Spring Camp

On the last day of spring camp the children were given permission to explore the city grounds unsupervised.  Everyone seemed to have fun except three girls, who had a different and unfortunate experience.  I noticed one of the girls crying and asked what had happened.  She explained that some boys on the street had called out to her and her friends.  One of the boys grabbed her arm and pulled her in towards him.  Shaken up she finished the story with, “he then unbuttoned his white shirt in front of us.”  My first reaction was to go outside and find the boy that had done this, but luckily my fellow PCVs advised me that I wouldn’t like Moroccan jail very much.

The other PCVs and I started working on what the best course of action should be.  We decided first to call one of the Moroccan staff for guidance, but that quickly resulted in a shouting match and blaming of the girls.  Next, another Moroccan staffer chimed in, and what seemed to be a second shouting match was in fact the other Moroccan staffer explaining that the first Moroccan staffer was wrong for blaming the girls.  None of this was really working because the girls were still crying.  Other fellow campers were also blaming the girls.

Finally, we decided to call Fatima Kamal.  Who better to speak to these girls than a strong, independent, caring woman?  Fatima reassured the girls they did nothing wrong.  Slowly, the tears disappeared and the girls continued to listen silently to Fatima's gentle words.  After the phone call, we explained to the girls that they should ignore the people blaming them and to understand it was not their fault.

As I stood up, I noticed in the room stood five strong, independent caring women surrounding the girls.  At first we had no idea what to do, but we figured it out step by step and what could have been disaster instead became a learning experience.

The tears stopped and the girls ended up joining the party the camp was having and danced with their fellow campers.  The first day of camp, I remember how these same girls were making fun of us and whispering God knows what, but I will take with me the tight hugs, the kisses on our cheeks and the thank yous they gave us on the last day of camp. I wanted to do more, I know we all did but without realizing it we did exactly what was needed.  Sometimes, to truly make a difference, requires only that we be present.