I TOLD YOU SO! It's working! Saturday afternoon while finishing up the accounting for my final report on my Peace Corps Partnership grant, there was a knock on the door. It was Iyub, my counterpart's son, telling me there were people in a car I needed to talk to. I went out, and there were four French people who apparently saw the big road signs, stopped on the highway and asked where the place was, as they were interested in seeing products. Iyub doesn't know much French, I don't know any, so my landlord (who has the hardware store below me) stepped in and helped translate a bit.

We proceeded to the neddy, Iyub and I walking and talking and laughing about the whole language scenario and he was so excited that people were coming to shop! I thought the young woman was working today, but she probably stayed home due to the very blustery weather.I opened up and they started browsing, then my landlord appears, then Malika, my counterpart shows up. She speaks and understands French pretty well, so I told her to explain to them more about the neddy and the products, etc. They left after spendng about 300 Dhs, which was wonderful! If we could have sales of 3000 Dhs a month, that would be huge! One little problem, however. There isn't enough product at this time to support those kinds of sales.

I am hopeful that the story of this incident will get repeated time again, so the women come to understand that tourists WILL stop and buy things, and if they buy things, the women will get money for what they have made, AFTER the sale is made. This is all such a new concept to many of the women who live in the douars, so it all takes time. Oh, by the way, one of the most popular items the French tourists bought was the shwia mica sacs, after they were told what it was about. Sana and I have talked about this marketing technique, and she will do fine. The other woman who works with her is learning. I am more keenly aware of the need for a brochure so am hustling to finish something they can hand out

Oh gosh, how exciting is this, to see it actually starting to work! We were barely able to pay Sana 200 Dhs (mostly from my friends and my purchases) the end of September for her month of working, which basically meant sitting in the neddy hoping for customers. The road signs really make the difference. I just know the new volunteer will do a great job of helping them sustain this little business. (Ensha'llah...)

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you who contributed to the PCPP grant that was posted on the website nearly a year ago. I know that many of you did not realize you needed to indicate it was OK for them to tell me your identity, so I was unable to thank you personally. I hope by reading my blog you have been able to realize how important you donation was.

I'm off to Rabat for close-of-service medical examinations. They must make sure we leave with a clean bill of health. I enjoy Rabat, and as always, seeing/dining with the other volunteers I came and soon will be leaving with.