Work

On a walk in Tilouguite with my friend Fatima and her daughter, Bessima. Her name means 'smile'.

Gathering wildflowers with my host siblings while taking out the goats to graze.

Because of so much snow this winter the wildflowers are abundant this spring. A fresh bouquet decorates my appartment every week.

On the Equipe mobile

Three times a year a 4x4 is sent from the provincial capital to our clinic stocked with meds. We spend a week going out to the farther villages in our area to reach people who can't easily make it in to the clinic.

In this village, Tamga, after chasing out the mice we set up at the mosque.

From left to right: our Equipe mobile driver who is an Amazigh (Berber) and interprets for the Arab doctor who after four years in Tilouguite speaks no Tamazight; a local authority figure who informs the village of when we will come, arranges for a location and hosts lunch; our nurse, an Amazigh who is also my direct counterpart; our doctor who as you can see very modern, besides being a doctor she wears pants and doesn't cover her hair. She is from Rabat.

The roads are awful, precarious at best in most places. It is this and the distance which are most prohibitive for people coming in to see us at the clinic. The farthest villages we visited were two hours away by 4x4. Most people come by foot.

An impromptu stop along the way. There was a large group of women with infants washing clothes in the river. Anyone can flag us down.

My counterpart using the same needle to vaccinate this baby as he did the previous six. He re-used needles when vaccinating the women too. When we were finished he gathered the syringes and threw them into the river. In the beginning of the week I was still suprised by such things. As days wore on practices and behaviors grew more and more incredulous.

I found myself in many disputes this week and was suprised every day that they would invite me back the next.

The doctor doing "consultations" out of the back of the Land Rover. Due to the language barrier (as you can see, Abdel Aziz, the interpreter is in the background having a smoke) the women point to whatever is bothering them and the doctor hands them medicine and takes down their name. All week I never once saw her examine anyone or inquire about symptoms.

Where I was lead when I told our host's daughter that I needed to go to the bathroom. It's not that I was expecting an outhouse, but here there is no cover; especially from watchful eyes that NEVER take themselves off the foreigner.

On the roof at our host's having tea before beginning work for the day. There was a lot of tea drinking-sometimes more than work.

A local moqqadam's wife baking bread for lunch. She said she is about 80 years old (although she doesn't look it) and has birthed 18 children! 13 of them are still living today.

Imi N'Ifri (mouth of the cave) right outside of Demnate

This is Ashley, my sitemate, Samira, a local teacher and me on a hike. We were taking a break from an environmental education conference organized by PCVs in Imi N'Ifri.