This was my second time on a volunteer vacation abroad program. Last year I went to Russia so this year I decided to try a very different place. Africa was on top of my list of places to travel to. Luckily Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS) offers 2-12 weeks programs in 
Morocco. Their structure is very convenient for a working professional like me, who likes to travel the world but has limited time and budget. The volunteers are required to work for 5-6 hours a day and have organized cultural events, field trips and free time in the evenings and weekends. A flat program fee to CCS covers all local transportation, meals, lodging and some sightseeing. The onsite staff is friendly and knowledgeable. They give cooking lessons, talks on culture and religion, and act as local guides. The kind of work involved in Morocco would be teaching English or working in hospitals or orphanages, depending on the need at the time. Although the main languages spoken there are Arabic and French, there wasn’t a requirement of volunteers to be well versed in them. I did some research and found that it was relatively cheap to travel within Morocco and there were many places that I wanted to see.
When I arrived at the home base in Rabat, we had a total of 22 volunteers staying in a sizeable house of three floors. Men and women were accommodated on different floors. We had bunk beds and 2-8 people to a room. The place was very clean and well maintained. The house had an open floor plan with common areas including a traditionally decorated living room, a sitting area, a resource center, an office for the staff and a nice backyard. It was located in a nice suburb with a few shopping centers and restaurants within walking distance. Chances are high there were some holiday apartments around us, too. One of the best parts about going for an organized program like this was you get to eat homemade authentic Moroccan food. The experience is as close to living with a local family which you wouldn’t get by staying in hotels and eating at restaurants.
My volunteer placement in Rabat was at Le Feminin Pluriel, a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1999. This organization has a small center that focuses on women’s empowerment and educational programs. They host conferences such as the one of the Mediterranean women’s writers every year and bring in guest speakers on various topics to their center on every Thursday. The programs are mainly in French. There is also a library and a computer lab for the members to use.
I was asked to teach English for two hours each day to the women and occasional men who are interested in learning. Their motivations to learn English included wanting to help their kids study, converse with English speakers when travelling to the US, work in the travel industry, etc. They have ongoing classes in the daytime and evenings, taught by volunteers from other organizations. The biggest challenge here was that I didn’t know the competency levels of the students who would be coming, what the past classes had been about and not having a lesson plan outlined. The students don’t necessarily sign up for a class. They come in on any day randomly so I never know who or how many to expect each day.
Each day, I would start the class by doing a 
conversation exchange or grammar exercise, and then divide them up by their skill level between myself and the other volunteer. I taught my Advanced Beginners class how to order food in a restaurant, shop for clothes in a mall, festivals and holidays we celebrate in the US, describing people and personalities, cooking and the grocery store, amongst many other things.
The students were very appreciative and seemed to like me a lot. They would say at the end of each class “Thank you for you” which I found very sweet. They said my name “Sucheta” rhymed with “Usteda” which means “teacher” in Moroccan Arabic or Berber (I am not sure). On my last day, one of the students got me a recipe for a meat with potatoes tagine that she managed to write herself in English and another gave me a box of tea as a gift. They also surprised me by throwing a farewell party. One of the ladies walked out of class and made fresh green tea and served it with assorted Moroccan cookies that were delicious! Everyone took pictures with their cell phones to keep as memories.
Combining volunteer work with a vacation abroad is the perfect way to experience a new place. You not only get to understand the culture better, but you also give back to the society you spent time in and form meaningful bonds. The best thing about volunteer vacations is the interaction with people. I really enjoyed the social exchange with the locals through our conversations and storytelling. Also, meeting other like minded people who had come to volunteer from all over the world was another opportunity that you can’t find otherwise. I learned about their travels and experiences and formed deep friendships. There are so many memories I brought back with me in those short three weeks that I would cherish for the rest of my life.
As appeared in Do It While You’re Young in December 2010.
