MTV - 4

Last but not least, it’s day 4. (Lost? Checkout 1, 2, and 3 first)

The third MTV I went on was to an area where a large percentage of *sex workers live.  Unfortunately, this areas is also home to a large *shantytown where woman on hard times turn to sex work to get by or are forced into the work by their husbands.  The small homes are constructed out the leftover building materials with walls and roofs that looked like they would collapse with a strong breeze.  To top it all off we were parked next to a large mosque, which added to the controversy of doing HIV tests in public.

When we pulled up we did not start setting up right away.  Instead we needed to talk to the local police because we had forgot our permit to park there back in the office.  With HIV/AIDS being a sensitive subject (refer to blog post “The Work” for details) we needed to make sure our presents there was on the record.  While my boss talked to the police about it, I did my usual set up photos to show where the MTV was that day.  This time I talked to my boss beforehand to make sure we were all on the same page as to what I would be doing and how.  Not long after the first photo was taken, I was called over to my boss, the police officer and a stern looking man in a suit.  Anyone seen the movie UP?  He looked the mean suit man from the movie. 

“This Disney look-a-like comes with sunglass and a cell phone”

Suit man was clearly pissed off and it was evident his anger was directed towards me.  How had I managed to get myself in this situation again?  I hadn’t talked to or taken a single picture of a person, so I was at a loss for what the problem was.  Suit man talk to my boss and then she passed along the message that I need to show all the photos I had taken today to him.  I had no problem with this request, as there were a total of 5 on there, all of the MTV.  Once he saw them he looked somewhat satisfied, but then continued to dictate orders to my boss (he was speaking in Arabic so I’m going off of his tone).  She nodded along and told him I would not be a problem.  What did I do now? 

Once angry suit man had walked away she told me that he didn’t want me taking photos of the shantytown we were next to or the people living in there.  The OPALS intern explained that the suit man was from the government (The Man) and they didn't want foreigners coming in to take photos of anyone in poverty.  Part of me agreed that we should not exploited people in hard circumstance, but the other part of me was annoyed with the government stepping in the way of anyone wanting to show the reality of their country.  Freedom of speech is not a right here though, so I agreed to only shoot photos from the other sided and not get the staggering poverty in the photos.  I did however take a photo of him when he wasn’t looking just so I could feel like I was sticking it to The Man.  I know I’m such a rebel.   

Once all that was straightened out we set up the MTV and were ready to go.  We had a group of people lined up fairly quickly and I was using my rehearsed speech in French to tell people about what we were doing.  I also had my camera and another rehearsed speech ready to go about taking photos of participants.  

Here is the basic rundown: 

• Find the people who are staring confused at the MTV
• Smile a lot at them
• Approach them slowly (giving them time to run away if they want)
• Give them the speech of who we are and what we are doing
• Hand them information about HIV and testing in either Arabic or French
• Ask them if they would like to get the test (reminding them that it is quick and free)
• If yes, ask them if I could take their photo
• If yes, show them the photo afterward
• If happy with photo, tell them that the photos will be for OPALS only and will not show up on the internet
• If they said no to any of the above, smile again and say "no worries"

I’d come a long way in figuring out what group I was talking to and best practices for each.  I was successful at getting a lot of woman to stop and get tested as well as getting photos that didn’t piss people off.  While we were in this part of town in order to reach out to sex workers, we had a lot of men coming from the mosque also asking for information or a test.  When it comes to talking to men, I get 1 of 3 reactions.  One, they look at me like “woman, please get away” and then ignore me.  Two, they listen to me somewhat but then ask me why I’m not studying Arabic.  Three, they try hitting on me.  I usually get more 1’s and 3’s no matter what location I’m at.

After 3 MTV events with different target demographics I had learned a lot about OPALS and the Moroccan culture.  The hardest part of the MTV experience was the lack of basic information about how the MTV works and the preparation needed for each group.  In my next blog about the work I'm doing here I will talk about the cultural differences between Western business practices and Moroccan business practices.  For now I will say that it is a very sink or swim mentality.  I’d like to think that I’m floundered under 50% and things are looking UP. 

Get it? UP. Alright, I'm done with the Disney for now. 

* A note on wording: in this blog entry I use the words “sex worker” and “shantytown”.  I know these are words that can be offensive so I’d like to note that I am using the language that is used in Morocco.  In my blog entry “The Work” I talked about how the word prostitution was not used here and the preferred term is sex worker.  The area referred to as shantytown is one of the only words my coworkers know how to translate into English. 

MTV - 3

Hello again and welcome to day 3. (Confused? Link to day 1 and day 2)

I will start this post by telling you that during this MTV event it was raining and cold and I have a small umbrella and everyone makes fun of it because it’s so small and it does this... a lot!

For the first MTV event we had written consent to take photos of anyone in attendance, as they knew ahead of time the nature of what we were doing and why.  While we set up on the edge of town, where a large number of immigrants resided, I started taking photos of the surrounding area.  The hillside we were on was covered in trash and animal remains.  Sheep, goats, farmers and children passed by dumping their trash on the ground without a second thought. 

