When There Is No Work

By Anne Stuckey

Receiving Bad News

Last August, my husband and I got a phone call from the director of the youth center to inform us that he was being transferred to another town, and therefore, our youth center would be closed until a new director came. Our youth center didn’t open again until the middle of December, leaving us without work for over four months.

During that time, we sought out other work options at the high schools and boarding houses but were turned away because we did not have the proper paperwork. I also attempted to work with a local women’s association affiliated with a major political party, but it too was off limits due to Peace Corps’ policy on remaining politically neutral. It seemed as if every avenue we tried kept leading us to dead ends.

Assessing Our Options

This tale, however,  is not unique among Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco. Many volunteers find themselves in situations like ours, and become easily discouraged because there is no work to do in the community. At least, that is what we convince ourselves of, but the reality is there is always work we can do. We might just have to look a little harder.

There was one place that I hadn’t thought to work at yet. At this place, I would have freedom to do activities without any papers or permission, and this was my home.* Of course, the activities would be informal and limited in scope. I would have to invite people I knew and trusted for safety purposes, but it would do.

Working Out of Your Home

Ok… so now I had a place, but who should I invite and what should I do with them? I immediately thought of four high school aged girls that I had gotten to know well over the past year and a half, two were my host sisters and the other two were English students I had taught.  We collectively decided that we would try to have a weekly Sunday gathering and do a different activity each time.

The first week we just made pumpkin cookies as a sort of American cultural exchange. We also had a conversation about the difference between food in Morocco and the United States. The second week was beauty week. We made face masks using oatmeal and honey and did each other’s hair. As we were waiting for our facemasks to dry, we had a conversation about our perception of beauty and their personal definition of real beauty.

Choosing Nature as Another Option

Week three was a fun excursion to a wooded park on the edge of town. We had a picnic in the park, played a game of Marco Polo, then hiked into the surrounding hills to watch the sunset, and walked home afterward. While each community is different, I have found that women and girls in our specific town are not encouraged to spend much time outside, so for these four girls the opportunity to simply walk to a park in their own town was huge. For one of the girls, it was her first time visiting the park! And for all of them it was the first time they had hiked in the surrounding hills. We spent about three hours total on our excursion, and on the way home the girls were elated and insisted that I come inside with them to show the pictures we took to their moms.

Creating Space for Self-Expression

At our next meeting, we made candle holders out of recycled CDs and plastic cream cheese containers. These crafts were inspired by a discussion we had the week before in the park about trash and recycling. We listened to Moroccan pop songs and other songs, including Jennifer Lopez’s “I Ain’t Yo Mama” on Youtube and let our creative juices flow.

At our most recent meeting, I showed them a video regarding the importance of work and education for females in Morocco. We had a brief discussion about the challenges for women who want to work in Morocco, and what they can do to overcome these challenges. Then we made collages where they visually represented their dreams for the future, most of which involved traveling and working with a diverse group of people.

  

Finding the Value

Even though our youth center was closed for 4 and a half months and the path to all other avenues of formal work seemed riddled with obstacles, this informal gender and development work I was able to do out of my home has become some of the most meaningful work of my service. At our staging event back in 2015, we did one activity where we were asked to write down some aspirations for our service. One of mine was to help young girls find value in themselves. While I don’t know for sure if I have accomplished this, I at least feel like I have a platform to work toward this aspiration.

A final note: If you are currently a volunteer facing roadblock after roadblock to find formal work, take heart. There is gender and development work you can do all around. It might take the shape in the most informal of settings, but it counts. You may be surprised at how meaningful your work becomes even when there isn’t any.

* While hosting activities in my home worked well for me in these circumstances, it is not for everyone due to personal reasons or safety concerns.

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Posted By Sarah Amer

Are You a Girl or a Woman?

Sarah Amer is a first year Peace Corps Volunteer serving in the Meknes-Fes region. Originally from Cleveland, OH, she is a first generation Palestinian American and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Having done her master's research on women's empowerment, she strives to play an active role in promoting global gender equality in her everyday life. When she isn't busy being the Vice Chair of PC Morocco's GAD Committee, you can find her teaching content-based English and fitness classes.

"Are You a Girl or a Woman?"
By Sarah Amer

Typically, when people think of how women experience oppression or gender inequality in some societies, they equate it to physical facets of life such as domestic violence occurring in the home or prohibition in gaining financial security through employment. Often overlooked is how certain linguistics and aspects of communication come into play. For example, the first time I visited the Nedi Neswi, or women’s organization, to meet and greet the members, I encountered a situation that shed light on this common, yet often overlooked way of lowering the status of women in society through labeling.

That day, after introducing myself to the women at the Nadi Neswi, one woman began a spontaneous discussion regarding the differences between girls and women. Allegedly, a girl is a girl until she gets married. It is only after she is married that she is considered a woman. One by one, this woman went around asking each woman in the room whether she was a “girl” or a “woman.” When she finally reached me and asked the question, I simply replied, “I am a woman.” Her face broke into a smile, and she asked, “Oh, you are married?” That is when I stated, “No, my status isn’t based on a man. I am 28 with a Master’s degree, a job, and I had my own apartment in America for ten years.... I’m a woman.” Her smile disappeared into a look of dismay and, quickly, the subject was changed.

While this incident may seem trivial to some and chalked up to “cultural differences”, the way we as women are labeled and the labels we as women accept play massive roles in our status and advancement in society. To be told that my numerous life accomplishments despite the struggles and obstacles I faced as a female did not grant me the status of a “woman” because I was not married was a blow to the identity I had worked so hard to forge over the years.

It was also a realization that gender equality advancements are not just about changing laws to grant women more rights in the courts or implementing status quo practices to ensure a certain number of women are accepted into universities and male dominated career fields. Until we are able to reshape the way young girls and women think about themselves, legal reforms will continue to be overlooked and underutilized. Likewise, new opportunities for women in career fields once closed to them will continue to see a lack of women in them.

Thus, gender reform starts in the home with changing how girls and women are labeled and defined. It starts by teaching little girls that their ultimate life goal is not limited to securing a husband and being the perfect wife. It starts by acknowledging the accomplishments of women and not invalidating them because they are unwed. Finally, it starts by allowing every person to forge their own path and be acknowledged as the individual that they are and not by the relationships that they have.

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Posted by Katie Bercegeay