My Volunteer Experience in Morocco!

When I was eighteen (end of first year at university), I made the decision to volunteer in Marrakech for two weeks with the organisation, Original Volunteers. Volunteering was not something that I had experienced before, but due to my desire to work in the humanitarian field, it was a big goal of mine. I decided to do the trip alone, and I booked it relatively quickly. Although, I am a socially anxious person, travel does not tend to worry me - strange, but the only thing that worried me about the whole trip was making friends with the other volunteers! I went in the July of 2015 with a completely open mind, but I was very aware that nothing would prepare me for the culture shock. I also went during Ramadan so I was interested to see how that would shape my trip.

The purpose of the trip was mainly to teach English in three different schools, as well as to partake in voluntary work such as assisting at the homeless feeding and baby orphanage. There were two different volunteer houses in Marrakech; riad one was where I was housed with around twelve other volunteers. The riad was comfortable by Marrakech standards, and we had a lovely rooftop area which we made use of. The bathroom situation was different, but we adjusted and we learnt how to avoid the army of cockroaches. All of the volunteers were lovely, and we became good friends over the duration of our trip. I am still good friends with two of the Spanish girls that I lived with and we regularly visit each other which is not something that I anticipated when I booked my trip.

The coordinators did not live near us, so we had freedom in the house with what we chose to do in our free time. We were alone the majority of the time until they collected us for our scheduled work and then they would accompany us during our projects. The coordinators would also help us arrange our excursions so we had support navigating our way in our new location. My favourite excursion was to the Ozoud waterfalls that were located about 4/5 hours away from where we were staying. Being in the mountains was an incredible experience, and we saw lots of wildlife. It was an added bonus that we were allowed to swim in the water, especially as the weather was around thirty-five degrees! Spending the day with the other volunteers in the mountains was an unforgettable experience.

 The children we volunteered with were so lovely, and we had a lot of fun together. We were required to bring school resources out with us, so we planned our classes/ activities in our volunteer house and set them up as soon as we arrived at the schools. We would spend a whole morning or afternoon in a particular school and then we would go on to our next project. It was always enjoyable, and it was very rewarding to see the children responding so well to the classes. I had a class of 14-21 year olds and we had a really interesting conversation about our life experiences - they asked me questions and vice versa. A fight broke out in one of my classes, but luckily the school owner came in and broke that up so I didn't have to deal with that personally. The only negative that the volunteers and I found was that we always felt unprepared for our classes, perhaps as a result of miscommunication from Original Volunteers. There were times when we were unsure what was expected of us, but we were left to our own devices. This was very difficult when we were in charge of a group of children who were always willing to listen to us, and we did not want to disappoint. For this reason, I would look at volunteering with a different organisation next time but my disappointment was not with any of the people that we volunteered with.

We also partook in a homeless feeding that was organised by Original Volunteers. All of the volunteers contributed money and then we helped to prepare the room and wash the dishes. I found the homeless feeding very difficult as it was very upsetting to know that they were all homeless. We saw a lot of homeless people in Marrakech and a lot of street children, but it was impossible to offer money to them all. My friends and I would give orange juice and food to the street children that we saw in the souks, but that was all that we were able to do. We were aware that many of them were working on behalf of adults and it could be dangerous to get involved. The children were always very grateful and the shop owners would thank me greatly when they saw that I was buying the food for the children. Although everybody seemed to do their own thing, we could sense that there was a strong sense of community and people tried to support each other. I found that Moroccan people are also very hospitable and a regular man that we met in the souks even made us Moroccan tea one evening.

Despite the support we received from the coordinators, we did all struggle with the culture shock at various times. There is an element of guilt that is attached to admitting that you are struggling to cope when you are denied of your home comforts. As a volunteer, you are mainly dealing with victims of poverty, and adjusting to their way of life. However, although it was challenging at times, the people I met were all incredible and had such positive spirits. I am very grateful that I got to experience Marrakech as their home, and not just as a holiday. It was an unforgettable experience and it was fascinating to experience another culture first hand. I would recommend volunteering to anyone, but I would stress that it can be difficult at times. It would be dishonest for me to say that I was happy the whole time I was there, but I largely put that down to the organisation I was with. Overall, I was very happy with my experience though and I definitley want to volunteer again. If you go with an open mind and an open heart then you are sure to have a wonderful experience!