A World Of Experience

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - It became an ubiquitous question after I chose to become a Peace Corps volunteer.

Why?

There is the rehearsed reply that I wanted to explore the world and give back at the same time. The timing was right; it was something I had always thought about doing.

After graduation, I felt the need to put my journalism diploma to use. By 26, I was commuting from Brandon and working as a reporter for Sunbelt Newspapers covering the Westchase area. I liked what I did.

Deep down I knew there was something more I was seeking - the challenge. I wanted to be stripped of everything I was comfortable with and see life through new eyes.

It worked. Everything about Morocco was way off my beaten path. The arid climate in a region that borders the Sahara Desert, the guttural Arabic and Berber languages, and the flavorful and often surprising (is that a cow hoof?) foods awoke my sleepy senses.

Life in Ait Ahmed (pronounced Ate Hem-ed) runs at a slow pace. The time of day is told by the muezzin's call to prayer. Families gather for morning and afternoon teas and all meals. Farming or small-business ownership keeps the typical stew of tagine and mounds of couscous on the table.

Electricity came in 2005, about a year after I arrived. Running water was available in the city center but remained bucket-drawn from wells and cisterns in the outer villages. Life in the big cities is more Western, from the clothes to the amenities to the development.

For 27 months I lived in a conservative Muslim community where the women ate in separate rooms from nonfamily men. They wore layered, hip-length body veils over skirts and blouses, and when in public would wrap the veil over all but their eyes. Aside from basic religious teaching at the mosque, girls didn't have access to education until 1993.

It was an insight like no other. I came away with respect and compassion for these women and a shared sisterhood we found behind the veil - their hopes and dreams, their gossip and jokes were all similar to my own, just in a different context.

My work was health education with a focus on water and sanitation. I taught the importance of brushing teeth and washing hands. I helped a handful of people secure otherwise costly dentures. I wrote a grant for three latrines and a footbridge, as well as a glucometer and small incinerator for the health clinic. And I provided money for one cataract surgery. It was a motley group of projects, and I will always think I could have done more.

But I suppose my greatest accomplishment is in the relationships I built with the people - a host family, friends and Moroccan co-workers who became an endearing part of my life in two years of the most phenomenal experience.

Most surprisingly, I returned to America realizing one friendship - that with Moroccan Abed Amzil - was a lot more. We were engaged in fall 2006.

The Peace Corps is an experience that changed my perspective. Sometimes I feel as if I don't belong back here, that I fit nowhere in particular. It's a side effect I'll take. It makes me richer for it, and I wish an experience like this for every American.

In the end, I traded my two years for the world.