Summer in Morocco

I volunteered in Rabat through MCAS and my host family experience was great; i had a wonderful cultural experience. That being said, I had a rather sour end to m stay. Although the MCAS director was attentive to my concerns, he seemed more interested in bringing more people in rather than helping the students who were already there. I later found out that he was trying to get students to make large money transfers for him through their own personal bank accounts, and he would pay them back in cash. It just seemed like a very unprofessional procedure.

Near thoe end of my stay, another volunteer and I were walking in Rabat at night and she was mugged, her purse almost stolen and she was severely shaken and scratched up (the attacker tried to choke her with the strap of the purse). The MCAS director called to check up after the situation, but she did not receive any further support from him except for the phone call.

There was some miscommunication with my host family (I don't speak Moroccan Arabic and they spoke little English) and we counted on the director to accurately transmit our concerns and clear up the situation. However, things only became worse, the host family became very upset with me and another intern living in the same house, and the director exhibited extremely unprofessional behavior. He refused to speak with me, speaking of the matter with past interns and not directly with me to address the situation (only through email/facebook, where there is ample room for misinterpretation). I finally showed up at his office and we were able to sort things out, only after a couple of frustrating, distressful days.

Finally, when I was about to leave Morocco, I needed a taxi to the airport. the MCAS director offered to arrange a cab for me, telling me it would cost 500 MAD (about $60 USD). To me that sounded way too high for an airport 4 miles away, and a local told me that the cost was no more than 200MAD (about $23 USD). I told him I would arrange my own ride and I never heard from him again, and did not even receive my certificate of completion that I had been promised upon finishing the program.

Morocco is a beautiful land filled with ancient history and wonders, and I would definitely recommend visiting, just not through MCAS. The unprofessionalism of the program really soured the end of my stay and I would never want to have that experience again.