Bouzneka Spring Camp '06

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Each year the Moroccan Ministry of Youth & Sports is responsible for providing camps for kids during the spring and summer school vacations. Because of our special relationship with the Ministry, as volunteers in the Dar Chebabs, Youth Development Volunteers are invited to participate in some of these camps as English teachers. The kids that come to our camps are specifically there for the language skills but, working in conjunction with Moroccan staffers, we also try to provide a range of activities outside of the classroom. In addition to teaching, we run theme based clubs such as art, theatre, music, journalism, science, and more. There’s also fun nighttime activities like dance parties and talent shows which help to round out the camp experience.

Having worked for several years at camps back home, this is one of my favorite parts of my job over here. Ever since I found out that Peace Corps is involved in camp in Morocco I’ve been looking forward to seeing what it’s like. I was assigned to a camp in the town of Bouzneka on the coast near Casablanca. It’s a quiet little seaside vacation spot, not too well known by tourists yet, but very popular with locals. We had about 15 volunteers there plus some of us brought Moroccan helpers from our town. There were also about 12 other Moroccans employed in various capacities by the Ministry who came to help run clubs and activities. Most of us Americans were assigned to teach a class and a club but my friends Matt, Andrew, and I someone managed to get ourselves assigned to just teaching clubs and running sports activities. Since I was joint teaching a Music club with another friend, Scott, I pretty much had myself set up for a pretty fun week of hanging out with the kids, jamming on guitar, and throwing the ball around.

The owner of the Chicago Bears had graciously donated several flag football sets to the US Embassy and the Ambassador, Mr. Thomas Riley, a great supporter of the Peace Corps, distributed them to our camps. I also brought some baseball equipment that I had sent over from the States (thanks, Mom!) so we took the opportunity to teach the kids a little American culture in addition to language. We taught them how to properly throw and catch both types of balls, how to swing the bat and run the bases, how to kick the football, and how to run patterns. Pretty soon we had a little crew of dedicated kids coming everyday for extra practice and we got some good games going.

I can’t explain what it’s like to watch kids from another country, some of whom have never seen a baseball or football game, none of whom have never actually worn a baseball glove or huddled up, playing my favorite games and playing them well. Sure, they weren’t going to win the Little League World Series, but for beginners their capacity for learning was remarkable, and for me, sitting on the sidelines taking pictures or jumping in on the action, it was like being transported back home. It’s funny the things that tug at your heart strings when you’re a long way from familiar surroundings. Being from New England means that sports is a part of your life, whether as a casual fan or a religious stat-tracker (and we all know which category I fall into), so to sit in a field in North Africa and hear the crack of the bat was more than enough to make me sigh with delight and gaze longingly into the West.

As I said, in addition to sports I helped to teach the music club. Scott and I quickly realized that our students could all read English pretty well and were all pretty talented, so we skipped basic music skills like reading notes, etc., and jumped right into learning some songs. I had already taught the Beatles song “Hello, Goodbye” to my students in the Dar Chebab, so we figured that was a good place to start. The kids picked it up pretty quick on the first day and really enjoyed it so we decided to stick with that format. On the second day we decided to have class on the beach so we needed a song about the sea. Naturally we picked “Yellow Submarine” (this trend shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with my musical tastes). We spent time talking about what the lyrics to both songs were about to help give the kids a sense of meaning while they were singing. I also started teaching the guitar parts to some of the boys who had brought guitars with them. After class was over a bunch of the kids stayed around on the beach to hang out and jam, and I had one of my Peace Corpsiest, hippiest, happiest moments when one of the kids broke out “Imagine” by John Lennon. To my eternal joy some of the other kids who knew the words began singing along. As you can see from the pictures I had let my hair and beard grow a bit by this point and I was keeping it out of my eyes with a bandana tied around my forehead, so the whole scene just seemed like something straight out of the 60’s. Sitting on the beach with the ocean breakers sounding in the background, the sun sitting low on the horizon, my hair and beard dancing in the wind, and Moroccan kids playing acoustic guitars while singing “Imagine”. Try to imagine.

For our third day we figured we needed a more difficult song to challenge the kids some more and so, not wanting to break with tradition, we picked “Hey Jude”. This turned out to be the biggest hit of all and when, on the fourth day we added harmonies and tambourines made out of paper plates and beans, we knew we had a winner.

At the end of every Moroccan camp they have something called a spectec (a rough translation from the French word spectacle, or show in English) which is basically a presentation of all the work that’s been done over the course of the week. This spectec was going to be particularly special because the Minister of Youth and Sport himself was going to be present to review the work we had been doing. He’s a pretty high ranking government official (similar to a cabinet secretary in the US) so lots of TV crews showed up to film the event. We decided to perform “Hey Jude”, by far our best song, and it was a huge hit! In the months since camp, whenever I start to wonder what exactly I’m doing here, I’ve repeatedly looked back at the video Andrew took of the performance as a source of inspiration. The pride I have for what those kids were able to do, standing up in front of that crowd with the Minister and the TV cameras, not to mention all their peers, and singing with all their hearts was something that took a lot of courage, and they absolutely brought down the house.

For anyone who likes to sit around asking “what’s wrong with kids today?” I challenge you to get out and meet some of them. Get to know them, ask them what they want from life, and find a way to help them get it. They’ll be the ones doing the real work but you’ll be the one seeing how amazing and important it all is. This is something I’ve experienced both in Morocco and in America. Give a kid something to do, something where they can have fun and learn something too, and you give them a vision and a feeling of life the way it can be, the way it should be, if only they put in a little effort and don’t forget to laugh. Did I really do anything? Sure I taught them the words and the tune, I kept the beat and backed them up on guitar, I told them what I wanted them to do and what I wanted to hear, but was it me the crowd was cheering for when all was said and done? I don’t think so. Sustainable development is about pointing the way and then letting go. My hope is that these kids learned more than just a few nice songs. My hope is that they learned how to prepare and how to perform and that those skills will help them lead the way for others.

In one last exciting side note, when I got home after camp everyone in my town congratulated me for my appearance on national television with my guitar! I’m finally a rock celebrity! Thank you Peace Corps.

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