Gnaoua Festival

On June 22, 2010, I headed to Essaouira again for the annual Gnaoua Music Festival. I was fortunate to be invited to participate in a Training of Trainers for HIV/AIDS awareness projects with other Volunteers. The training was coupled with participation in a HIV/AIDS testing and information booth with a local association during the Gnaoua Music Festival. We spent the two days before the festival discussing HIV/AIDS in Morocco and how to raise awareness without crossing over cultural and religious taboos associated to it. It was my first time being involved in an AIDS training and I found it to be inspiring. Hearing other Volunteers speak of their experiences in Peace Corps and in the States encouraged me to look into doing some kind of AIDS and STI education project at my site.

About 25 Volunteers participated in the training and the Gnaoua booth with the ALCS (Association de la Lutte Contre le SIDA) office in Essaouira. I had been invited to attend because I speak French and can therefore communicate with the target audience: Gnaoua festival goers, particularly young Moroccan men because they represent the majority of the attendees. During three days of the festival, the Volunteers working the booth were given red ALCS t-shirts and baseball caps as we handed out fliers and lured people walking by to go get tested and get more information on AIDS and STIs. ALCS was providing free, anonymous testing for HIV and Syphilis, with results in 20 minutes. Our jobs were to inform people that they could get the test for free without giving their names, and that ALCS has offices around the country providing free support and services for people living with HIV. Standing outside for hours during midday heat, beckoning passersby who often did not want to be bothered was draining to say the least, but many people were quite receptive and friendly. Hundreds of people were tested during the festival.

I did get to enjoy free time during the festival of course. All the volunteers working the booth stayed in a Riad at the medina. This riad was called the “work house”, while a few doors down, some volunteers had rented another riad for those coming to enjoy the festival on their vacation time. This was called the “party house”. In the evenings, we had ample time to socialize and enjoy the concerts around the city. I didn’t attend many concerts because they were extremely crowded and mostly full of teenage Moroccan men high on glue and/or drunk. Lots of groping and pick pocketing was involved, as in any music festival around the world. During those three days, the small, usually calm medina was transformed into a city crammed with 400,000 blazed festival goers. I mostly enjoyed sitting around with friends, listening to music, sipping on wine, and eating a good home cooked meals by fellow volunteers.