Tales from Morocco p. 1

first glimpse of Moroccan coastline

I meant to write my tales of Morocco days ago, but I really couldn't earlier.  I had to let the experiences mull around in my head, to fully understand their meaning in my life.  They had an impact, and a large one at that, but I couldn't put it into coherent thoughts, not then.  Now I can't put it into coherent thoughts, not unless I try.  So bear with me, as I stumble over my over memories of the heat Tangier and students of Rabat and and the beauty of the Rif mountains.

We left for Morocco from the port of Tarifa, in the morning.  The sun was bright and our hearts were high.  We had absolutely no idea what awaited us on the other side of the Straight of Gibraltar.  How could we know?  Once landed, with feet touching our first African soil, our group of twenty-five was divided in two, and sent with two different guides.  My group was led by a young women who had recently finished two terms in the Peace Corp., her most recent having been Morocco.  She led us from the ferry, through the markets of Tangier, to a women's center.

picture from the roof of the Woman's Center.

At the Women's Center, we met with three students for lunch, where we were encouraged to ask them anything.  What followed was a
living discussion, going from the culture of a hijaab (headscarf) to public education in Morocco.  What I learned about the education system, was one of the first examples I found of just how entitled I was.  Without money and connections, it is very difficult to get a job after graduation. For starters you have to have top marks, but the problem with that is if you get notably high grades on an exam, the professors can be brides to swap exam scores of a high exam with a low one.  So students have to do well, but not too well, otherwise students with money and connection take their exam scores.  This was one of many points we discussed, but one that stuck with me, as it showed me in a way how easy it was for me here in the United States.

We said "shukran" (thank you) and piled back into the bus.  The plan was that we would visit the seaside city of Asiilah and then meet our host families in Rabat.  As soon as we got into the bus, we promptly fell asleep.  Sometime later, we woke to the sound of our leader saying "Wake up everyone, we are going on a camel ride!"

And since a picture says a 1000 words:

It was an exercise in balance and trust, and cheers to us, no one in our group got thrown off the camel!

Asiilah was an beautiful city, and unfortunately we visited it in the heat of the day so at least for I could not enjoy it to its fullest.

One of the other things I truly appreciated about the day was that our leader had the bus drive us around one of the shanty towns surrounding Asiilah.  While the king of Morocco is one of the wealthiest men in the world, approximately 90% of the Moroccan people fall under the poverty line.  One of the fantastic things about Moroccan Exchange, the program who took us to Morocco, was that they didn't want to show the truistic Morocco.  Sure, they showed us camels on a beach, but that wasn't their point.  They wanted us to meet the real people, understand their struggles, their triumphs, their culture, and their history.  And I think that they did that.     

More to come....