kbir, the largest Muslim Hard, had I held just before our first progress seminar in mid-December with my neighbors, for the occasion were the tradition geschächtet according sheep, in our case three, and then eaten. There, people came to visit and it is suggested to chat, but somehow I think is not a real party atmosphere emerged.
So by and large we can to say here that I do exactly what I wanted: I am doing socially useful work, get to a country with all his own problems and solutions know, have time for me to do I know thoughts about God and the world, learn languages and new people, customs and mentalities. I like it! Due to some visits, trips and other events such as summer camps and "Chantier de Solidarité" I have now also under the impression that it is almost over and I hardly any time left, but thank God, are there so still, or only, what you will, nine sure-packed months!
Thank you for your interest, look forward to responses and questions remain, with a warm
Bslama, your
Niko Schreiter
