DOWN ON THE FARM
The various sectors of the Peace Corps program staff, along with other PC staff, continually explore potential sites for volunteer placement. I recently attended a meeting in Rabat to represent VAC at a SBD Site Development meeting, to learn the process, as well as potentially offer beneficial input. It was a good experience.
On the way home, I stopped over to spend a night with my Arabic tutor. Here are some photos of my visit. The first is of her husband’s family. My tutor is the first woman on the left. The man in the middle with the yellow slacks is her 36 year old brother-in-law, who teasingly told me to help him to find a wife. He doesn’t want to come to America, as many do.
The presence of a couple of Massey Ferguson tractors and other farm machinery, as well as their home, would indicate to me they are likely upper middle class economic level. Here are some haystacks, (rectangular bales) near the cow pen. The bulls are, at this time, kept in a shed. Her husband took me in the "pet" them. They do not neuter animals here, so there seemed to be nearly a bull for every cow. The cows are all pregnant, so there wasn’t any homemade butter or fresh milk available during my stay. They also drink buttermilk, freshly churned.
They have a good farming operation, primarily potato growers. The picture shows the remnants of the last harvest; spuds they will eat themselves. They sell to companies that make French fries, as well as to wholesalers who sell them at souks. They also have some pretty good sized onions, as you can see. Most of the onions, as least in this part of the country, are red.
Here is Zhour’s family. Her mom is sitting next to me, to your left. She makes the best whole wheat bread, which she bakes in a little mud (clay)oven in back of the house. The other photo is of her father and his little grandson. I practically ate non-stop for about 24 hours while I visited the two homes and families. Great food!I left with pomegranates and huge wonderful green grapes freshly picked from trees/vines in the yard.
It is so good to be able to meet these simple, hard-working people. I say simple, but that only refers to their lifestyle, compared to ours. Several do have college educations, but no jobs are to be had. But they prosper, anyway, in more aspects than just financially.
The various sectors of the Peace Corps program staff, along with other PC staff, continually explore potential sites for volunteer placement. I recently attended a meeting in Rabat to represent VAC at a SBD Site Development meeting, to learn the process, as well as potentially offer beneficial input. It was a good experience.
On the way home, I stopped over to spend a night with my Arabic tutor. Here are some photos of my visit. The first is of her husband’s family. My tutor is the first woman on the left. The man in the middle with the yellow slacks is her 36 year old brother-in-law, who teasingly told me to help him to find a wife. He doesn’t want to come to America, as many do.
The presence of a couple of Massey Ferguson tractors and other farm machinery, as well as their home, would indicate to me they are likely upper middle class economic level. Here are some haystacks, (rectangular bales) near the cow pen. The bulls are, at this time, kept in a shed. Her husband took me in the "pet" them. They do not neuter animals here, so there seemed to be nearly a bull for every cow. The cows are all pregnant, so there wasn’t any homemade butter or fresh milk available during my stay. They also drink buttermilk, freshly churned.
They have a good farming operation, primarily potato growers. The picture shows the remnants of the last harvest; spuds they will eat themselves. They sell to companies that make French fries, as well as to wholesalers who sell them at souks. They also have some pretty good sized onions, as you can see. Most of the onions, as least in this part of the country, are red.
Here is Zhour’s family. Her mom is sitting next to me, to your left. She makes the best whole wheat bread, which she bakes in a little mud (clay)oven in back of the house. The other photo is of her father and his little grandson. I practically ate non-stop for about 24 hours while I visited the two homes and families. Great food!I left with pomegranates and huge wonderful green grapes freshly picked from trees/vines in the yard.
It is so good to be able to meet these simple, hard-working people. I say simple, but that only refers to their lifestyle, compared to ours. Several do have college educations, but no jobs are to be had. But they prosper, anyway, in more aspects than just financially.
posted by Connie Genger | 9:03 AM
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