YCEW Morocco 2006

VBS Pictures

VBS was a lot of fun. We split the kids into three groups -- youngest, middle, oldest -- and put three YCEW members with each one.

We began and ended each day with singing. I believe that we were singing "Hipp-hipp-hipp-hippopatomus" in this picture.

Volubilis Pictures

The Saturday before VBS we went to see the nearby Roman ruins of Volubilis. Several teachers from Amacitus joined us. We rented a van to make the almost two hour trip there and then ate lunch in Meknes and had a short driving tour of that city.

Swimming Pictures

Here are some of the pictures of us at a nearby swimming pool. I almost got Bill in trouble for asking him to take pictures of us. The security guard got into a rather heated discussion with him because the guard thought that he was taking pictures of the girls in bekinis. However, Bill assured him that he was just taking pictures of the Americans and eventually they let him be.

A Change of Plans...

When we arrived on monday at the Village of Hope in the beautiful Middle Atlas Mountains, we all anticipated a week that had been set aside completely for manual labor and service. We were anxious to serve after time spent adjusting to and understanding the culture around us. But our first day we received no work. This made us all the more anxious, and when our project was delayed the next morning there was a general feeling of uselessness and and impatience; however, we soon received all the work we could want. We were asked to sand the walls of a room in preparation for paint. At the end of the day we were finished, and many of us had sanded our thumbs raw. But at that point the status on the rest of the project was up in the air. As the pictures show, the room was too tall for us to sand everything from the floor, and although we were told that there was scaffolding available, we were unsure of how safe the equipment was, and we never followed through on trying to find were it was stored in the village. The ambiguity of the project combined with the lack of urgency we sensed from our instructors, the prescence of other volunteer groups, and some health issues caused by altitude, led us to the decision to leave Ain Leuh on Wendsday, two days earlier than planned. Anxiousness had been replaced by awkwardness, and a feeling that our plans to serve had failed. Should we have left? Could we have tried harder, or been more patient? Were we leaving simply because we were not serving on our own terms? These questions crossed through my mind as we returned to Fes. But in our daily group discussion we came to realize the truth expressed in Proverbs 19:21,

"Many plans are in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

We had gone to Ain Leuh completely assured of what we were going to do. It was all planned out, scheduled on our trip calender. But we were not aware of God's purpose. Our plan didn't work, and that did not feel good. But we know that we are exactly where God intends us to be. We've heard prayers offered at church that God would use us and teach us how to serve Him. We're connecting with Moroccans. By the grace of Christ we're reflecting His image. And we're exicited, anticipating God's plans, not ours. And that feels good.

Pictures at Ain Leuh

When we first arrived they assigned us rooms and gave us bedding to make our beds. Then we waited for orientation in the main room. We found out that this was the room that they wanted to have painted in preparation for turning it into a school room for the children.

Before the room could be painted we had to sand all of the whitewash off of the walls. We spent most of Tuesday working on this project. Unfortunately, they didn't have scaffolding, so we couldn't finish the whole room before we left on Wednesday.

After sanding plaster off of the walls, we were all a bit whiter than before as can be seen in this group picture.

For the 4th of July we decided to celebrate by barbecuing chicken.

Breakfast pictures

Joel and Mark took some of us out for breakfast on Monday before we left for Ain Leuh. Here's a picture of the been soup, bisara, with olive oil on top for all of you who are curious as to what it looks like. Luckily Christian came with us and ordered those who wanted them scrambled eggs. I enjoyed the eggs much more than the bisara.

Christian also told us that Mark Bowman had the record for drinking the most mint tea during one breakfast (8cups), so after my fifth cup everyone said that I should try for the record. So here is a picture of the eight cups I drank to match Mark and the record breaking ninth cup. It's a good thing that those cups aren't very big. And the fresh tea leaves take up a bit of space too. As it was, I still had to use the bathroom a few times before we left to get taxis to Ain Leuh.

Surfing Pictures

On Friday night we went to Casablanca where Jedidiah had found us all places to stay with himself or friends. Saturday morning we met at the beach to take surfing lessons from Colin who has a surfing business in Casablanca. Everyone took lessons except for Amanda and I. Getting dressed in wet suits and practicing standing up on the boards while still on the beach was the first part of the lesson

Everyone was successful in getting up at least once; however, it was hard to have the camera ready at just the right time. Here are shots of Ben and Lindley.

After surfing Jedidiah took us to his favorite pizza place in Cassablanca. We all got our own pizza. (The main two choices were hamburger or tuna and shrimp. Both were very good.)

Camel Ride Pictures

The beach at Essaouria. You could boat out to the island, but we settled for just taking pictures. There is a constant wind blowing here and it is a major tourist place. Several of our group tried windsurfing which was a popular activity on the beach.

In Essaouira we were very excited about riding camels. Our hotel clerk set up an hour ride for us on the beach. When we got there we got to choose our camel. Then they linked us up into a boys line and a girls line with a guide for each.

Jedidiah didn't want to ride a camel so he rented a horse to ride on the beach.

This ruin marked the half-way point for our camel ride.

Everyone enjoyed riding the camels. Here are a few close up shots.

Portrait of a Footballer

This is what you get for playing football on the Sabbath. While we were resting at the Kelly's today before heading to the orphanage for the rest of the week, Sam, Faith and I decided to take a football down to the local dirt/rock pitch and try to get a game going. We eventually got two teams of six, and the game was underway. The score remained close despite the fact that Sam's team was stacked with older players, including "The One". I personally encountered "The One". While racing down the sideline with the ball, I found that my path was blocked by my aforementioned foe. In my attempt to evade him, I lost my footing and bit the dust. My team then went down 7 to 5, the 7th goal being the last. The ball passed through the posts, and rolled onto the street, where it encountered a tire with a resounding pop. At this point, the game was over, and we returned home to lick our wounds, beaten, but with the experience of a sandlot football match with the children of Fes.

Monday's Pictures

In the morning we went to a nearby language school to learn a few words in Arabic. They split us into two groups and we went through two 90 minute sessions. Here is one of our teachers, Milute. The other picture is of us eating tangine and learninf proper table manners.

The Jewish quarter which is near Djellaba Street where we all bought our Moroccan outfits. Can you tell which YCEW member is in th red and black djellaba?

All of us dressed up and waiting on Joel. Girls definitely outnumber the guys on this trip even with the addition of Mark and Joel.

The guys playing hackey sack with a neighbor boy. (This is actually on Tuesday)

Another of the neighbor boys.

The kelley's cat, Grant, who has provided us with a lot of entertainment while we've been here.

Henna Party

Betty arranged a henna party for the girls on Tuesday. Hessna (the house help) came to do th henna and a friend of hers, Hannan, taught us how to dance. Here are Julie and Kara getting their hands decorated.