First Day at IBNY

Today I went to my second placement! IBNY was started in 2006 as a school for street children. If the children did not come to school, they would be begging; however, they do have parents and homes. Some beggers make more money than some workers and having a child (sometimes doped up) increases the offerings. There are about 200 students, ages 3-9 in the school where meals and education are provided. Shannon, Geraldine and I were dropped off at the Medina and walked a few hundred yards inside the wall to the school for street children. Our “classroom” is a VERY tiny area, really just a hallway – maybe 6 feet wide by 20 feet long. We had three classes: 3, 4, and 5 year-olds with a short outside recess. We made masks and crowns with the children – crayons, feathers, glue sticks and crepe paper everywhere. Kids are kids and everywhere the same; they laugh, fight, cry and grab your hand and heart. It was a tiring but wonderful day.

You can see the size of our "classroom"

Three cuties in their crowns

After lunch, Mohammed, the CCS director, gave a lecture on the history of Morocco (Almaghreb in Arabic). Some interesting tidbits follow. There are two official languages here: Arabic and Tamazight (a Berber dialect), with French also spoken and taught in schools. At age 6, in some public schools, students are taught all three languages (imagine two are written right to left, French left to right, and all three have very different alphabets). The king, Mohammed VI is the 7^th richest statesman in the world but Morocco is 128^th in human development (life expectancy, literacy and GDP). In 2004, a new law was passed which stated that no longer could a Moroccan man have four wives. Now, he can have a second wife only if the first wife and a judge agree.

This was followed by a discussion on the best places to travel while in Morocco. Since the other seven volunteers with us are here for only two weeks, they just have this weekend; luckily we have five weekends. But seven of us have plans this weekend to go to Merzouga – more about this on Monday! Other possible trips include Fes, Meknes, Casablanca, Chefchaouen, Marrakesh, and Essuara.

We then had our daily treat – afternoon tea. This always consists of a glass of mint tea (green tea, lots of mint leaves, hot water and sugar) and a Moroccan pastry (we’ve had quite a few and they are all delicious). Five of us women went for a 5.5 mile power walk to try to shed the effects of the pastry.