I was woken by the wildlife this morning - the six-legged kind. Flies in my ear, nose, trying to get in my mouth!! I think a lot of us learned our lesson last night regards the insects of Morocco. Keep your windows open, yes; but keep your lights off!! We ate breakfast together and for some of us had our first experience with powdered milk! The only water we had had just been boiled so it was cereal with hot milk, orange juice, breads, pancakes and assorted preserves.
We got ourselves suited and booted, ready for a days work in our host village. We were taken to the local co-operative; women from the village who had joined together in order to better support themselves and their families - they were weaving carpets/rugs/all sorts for sale. At this point the boys and girls separated: the girls remained behind with the women to try their hand at weaving (I'm told that the locals spent a lot of the day laughing!) and the boys went off to do some digging.
On the way, we stopped by one of Wyvern's previous projects - a school that some of our past students had worked on. Once we arrived we split into shift teams and got to working 10 minute intervals. It was here that we met everyone's favourite, hard-working, lady-donkey, Jonathan. (as named by Sam - thanks) We dug into a dried river bed, and sieved the fine particulate to be used as materials for the building that we'll be doing over the next few days. Jonathan would then help us to take this to where it needed to go - with the help of one or two student volunteers. It was at this point I rode Jonathan - thanks!
We stopped for tea after hauling a few bricks and later returned to the house for lunch. We played games and chilled whilst the sun was at its highest, then returned to do some more manual work, this time with the girls. Some hauled bricks, some mixed cement and others continued to dig. Immy is a monster with a pick axe! We stopped at one of the guides' (Mustafa's) house for tea, biscuits, bread and cake before heading back to house for supper. We had soup, bread, pasta, assorted vegetables and home made chips; just like my grandparents used to make them. Delicious!
We did some more brain teasers and the time flew by - we seem to have set the tone for the trip. And we're having so much fun. Individual posts to follow? We shall see. Goodnight!
~ Sheldon Ford