Volunteer Eva has just completed a three month placement at the Education for All boarding houses in Morocco.  The aim of her placement was to teach mindfulness and meditation to the girls and house-mothers, in particular focusing on relaxation techniques with the older girls to help them manage their stress levels in the build-up to their Baccalaureate exams.  Eva says –

‘My work was about teaching Mindfulness and Meditation skills to girls and housemothers in Asni 1, Asni 2 and Asni 3. And giving one introduction session both in Dar Tinmel 1 and in Dar Ouirgane.  I showed them different ways of focusing on the breath, body scan, walking meditation and slow movements, paying attention to the 5 senses (including eating meditation), loving kindness meditation, intention meditation, gratitude, smiling meditation, savouring, self-compassion, visualisation, affirmations, tips for studying and exams, and awareness of personal strengths. In my last session we did laughter yoga. I tried to make it somehow fun, as they already have many formal classes.  It’s my hope to have left some kind of “Mindfulness and Meditation app” installed in every girl’s and house mother’s “personal operative system”.  I feel the whole placement was a great success. I gave my best, I enjoyed a lot and I received positive feedback from what I did, which feels really good.’

The house-mothers also very much enjoyed Eva’s sessions and are still practising the techniques she taught them.  Listen to Khadija telling us her thoughts –

To learn more about volunteering with this programme in Morocco check out the project pages on our website here