Women's Rights And Girls' Imaginations

This week I've been in Rabat. I've been enjoying taking the tram around town, as I usually do when I'm here. One day this week right after I got off the tram, as I was walking down the sidewalk, I saw a gendarme, or a law enforcement officer, walking toward me. I enjoyed realizing that a female gendarme was walking toward me. I'm concerned about the status of women, and women's human rights, everywhere, and thus in Morocco. More specifically, I often hope that women continue to advance in many professions here. Thus I'm pleased whenever I see women here employed in professions where one might not always expect to see them working.

I've also gotten enjoyment out of riding the tram in simpler ways. Yesterday when I was on the tram, the conductor was checking to see if passengers had validated their tickets when they had boarded the tram. As he was checking the tickets, a young girl, perhaps five years old, shyly offered the tickets for her mother and herself. The conductor took the tickets. I noticed that he wasn't sliding the bar code on each of those two tickets through his electronic ticket reader. Then I realized that he had probably already checked their tickets, but was nevertheless running the tickets through the reader, honoring the little girl's shy request.

I couldn't help but imagine that in acceding to the little girl's request, and in feeding her imagination, that the tram conductor might have been implicitly and gently encouraging her to imagine much bolder and individualistic dreams for herself. I hope that one day she'll envision herself working in a profession where people might be a bit surprised to see a woman working. More than that, I hope that she'll see a woman working in a career where people might not expect to see a woman working, and that she'll be inspired to boldly define her own identity for herself.

Helping Mom In The Kitchen

Yesterday I was volunteering at the dar chebab (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, for "youth center"), where I do most of my volunteering as a Youth Development PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) here in Morocco. For most of my volunteering there, I teach and tutor students in English.

Yesterday when some students arrived at the dar chebab, one of them asked me to help him with a paragraph he wanted to write in English. He said that he wanted to write about what he had done this past weekend. Usually I have students write what they want to write, and then I correct it. However, yesterday I got the different idea of having the student dictate the letter to me. I corrected his speech as I transcribed it onto the board, so he was only seeing the correct version, and not also what he had said, which at times did not employ proper grammar. In retrospect, I think that I prefer my usual approach. That way, after the student has written his or her work, and then after I correct it, the student can see both his or her mistakes, as well as how the text should correctly read.

Anyway, we came up with a paragraph which read something like this: "Last weekend I went to my village. I spent time with my family. I helped my father work. I saw my friends." A little later, the student said that, instead of having the sentence "I helped my father work," he wanted to include the sentence "I helped my mother in the kitchen." Then he asked me, "That is a good thing to do, yes?" Certainly wanting to encourage sons to support and help their mothers, rather than simply to rely on them and expect them to cook and clean and wash for them, I immediately affirmed that it was indeed excellent to help one's mother in the kitchen.

After we had finished working on the paragraph which he had wanted to write, he and another student asked me to review the passive voice with them. I wrote various sentences on the board in the active voice, which I had the students transform into the passive voice. In doing so, at a couple of points, I consciously capitalized on some opportunities to reinforce the approach of helping one's female family members with household tasks--and even going further than that, and instead actually doing the tasks for them. Thus, I wrote on the board the sentence "He is cooking couscous in the kitchen for his mother," which the students correctly reworded into the passive voice as "Couscous is being cooked by him in the kitchen for his mother."

While I often try to plant such seeds of support of women, in this instance I especially enjoyed providing them this sentence, since I felt that rather than planting a seed, I felt that I was watering a seed which had already taken root. He had shown, of his own volition, that he wants to support and help his mother. That's the best case scenario, when a student already shows the behavior, skill or attitude you hope that he or she develops. It was his idea to help his mother, which demonstrates that he's thinking in the mode of supporting women, and, more specifically, his mother. Hopefully he's already in this mindset by second nature. If not, it looks like he's on his way, since such thoughts of supporting women occur to him on his own.

Shame On You

Here in Morocco, when someone does something which breaks a social norm, others might exclaim, "Hshuma!" When they do so, they're telling the person in Darija, that is, in Moroccan Arabic, "Shame on you!" The person who is chiding the other person might also pull down one of his or her eyelids with his or her index finger, which also is intended to convey the idea of "hshuma."

However, the concept of "hshuma" does not derive its force and effect on the behavior of others due to guilt on the part of the person who has been criticized. Rather, the accusation of "hshuma" focuses on the person in a way which makes the person publicly uncomfortable, in effect, shamed in front of others. Consequently, it often becomes important in Morocco to save face.

