Trying Again II

Hey again. I know it’s been a while, and for good reason; culture shock. I’ve been frantically trying to figure out any bit of Tamagzhit (Berber dialect) that I can. Up until the past few days we’ve been staying in a nice (by Moroccan standards, my shower didn’t have a curtain) hotel. A few days ago we moved into our host families’ houses in small villages near Benni milal in the Atals mountains. We have electricity and water, which is great, but the bathrooms are squatters and there is no such thing as toilet paper out here (I’ve stopped chewing the fingernails on my left hand). My host mother (Miriem) is extremely talkative while my host father (Moha) is content to sit and smile. I have a 25 year old brother Aziz, a 21 year old brother Bouzza, a 34 year old brother (Mohammed), a 21 year old sister (Aicha), her 6 month year old son (Salahaddin), a 19 year old sister whose name escapes me, and a funny 11 year old sister (Khadija) who runs and attempts to talk to me. Needless to say, they are a big family.

My first night here I couldn’t even say “rock” in Tamazight. In fact, I couldn’t pronounce Tamazight! I can now say a few useful pronouns (I, you, we, etc.) and know the names of a few nouns. You can probably understand that the dialogue between my host family and I is very limited. They say a million words so fast I can’t think straight, I try to sputter out one word, they all look at me with smiling but blank stares, I act it out, they all laugh. This goes on for about one to two hours and then we all do something else. My one advantage is that I know something about medicine. Khadija broke her wrist the other day and scraped her hands. Luckily I had some antibacterial ointment and band-aids for her fingers and told the family to put her wrist in a sort of makeshift splint. Then I told them to take her to the doctor in the nearest village. They probably understood none of what I said (they never did do the splint thing) but seemed very grateful for the band-aids and the fact that I cared. These people can’t understand me and I can’t understand them but I think there is a common enjoyment of each other that is shared, even if at the end of the day I am a nervous wreck.

Each day, I meet with a group of five other girl volunteers to be instructed in Tamazight for 4-6 hours a day. The rest of the time is spent doing cultural studies and spending time attempting to communicate with our families. My instructor, Samir, is a great guy and I enjoy his classes. One of the girls is actually closer to me than I thought as well. In college I had a long-distance track and field coach for one year named Cici. She was a tall black woman who had a heart of gold and would always talk about her daughter Naomi who went to Bethel. It just so happens that Naomi is in my group at my site and is a strong Christian. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I think God is building a strong ring of support around me (including you guys at home) even all the way out here in the high Atlas mountains of Morocco.

I will continue to let you know what’s going on. Hopefully once a week I can make it into a bigger city with the internet and keep things updated. Until then, take care and God bless guys. I’m going to keep doing my best.

Trying Again

I know I haven't been the best at keeping this updated. But my posts weren't getting posted, hopefully the problem is fixed now! My life right now is great, I am living in a small village (about 300 people) in the Atlas mountains about 120 kilometers outside Beni Millal. The days are hot with a cool breeze and the nights are just right for sleeping. Although that is hard to do with my host family's dog barking at the wild dogs that come out at night. There are a few in particular that I have been tangling with, but I have a big stick now to fend myself off with (I had only rocks before but my host-mother has fixed that). The food is delicious and I am learning Tamazhigt (the Berber dialect spoken here) slowly but surely. There are down turns to things like having to wash your clothes by hand, washing yourself with cold water out of a bucket only once every few days, and using your hand in the bathroom rather than toilet paper. But those are small in comparison to the kindess and generosity of the people as well as the beautiful landscape. I will hopefully have more time to update this and throw some new pictures on in a week or less. Until then, Bslama and God bless!

Hey Africa!

Hey Africa

What Is This About?

It's probably appropriate for me to start this blog off with a proper introduction.

Hello, my name is Dan Dutcher and I am leaving the United States to go to Morocco with the Peace Corps. I will be working as a health worker (really health volunteer, sorry I'll try to keep the B.S. to a limit here). That means that for the next six months I'll be learning how to speak Berber (whichever dialect I get stuck with) and how to wipe with my left hand in some far off place near the Atlas mountains. I will simply be learning how to live in a world that is alien to the one I currently know and love. After those preliminary six months, I should have a good understanding of what is going on in terms of health problems that people in my village face everyday and will spend the next 21 months trying to better their predicament.

Everyone so far has asked me why I am doing this, so I feel that it would be good to clarify that question right now. I grew up in the suburbs of St. Paul reading a lot of comic books and living with my mother and father who are border-line superhero's anyway. My dad created his own accounting firm and saw it to success all while getting two masters degrees in business and taxation and having my brother and sister and I. My mom had the harder job of raising us and working at Qwest. Today they still pull full time jobs but now spend their free time working to get those who have been crushed by the economy out of debt and back on their feet. And they do this all for...yep you guessed it....free! So it's no wonder that I fell in love with the idea of someday being a superhero, swooping in to save the day, you know people like superman and wolverine, tights and all baby. Ever since my X-Men days I've desired to be that person but couldn't figure out how to do it. College was a big problem, because you were told you were equipping yourself to do those sorts of things but really you knew you were just sitting behind a stack of books and interacting with no one. When I got out of the college cage last May (2008) I realized, I still wasn't even close. I had no skills and worse, no job! I found myself relying on everyone else to save me and help me out (thanks parents) and was soon isolated behind another stack of books while I studied for the MCAT. I was watching my friends leave to go to new states and new adventures in life as they accepted decent jobs in their respected fields. Then I got a life line into satisfying my superhero complex, "would you like to go to Morocco where you will sacrifice all luxuries to help out a group of people from unknowing health problems? Don't worry, we'll pay you next to nothing." Hell yeah!

Of course I've had a few months to prepare and during that time I've realized certain things about what I want and what I've signed up for. I want to be a hero, save the day, and have everyone love me. Unfortunately, I've signed up to be completely lost and need the help of everyone around me. I have very few relative skills except the ability to research and learn new information, which will come in very handy with no internet and few books in English (that's sarcasim by the way). Also, I'm leaving everyone who loves me already. All my friends and family who know me best are here in the states. Stupid right? Maybe not. I will still get to help others and overcome challenges that will leave me and those around me feeling like a hero anyway. I'm going to work harder than I've ever worked before but this time I'm going to love it! The people there will give me a new look at what success in life or being a hero really is. And hopefully at the end of it I will know what I want to do with my life (medical school? public health? professional hobo?). But for now, I'm just getting ready to leave and enjoying the company of good friends one last time. Currently I'm in Santa Rosa California visiting one of my closest friends and harassing sea lions on the local beaches. I will fill you in on more in the coming weeks so visit again.

First Day Blogging

Today is the first day of my blog space.....yeah! Let's see if I actually use this.