"A fellow PCV in my region invited me to teach a theater workshop in her site. I was working with the president of my theater club, Kebdani, to develop a workshop to bring to her and we were following a lesson plan guide. What was the theme of the workshop? I had the idea, "Why not get the kids to act out what they want to be when they grow up, and simulate a job fair?" Kebdani, a BAC student at the lycee and a theater genius said, "Wow, no one ever asks Moroccan kids that, but I'm sure they'll have plenty of answers for you!""
Reba Short is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco
Reba Short In Morocco
Below is an email that I received from my daughter, Reba Short, who is serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Biougra, Morocco. She has been in Morocco since September 2004.'I was very moved by her message. It brought back to me the spirit of the holidays and also, because of the political climate'in the world today, the concept of living in the solution as opposed to living in the problem. I'd like to be more like Reba when I grow up. --Jody King
This is from second-year YD PCV Reba Short who is serving in Biougra.
"My main objective in Biougra is building self-esteem, literacy and creative thinking skills in youth through art and theater." Success Story - The Trip To Massa
The unemployment rate in Morocco is high. Just today in Rabat, I walked by a protest of about 100 doctors and engineers chanting "Give us bread and water."
As a youth development volunteer in Morocco, I find unemployment one of the most heart-wrenching things to talk about with the kids I see everyday, because I have no solution for them. I can't give them a job. I can't promise them anything.
One day I realized that I had never asked any of the little kids I knew, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The question that I ask every child in my country, I've never once asked here in Morocco. It was subconscious; I was trying to be polite on a hyper-polite level. I was presuming these kids were so hopeless they didn't have goals.
A fellow PCV in my region invited me to teach a theater workshop in her site. I was working with the president of my theater club, Kebdani, to develop a workshop to bring to her and we were following a lesson plan guide. What was the theme of the workshop? I had the idea, "Why not get'the kids to act out what they want to be when they grow up, and simulate a'job fair?" Kebdani, a BAC student at the lycee and a theater genius said, "Wow, no one ever asks Moroccan kids that, but I'm sure they'll have plenty of answers for you!"
With Kebdani's help I didn't worry about being'impolite when I asked kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. I trust him enough to tell me if I'm being insensitive. ' We planned the workshop, complete with energy and concentration exercises, gestures. A guided meditation to get kids to think about their lives 10 years in the future, 20 years in the future. We decided to end the workshop with a small performance, where kids jumped up like popcorn and said what they wanted to be when they grew up.
The day we did the workshop, we arrived and had over 60 kids, much more'than we expected. The room was very small, and a surprising amount of parents were there to watch. The CD player didn't work, most of the kids spoke Tashelhaite, and didn't understand either me or Kebdani but despite all this, it worked. Kebdani and I kept communicating, and worked incredibly well together, filling in, demonstrating, problem solving. The children were so excited and so well behaved, despite the language barriers, and members of the association helped us translate.
As for what these kids wanted to be when they grew up, I was struck by their ambition. I had girls that wanted to be police officers, I had boys that wanted to be tailors, and I had teachers, mothers, firemen, lawyers, doctors, nurses, scientists, masons, dancers and musicians. They acted each'role out, and I could picture these kids, I could see them in twenty years, working this job.
The most amazing part of this was watching their parents' reactions. Some parents were laughing, a sort of surprised laughter because they never knew little Rachid wanted to be a tailor, but there he was, in front of the community, sewing his heart into an imaginary jelaba. I saw parents that were confused, "Fatima's so shy, I never would have guessed she wanted to be a soldier." But all parents'were proud, very proud, of their child's dynamic ambition.
The association was so pleased with Kebdani and I that they asked us to stay and teach a storytelling workshop to the older members of the association. Kebdani looked at me after we did this workshop and said, "Ask me, ask me what I want to be when I grow up." I asked him, and he said, "I want to do this, what I'm doing right now. I want to teach people theater and help them find what's in their hearts."
I said, "Humdullah, because that's what you're meant to do!"
I'm embarrassed that it took me this long to ask a child what they want to do when they grow up. I'm a youth development volunteer, and it's my job to make sure these kids have goals. It's my job to instill these kids with inspiration, perseverance and faith in themselves.
The first thing I should be doing is asking that loaded question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I should be asking every kid I see, from kids selling cigarettes at the souq to my university English students, because the more people say things out loud and the more conviction comes behind it, the more motivation they have to make their dreams happen.
-- Reba Short
