The Past Few Weeks of Travel...

These are a few images from my "In-Service Training (IST)" presentation I did on my community and work... The others are posted on my Facebook page with some other recent photos... http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1085541521

These women are really talented! We have just taken on the incredible and immense initiative to make only natural products! All of the colors are made from using plants with natural dying properties and the women do the whole process from sheering the sheep to making the rug... It's great and traditional and sustainable :)


I made this piece for an exhibition titled "World Peace and Friendship" in Agadir. I also exhibited it in Rabat and Marrakech on the way to Agadir! I had a lot of positive response from the public and other PCVs. It felt really nice to make something. This piece is titled "Gardinier" or Gardener in Moroccan French. The man was the gardener at the Spring Camp I did in Oujda. They are pencil drawing on the top, acrylic painting on the bottom and a dried plant composition in the middle. The frame is made from an old hammam door (cutting it up, not the whole door...)!

Here is a close up of the plant part...






So, here is a little timeline of the past few weeks (and crazy weeks they've been!)

Sun - Tues, May 25-27 Exhibitions in Rabat
Wed - Sat, May 28-31 Travel and Exhibitions in Marrakech
Sun - Sat, April 1 - 9 IST in Agadir and travel home

To put that in perspective, it was about 35 hours of travel time total...

So, the first exhibition in Rabat was at a church... It went really well! We sold almost all of the natural production, plus quite a bit of the other. Unfortunately, the next two days at the Institute in Rabat were rather uneventful... We realized it's best to exhibit on weekends when there are a lot of people in and out (we were relying on outside sources to set up these exhibitions and are now learning that they don't necessisily consider some of the most important factors, so we are currently reevaluating our collaboration with them, which is important anyway and would make the association more sustainable)

The exhibition in Marrakech was a huge shock to everyone (except for perhaps this outside source...) It was 40Km from Marrakech center in the mountains! It was an Ecological Festival! Well, it was beautiful and obviously a lot of money went into organizing it, but unfortunately, it wasn't well marketed and was poorly attended. The benefits however, turned out to outweigh the lack of sales. The association was able to make a lot of great new contacts and gather some important information for seeking assistance and information... those hopefully will prove most useful in the future. Check out the facebook page for a look at just how crazy this experience turned out to be...

In Agadir, it was fabulous to get back together with everyone! It was like a reward for our first 9 months! We stayed in a nice hotel on the beach with a swimming pool and hot showers, good food, full of the PCVs that we swore in with! What more could a girl ask for? **Here you see the view from Mahri and I's window... It was absolutely outstanding to spend time with Mahri again!

Here we are with Mahri's piece in the art show... She painted a mural in her home and this picture is the mural with some supplementary drawing added - lovely!

On top of all our fun and relaxation, IST was suprisingly helpful and insightful in many other ways. It was really good to hear about was others are doing in their sites and experiencing. It was good to talk with the new staff about our program and where we feel we are going and where we need support. All in all, it seemed very productive and I think everyone went home with a clearer picture of how to do our work. I wrote a Marketing Management & Promotion Plan for the association, which was a nice way to clarify what's been done and where we are hoping to move in the future...

And now I have just a little time left (about a week and a half) until I head back to the beach (hard life I know) to Essaouria! I am going to visit Matthew and Mahri before heading to the Gnawa Music Festival!

Oh!!! and I can't believe I almost forgot to mention... INTERNET @ HOME!!! Yes, it's finally up and running! and wireless nonetheless. I'm so glad the stress of that is over! It's been over 3 months! Praise God.