Well not really "the far side of the world" but from my perch in America it seem that way. I created this blog, as a place to share my stories, observations and creative impulses that crop up in my day-to-day life during my Peace Corps service.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

ET... Go Home.

ET (Early Termination)... This week I headed into Rabat to drop off a few books, but my main reason on going there was to say goodbye to my friend Adrienne, who decided to call it a career in the Peace Corps and head back to the States. Adrienne and I came into the Peace Corps together, sat next to each other for most of our CBT and traveled to Dublin back in March for St. Patrick's Day. She is one of my closest friends here and I will miss her.
Morocco can be a hard life for female volunteers, this is a muslim culture and the status of women is so different than what we have back home, but more important there is the constant harassment of women here by the men. I do not understand why this country tolerates this shameful behavior but somehow it does and in fact it is the norm. It doesnt seem to make a difference if the woman is a Moroccan or foreigner, they will get verbally and phsyically harassed... but for foreigners it seems to be never ending.
As a foreigner and a man, I do not know how my female friends put up with such bullshit day in and day out. I would have left within the first 90 days... and the Peace Corps from my point of view does very little to address these issues besides having "gatherings" on harassment... there is very little support coming from Peace Corps staff... shameful as that may sound.
So I lose another friend over here... but I have made a friend for life... God Speed and I know you are happy for the first time in months.

See you when I return.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 21, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    LAHUMDULLAH.

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2012 at 11:30 AM

    "this is a muslim culture and the status of women is so different than what we have back home.." what an incredible generalization to make. I am a second time PCV, once in the middle east over a decade ago, and now in latin america. Harassment of women has been the same in both places. However, during my pcv days in Tunisia, your statement was often repeated as an explanation for harassment: The "muslim culture." Yet here in Peru, no one ever says the "catholic culture" is the reason for the mistreatment of women.

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