Nevertheless, I don't hear Moroccans saying "hshuma" that often. There does exist the social etiquette here that, if one feels that one should reprimand someone else, one does so in private, rather than in public. One is expected publicly to compliment and thank one's friends here. There's also the tendency here in Morocco that out in public one does not get involved in the affairs of others. I've seen kids fighting while adults are nearby watching. When I've gone to break up fights between kids, only then do other adults sometimes come to the children, at that point to assist in breaking up the fight. Thus perhaps one can trace how one doesn't hear "hshuma" uttered that much to these non-interventionist cultural norms, of not getting involved in others' business.

At any rate, I was heartened recently when I was heading off toward the palmerie, or massive grove of palm trees, which stretches into, through, and out of my town, for one of the walks I so enjoy there. On my way to the palmerie, a very young Moroccan boy, perhaps two years old, threw a rock at me. A woman behind him, perhaps his mother, declared, "Hshuma!" Especially considering how I often see Moroccan children throwing rocks at each other, I was grateful that this woman, particularly if she was the young boy's mother, was chastising him for his hostile behavior. Hopefully by correcting him while he is still so young, she will help him to treat others better in the future as he grows older and becomes more able to appreciate the moral character of his own actions.

Teaching English As A Means To Other Ends

The Peace Corps tells PCVs to teach English not just as an end in itself, but additionally to educate host country kids about various issues while also teaching them English. This week I've realized that one can do so more easily and quickly than I had been previously doing.

Here in Morocco, as a Youth Development volunteer, I teach and tutor kids in English at a dar chebab (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, for "youth center"). Moroccan kids receive their main form of formal education in Moroccan schools, which, for most Moroccan kids, are public schools. Sometimes kids want a little extra help with what they've been learning in their English classes in school, so they come to the youth center to ask me questions about English.

Earlier this week, some boys asked me to explain trafficking in women. One of them had opened his English textbook to a lesson which was discussing trafficking in women. Often in the youth center, Moroccan youths ask me what certain words mean. In this particular case, though, I not only defined certain words in the textbook lesson for them, but I also described how trafficking in women occurs. I related to them how some women are intimidated or deceived into going with men who actually kidnap them. I also explained that some women go with such men because the women feel under economic duress, in the context of the severe economic challenges they face in their lives. It certainly seemed beneficial to not only be telling them the meaning of words, but also to be educating them about how many women are exploited, so that they can be more informed individuals.

Sometimes the youths ask me to teach them vocabulary about topics which, at first blush, don't seem immediately to relate to any urgent current issue. However, often in retrospect, I've realized that when this appears to be the case, one can discuss such vocabulary in the context of the greater societal phenomena in the particular culture and country where one is. More specifically, earlier this week at the youth center, some girls asked me to teach them in English about professions. I seized upon their request to additionally educate them about women working in professions where they might not expect women to be employed. For example, while I wrote the sentence "My father is a lawyer" on the board, I also wrote "My mother is a doctor" and "Her sister is a university professor" on the board. I wrote these sentences on the board partly to remind these girls that women can work in these professions. However, I also wrote these sentences on the board as reflections of how prevalent female doctors and female university professors are here in Morocco. One-third of doctors, attorneys and university professors in Morocco are women. However, these girls might not envision so many university professors being women. Not only are these girls not yet enrolled in universities, but as far as I know, every primary school teacher, middle school teacher, and high school teacher I've met here in town has been male. Thus, in teaching English, one can introduce to youths that not only do things not have to be the way that they see them, but perhaps things are in fact different in other countries, or even elsewhere in one's own country.

In teaching English, one can show youths not only that their worldview assumptions are not necessarily accurate, but similarly, also one can help them gain logical reasoning skills. Last night at the youth center, some boys asked me to teach them vocabulary in English about family. Again, on the surface, one might not see any opportunities to transform a common English lesson into a more challenging activity for youths. However, after introducing the words "mother," "father," "parent," "son," "daughter," "child," "brother," "sister" and "sibling" to them, I then presented them with some sentences, including "All mothers are parents" and "All parents are fathers," and asked them which sentences were true. We continued until they understood that all mothers are parents, but not all parents are fathers.

I very much enjoy teaching English. It brings a lot of joy to me to help others, including when I teach English. But I've found that I spend my time even better when I not only teach English, but while doing so, also help youths learn about important current affairs, help them gain new perspectives, and develop their logical reasoning and critical thinking skills. While it's helpful to know how to speak English, youths will be even better prepared for the rest of their lives if they are more aware and if they seek to more critically evaluate the choices which lie ahead.