After a lengthy application process, Jon and I were accepted to serve in the Peace Corps! From September 2018 to December 2020, we will be living and working in Morocco. Our jobs will be Youth Development Volunteers, although we don’t yet know where we will be placed or what our day-to-day tasks will be.
About the Peace Corps
The Peace Corps was formed in 1961 by John F. Kennedy and has served in 141 countries over the years. The goals of the Peace Corps are to promote world peace and friendship by:
- To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
- To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
- To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
The first goal will be fulfilled by the work that we do with the youth in Morocco. The second goal will be fulfilled by sharing ourselves with the people we interact with in Morocco and teaching them about our background and culture. The third goal will be fulfilled by this blog and the stories that I can share about our experiences in Morocco.
Timing
We will leave Michigan on September 10 and fly to Philadelphia, where we will have a 1-day orientation and introduction to the Peace Corps. On September 11, we fly from New York City to Casablanca, with a bus ride to a hotel outside of Rabat after we arrive. We will spend about 9 days at this hotel, going through safety and security training, medical information, and starting language learning (we’ll be learning Dajira, the Moroccan form of Arabic). After this orientation, we move in small groups to live with a host family for the next 11 weeks. This period is for training, both language and technical skills that we’ll use once we get to our permanent site. Sometime in November, we will find out where our permanent site will be and we will move there at the beginning of December. That will begin our two years of service with the Peace Corps, where we will live and work amongst Moroccans.
Dajira
Dajira is the Moroccan form of Arabic and differs from the versions of Arabic spoken in other countries around the world. Dajira is spoken by almost 75% of the population of Morocco and Dajira has been influenced by the local Berber language and also by European languages, such as French and Spanish. There are many dialects to Dajira, so we will most likely learn the mainstream dialect found in Rabat and Fes. Depending on where we are placed for our permanent site, we may be required to learn a different dialect or local language.
The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.