May 12, 2008

We presented our final project today! This the first actual project that I have done with Moroccans, and really the first formal environmental education project that I have completed. It is also likely to be the only one for quite a while. My site is a new one to Peace Corps, and so is unlikely to be ready for a project in the first few months of my service. Instead I will be relearning Tamazight…
But back to the project! I am very excited about it, mostly because we actually managed to pull it off. I had my doubts, mostly in technology coming through for us. And while it was quite stressful, we were able to actually pull it off. So, the project!
We decided to work with the local school in my training site. We needed to do an environmental education project, and we needed to do it in about two weeks time. My language teacher has experience in making films for educational purposes, and had the necessary editing software with him. With his ideas and some group brainstorming, we came up with a good storyline for a movie. Then, we planned out some in-class environmental education to go along with it. The movie and the in-class EE were both targeted to increase awareness about trash management and water conservation, and to get the kids excited about actually doing so.
The storyline is as follows:
The students are sitting in class, where the teacher is teaching them a passage from the Haddith about the importance of conserving trees. As one student is reciting the Haddith, crying interrupts the class. No child is crying, so the whole class leaves to search for who it is. They search the classroom, and then go outside to search the grounds. Finally, they find a small tree who is crying. Why are you crying they ask, and the trees answers: because there is trash on the ground all around me, and it makes me sad. Can you help me, it asks. Yes! The children reply and pick up the trash. We then go through this scene another time, only this time the tree is crying because there is no water in the ground and it is thirsty. So, then the children go and turn off the tap that they had left running.
The best part of this all was a tie between two things. Firstly, when we came back after shooting it and showed them the movie, they were very excited about it, especially to see themselves on the screne! Secondly, when we were shooting, it was so much fun to watch the kids gain in confidence over time. They all started out very shy, but eventually they became more confident, actually acting the parts and even having fun with it. One boy in particular set the mood for the whole film with how convincingly he delivered his one small line. We also tried to have just as many girls as boys involved, so we split up the speaking parts between people.
So now we have only to get them a copy of the the film. Hopefully they will find a way to watch it again, becuase we are givng them a CD/DVD, which isnùt the most appropriate of technologies, but it is the best that we can do.
In any event, it was a lot of fun, and hopefully the kids learned something, or found some enthusiasm for actively preserving their resources. Hooray!