In the Loop - Ouarzazate Province, Morocco

Log margin notes:
Nearly 30 children in a quiet town near Ouarzazate have been running loops over their unpaved city streets after school.
The kids range in ages from four to 14 and come out to play in sandals, jeans, sweats, sweaters, argyle socks and the occasional headscarf, where applicable.
Exercise was not uncommon for the soccer-loving boys, but the girls, who make up the majority of the running club, seem to have new found energy.
Running is too patient an activity for most children -and many adults- but the phenomenon here seems to have begun with the Lost Nav, known in these parts as: Haroon, and another Peace Corps trainee, known locally as: Aicha.
The two Americans began their own running when one afternoon they picked up three kids in trail... opportunity was promptly seized and a time was set for a daily trot around town. Word travels fast in a small town that is almost literally a family. The next day nearly 25 little friends, cousins and siblings were gassed and ready at the 6 p.m. start time.
I believe I speak for all Peace Corps volunteers when I note that at one point or another we all wondered who in our host countries would be interested in what we have to say or would care a thing about what we have to teach them. Personally, as a health volunteer I can still not imagine why a 50 year old man wants to hear about brushing his teeth from someone like me.
Yet, as if by Moroccan miracle, Aicha and I had a ready made audience of health-conscious students who not only sought us out, but literally ran after us.
By way of taking advantage of their possibly fleeting attention, we end our half-hour runs with a round of stretching and encouragement to drink water. Running club has helped our own capacity as well. Each day our language for the task improves slightly beyond our combined abilities in French.
We have encouraged some of the older kids to take a bit of a leadership role in this new after-madrassa activity, but it is entirely possible that the club will not outlive the American presence in the town. Even so, it has been rewarding to have even a mild impact on the children of a place that has been so welcoming to us foreigners in our short-pants. I did not even mind buying those soccer-socks as to not show too much leg in broad daylight.
Within three weeks, myself, Aicha and the other three Americans in town will scatter to our final sites across the Tashelheit-speaking world. With any luck, in our two years here in Morocco, we will find as many ears to listen and feet to follow our well-plotted course.
Insh-llah... G-d willing.