A Day in the Life
Dr. Jennifer L. Gillett-Kaufman, Morocco, Agriculture Extension & Pesticide Safety
Ah northern Morocco. I was in a little village called Ben Karrich on the road between Tetouan and Chefchaouen. On a good day I would wake up around six and walk to the bottom of my hill (about two K's) At the bottom of the hill I would wait between two minutes to two hours for transport to a spot about 25K away. It is here that work began I stop in at the house of my favorite family and have the usual country breakfast of tea, olives, bread and an egg (or two if the chickens were busy). This egg or two is usually split between seven and five people all of which live in a room that is six meters by 12 meters.
If we were lucky enough to get some rain I would hike out to eight sample sites and collect rain water samples with the help of my family's father. I was working on a project that was funded by USAID, this projects goal is to reduce erosion in the watershed between Tetouan and Chaouen. If it was not raining I would hike about an hour to the douars on the opposite mountain ridge here I would talk with the ladies about goat milk sanitation or the men about improving irrigation and reducing erosion.
One of the most enjoyable things for me was to help with production agriculture in my area; to plant, harvest and thresh wheat, to collect and braid onions into long strings for storage and to go with the women when they scavenge for firewood. Spending time with people and seeing how they live their lives and being allowed to live with them was my most rewarding experience.If the rains did come, I would spend some time with the family and then pack out 8 liters of water into the next vehicle going my way. I then would take my samples to the Agriculture lab near Ben Karrich. I put the samples in the oven to evaporate the water and weigh any samples of sediment I may have put in the oven the day before. Once my lab work is done I would go over to my office and tell them I am alive, but I personally avoided the office like the plague, lest they try and get me to sit at my desk or get married. From there it was a two K hike up to my house where I knock off the mud from my boots and clean up some before I try and decide what was for dinner.