what i do

during my training phase my group of 5 collaborated with the local school on an Earth Day program. the older students (12-17 years) walked to the river to collect water samples to be analyzed in a lab somewhere. the middle aged kids helped plant trees around the school, while the youngest children drew posters titled "what the environment means to me." to our surprise the students curriculum included a substantial amount of env. ed., but as everywhere, there is a certain degree of separation between talk and walk. though there were some difficulties with language it was an overall success.

me and the boys after successful planting an olive tree

collecting water to be analyzed for contaminates

i think this girls face says it all (oh my gawd, waste water treatment testing is like the lamest ever, duh!!!)

in our final week, we approached the local men's club (association) about addressing the problem of waste. seeing how the community lacks the funds and infrastructure (landfill) to dispose of waste we thought that waste reduction and education was the most feasible way to address the problem. serendipitously the association was concerned about the problem also, and has a pending proposal for fulltime garbage collection, so they were excited to collaborate. we decided that posting posters including the school children's artwork in front of the stores raising awareness to the "reduce, reuse, recycle" concept would be an easy approach. we were also able to provide a small amount of money to purchase receptacles (55 gallon oil drums), which the association would research, buy, and fabricate into trash cans to act as consolidation points. a member of the association volunteered to weekly gather the trash and burn it. working in morocco and the "developing" world offers different challenges to that of the states like keeping your family feed and clothed, but the idea of interconnectedness to environment can trump socioeconomic situations. getting people to realize that minimal effort can result in improved standard of living is the real challenge.