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