Workshop in Sidi Slimane

Salam! Kidayer ("How are you?" in Darija)?

Just recently, I visited Sidi Slimane to run my very first workshop. In this country-side town, there is an educational institution called Essafsaf Middle School. The students there were preparing for their final exams. In doing so, these students were having difficulties in prioritizing their studies among other responsibilities and activities, such as running errands for their parents and hanging out with friends. As an intern for Resilient Communities (RC), a non-profit organization specializing in sustainable development, I worked alongside the Be the Change Association, an association that targets youth related issues, to produce a workshop suitable for these students.

It was decided that I would take the initiative to create a workshop where the students would participate in activities using the Eisenhower Matrix, a task management tool that helps distinguish between urgent and important tasks in order to establish an efficient workflow. I had only a day to organize the activities before the workshop commenced as external situations took place. Fortunately, the planning process went smoothly with the help of multiple people.

On May 29th, I had a meeting with the president of RC, Robert Eastman Johnson, the head of training and development for RC, Rees, and the Be the Change Association. At the conclusion of this meeting, we decided the workshop and what was to be the outcome of the workshop. After a night's rest, I started preparing the materials and organizing the activities for the workshop right away. A past intern of RC, Taoufik Allam, actually initiated the Eisenhower Matrix workshop. With his materials, I produced a new set of the Facilitator's Manual (FM), the Participant's Manual (PM), and a slide-show presentation. The FM was a packet that listed for me, the facilitator, the break down of what I should do and present during the workshop. The PM was a packet given to the participants of the workshop, consisting of notes I would be presenting and interactive worksheets that they would be working on when instructed to do so. Looking through Taoufik's materials proved my tasks to run more smoothly. In the evening, I had a discussion with Rees who looked through all of my materials and had me run through my work. Spontaneously, Rees was able to get in touch with two of his companions to give me feedback after patiently hearing my run through of the workshop.

I started the next morning at 6:30 am, leaving the house at 7:00 am and catching the Line 21 bus around 7:10 am. Arriving in Rabat, I bought my ticket for Sidi Slimane. Now knowing how to find my seat on the train, I boarded with ease. Nabil, a member of the Be the Change Association and a teacher of Essafsaf Middle School, and the director of Essafsaf Middle School met me at the train station in Sidi Slimane when I arrived around 9:45 am. On the way to the school, we actually ran into the craziest road scene I have ever seen : A huge sheep on the loose. It was a hysterical moment. There were three people trying to catch the sheep on the run. Arriving at the school, I saw only land and a few stand-alone shops around it. There were students running in and from the gates at the front of the building. The building itself was of many colors such as blue, purple, pink, and green. At the center of the building was an open courtyard.

I settled myself and my belongings in the director's office. The office was located near the entrance and it had two large windows, one towards the gate and the other towards the courtyard. The director slid the windows open and I felt a fresh breeze of air circulate the room. As prints of the FM and PMs were being made, the director and Nabil served me breakfast. We had atay m3a ne3na3 ("Tea with mint" or "mint tea") and harcha, a type of Moroccan bread made from semolina flour. We tore away at the harcha and ate it with cream cheese and butter. It was bnina ("Delicious!")! Soon, I started to hear commotion from students arriving in the courtyard. Starting to notice me, a foreigner, through the door and windows of the office, they were so excited! But, so was I! So many of them tried to come up to me and greet me, chuckling among themselves. It made me really happy to see them so energetic!

Grabbing the prints of the FM and PMs, Nabil and I headed over to the classroom where the workshop was to be held. The students were already gathered and got so excited when I walked in. We had to calm them down. Secretly, I have been so anxious to finally meet the students of Morocco that I had to contain myself. After a moment of quiet came over the room, I started my introductions and stated the purpose of my visit. Soon after, the workshop commenced.

The workshop went like this : After passing out the PMs, I asked the students right away what they thought time management was and how they managed their time. Nabil translated for me as they were in their first year of learning English! I then presented my slides, introducing time management and the Eisenhower Matrix (EM). Showing the students how the EM looked like and explaining how it worked, I had them help me organize some example tasks into the right categories. They were super engaged and were very ready to respond. I had so many students wanting to come up to the white-board, volunteering to give it a try. After this small session, I had them follow along with me as I explained why their responses were correct, incorrect, or both! Breaking them into teams of five to six students, I gave them 20 minutes to draw their own EM, list 10 tasks, and categorize them together. In this session, I allowed them to ask me questions. After 20 minutes, I gave them 15 minutes to repeat the steps, but this time individually.

All the way until the end, the students gave me, Nabil, and the workshop all their attention. They made my first workshop experience so fun and smooth. After concluding the workshop, the students dragged me outside for pictures. I felt like a celebrity haha. They gave me hugs and kisses on the cheek. It was really sweet. After several moments of pulling, the director and Nabil took me to the office and closed the doors as well as the windows. It was actually really funny. We sat down with some of the staff and had some refreshments.

Before leaving from the school, I was led to a classroom that was to become a library for the students to promote their literacy and culture. As an intern for RC, I am also in charge of taking the initiative to design the interior of the library and its furnishings for Essafsaf. In addition, I will be researching to find books suitable for the students. After taking some base measurements with the help of Nabil, the director and Nabil took me to lunch. I had a tagine with meat. A tagine is a North African dish, named after the earthenware pot in which it is cooked. It was so nice of them to treat me to such incredible food!

My travel home was peaceful. I was ready for some rest after such a beautiful day. I am looking forward to seeing the students in Sidi Slimane again!