Workcamp in Essaouira

We have chosen this school for the needs it has. The structure itself its fine, but it doesn't have a good look from outside, as it seems to be old and not taken care off. This is a community based school whose fundings to improve its appearence are not enough to pay for the staff that would make it nicer for children, the cost of the paintings, materials to build up greens spaces and employees would be unaffordable, but we can no doubt make it with the help of volunteers. Having only to buy the materials, we would save half of the costs and the budget allocated for the reconstruction of the school would be enough. The result, with well motivates volunteers, would still be a good quality one.

The aim of this project is to contribute to improve the center where the volunteers will work: a school. The school need to be cleaned, painted, and green spaces need to be added, which will give it a much better appearance so that the children find it in a better state once they come back from holidays. The camp pleader will organize various animation activities for the participants to make the work camp more fun.

-Painting the school, both just as a basic maintenance and also in a creative way. The camp leaders will make a program to paint frescoes but the volunteers can also propose ideas.

- Cleaning the school as a part of its maintenance while the children are on holidays.

- “Green activities”. The volunteers will help creating green spaces, planting trees or shrubbery for example.

- Cooking in teams with other volunteers, both national and international.

The volunteers will appreciate their everyday life habits and culture through practical and social involvement. They will get in touch with national volunteers and people in charge of the center so that they can get involved in the community, not only inside the center but also outside, when they finish their work.

Essaouira is a tourist friendly town and is known to be a "cool" place. Is a small town, easy to walk around. Good roads and close proximity makes it easy also to visit places of interest in the region with local transports as buses and taxis. It is easy to find accomodation, restaurants and cafés. The medina has an interesting souk. Find beach amusements as wind- and kite surfing, horse- and camel riding....or just walk along the coasts.

The volunteers are not required to have any previous experience. The center is looking for enthusiastic, positive, patient and respectful people, who are willing to learn and contribute with new skills and develop new relationships in ways that they choose and at a pace they feel comfortable with.

The tasks of the volunteer in this project are many and varied. The key focus on the maintenance of the school and everything that goes with it. Cleaning, painting or planting are all regular jobs in the daily routine. No special skills are required; there is always plenty to do for everyone.

They will make shifts to prepare the meals 3 times per day.

The volunteers will work five days per week, four hours per day in the morning or the afternoon and get two free days, it can be the weekend or other days, this will depend on the work plan.

The volunteers will live in the schools. We have an agreement with the Ministry of education and we are allowed to use the classrooms for the volunteers to stay there. We will set up the place with mats and blankets although it is highly recommended for the volunteers to bring their sleeping bags just in case.

We need to highlight a couple of things that might be a bit difficult for the volunteers, given the past experiences with them. In Morocco, is rare to find the toilets that they are used to have in Europe. In this country, the toilet is normally a typical turkish bath.

Also, as they will be living in the center, there will be showers that they can use, although there will not be hot water. This is not normally a problem because in summer the temperatures are high and water comes out rather warm.

International volunteers can also ask the national ones to take them to hammam, the public baths. Its a nice experience that they will enjoy, while relaxing and enjoying the hot water and the steam, good for the skin.

School  lala amina 2 hay lala amina

Essaouira bus station. Bear in mind to contact CSM central branch (Rabat) so that we can arrange everything with our section in Essaouira, once we know your flight details, so we can give you exact indications and let our partners know when and where they should pick you up.

Essaouira has its own airport, so it would be good if they find good flight connections to get to it. Otherwise, they can get a flight to any other city and then it will be very easy to arrive by train and then by bus. There are direct bus combinations but no direct trains.

Casablanca's airport is easy to reach from most European, North American, and Asian capitols and serves several flights per day.

As for trains, check the ONCF website: http://www.oncf.ma/Pages/Accueil.aspx

The bus companies don't have a website, although if you go to the bus station you will find several going to Essaouira. As you should contact the central office first, they will find the best combination for you and arrange the meeting point.

The best possibility to reach Essaouira if you don't find a direct flight to it is to fly to Marrakech. The bus from there takes around 2 hours and a half. If you want to have a bus the CTM or Supratours can be recommended - both have comfortable busses, and both have several terminals in Marrakech, easy to find.

Someone from CSM will pick you up from the bus station in Essaouira.

The info sheet will be send 3 weeks before the project starts