Can one of my vet friends tell me if this is a jaw of a goat or a sheep?

After taking photos of the area I moved right into taking photos of the event.  However, I did not remember to ask my boss if we had consent ahead of time to take pictures of the participants.  That was a mistake.  Normally, I’m very good at checking with people first before taking photos of them, their merchandise or anything else they might own.  I blame the cold rainy day and my eagerness to capture some shots before a total downpour that caused the mental gap (and I know that this is a sad ass excuse).

Quickly someone noticed that I had taken their picture and started to get angry.  He did not come towards me but instead at one of our immigrant coordinators, demand that I stop taking photos.  I was then called over to show the photo I took and give confirmation that I deleted the photo he was in.  I then promised not to take photos of him anymore. 

My boss reassured me that I could take photos of people, just not their faces.  So I kept my camera out and took photos of the MTV and the back of heads.  Regardless, I saw how the men reacted to me every time I came near or lifted the camera up.  Some of them even started to leave before getting a HIV test.  It was then that the immigrant coordinator explained to me that some of the people we were reaching out to are here illegally.  They were afraid that if photos were taken of their face, they would be at risk for deportation.  I felt horrible.  The fact that my actions could have caused someone to leave without receiving a HIV test and valuable information made me feel completely counter productive to the cause. 

These two guys are OPALS representatives going to spread the word about testing.

My boss and the immigrant coordinator had differing opinions about whether I should continue to take photos of the MTV event.  My boss wanted photos of the event for her reports and to show the diversity of OPALS events.  The coordinator wanted people to feel safe with a organization they were unfamiliar with.  This put me in a difficult position, but it was up to me and I agreed with the coordinator and put my camera away.  By that time though, I already had the reputation of “the girl with the camera” and no one wanted to talk to me about what we were doing.  I was only useful that day to the participants who spoke English.  While there were only a few of them, it was nice to be able to speak confidently about what OPALS was doing.   

Here are some sheep doing sheep things.

Between the rain, cold and camera issues I was feeling pretty useless and miserable.  However, I did learn a lot about the people I’m working with and maybe what to expect in the future at the MTV.  

And I got a new umbrella.       

Upgrade! 

Tomorrow is our final day for the MTV blog posts where I fight The Man! Sort of…

MTV - 2

Welcome back! For those of you lost, click here! 

My first MTV event was targeting women in Rabat.  We drove to the local organization that works towards giving woman jobs and skill sets they can use outside the home.  We set up a table with posters and flyers and had 3 speakers for day’s event.  Around 50 women were in attendance.  The OPALS gynecologist spoke first about safe sex and how sexually transmitted infections are spread.  Then our MTV coordinator talked how the testing process would happen in the MTV.  Last, my boss conveyed the importance of taking control of ones health and getting the test done.  I understood almost none of it as it was in Arabic, but I felt the meaning (plus I asked afterwards what they said). 

“Let’s talk about sex baby, and all the STD’s”

After the presentation there was time for Q&A but few people spoke up.  I was worried that the women might be put off by getting the test done, insinuating that they or their significant others could be HIV positive.  I was especially worried for older woman in the crowd who were sitting front and center during the presentations and the first ones out the door once it was done.  To my surprise, their eagerness to leave the building was so they could be the first in line to get tested!  After their lead, all the rest of the woman followed to get tested.  While everyone waited in line to either get the test or wait for the results, they would talk to other women passing by telling them they should get tested too.  Word of mouth is still the best method in Morocco for getting the message out to the people.  The general feeling of the event was that of a normal social gathering of friends, catching up on the latest gossip.  It was way more chill than I thought it would be!    

I can't use my old ladies so here are Google old ladies

With the MTV parked right outside the woman’s facility on a busy street, with a large group of women standing around it, it was no wonder we got plenty of onlookers.  I thought this exposure was positive and we would get more people coming up to get tested.  For women passing by that was mostly true.  However the majority of the onlookers were men who, after we explained what we were doing, declined the free test.  I guess sit and watching form the sidelines was a fun way to spend the afternoon...

One person who was walking down the street came up to me to ask what was going on (or at least I think that is what she said).  She had to be close to 100 and completely adorable.  I said that we were doing SIDA (AIDS in French) testing for free in my best French.  She smiled her wrinkled face at me and started climbing the stairs.  I gave her my hand to help her up, as there is no railing up into the MTV, and then back down when she was finished.  As she was descending down she kissed the top of my head and squeezed my hand in thanks.  I just couldn’t help my brain from immediately thinking “fairy godmother!”  I smiled and felt like a pretty princess.  Something about little old ladies being sweet to me (and not giving me apples or a spinning wheel) brings out the Disney in me.

"I want new shoes!" 

Tomorrow we talk with the Immigrant population and why I need to buy a bigger umbrella.