Monday, December 3, 2007

Aut Aurir and the SOS Orphanage

Right now, I am on a "grand taxi" which costs 6 dhirum from Aut Aurir, heading back to Marrakesh for the 35 K drive. FYI - 1 USD is equal to 7.5 dhirum, so 2$ is 15 dhirum. There are 25 people squeezed into a van a little smaller than the Tripper (another story, another time)! Arabic flows through the cabin.

Ryan and I just left a meeting with Houda, the admin person at the SOS orphanage in Aut Aurir. The orphanage was quite nice, very well kept, with grapefruit and orange trees on site, beautiful trees lining the walkways, and a great school where all the children from the village attend along with the orphans.

The orphanage has 14 houses, with 8 to 10 children per house. It doesn't appear that money is what is needed the most. On the tour we met many teachers and staff, including a very animated Mina, the preschool teacher. She has been with the orphanage since it opened 21 years ago!

Afterward, we phoned Severine, who is in Casablanca and she was very excited to talk with us about the possibility of training for the orphanage directors. She said the greatest need is "how to improve the communication between the educators and the youth which will facilitate their development and improvement as positive, autonomous individuals in society." She also referenced our web site and the story of the Thai training, about creating the possibility of dreams and goals for the future and positive belief systems for the children.

The result? Ryan and I will be heading to Casablanca to deliver a training on December 11 with the orphanage staff and educators for a full day! The goals: team building for the staff, and models, methods and tools for the educators to pass onto the children. We are so excited about delivering this True North seminar experience in Casablanca, Morocco!

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