As part of the 10-day UBLEONG Expedition, participants spent the morning volunteering in a different community and spent the afternoon doing light construction work at a day center or attending courses taught my Moroccan professionals. Every evening, we would meet with different groups of Moroccans in order to get to know “the real” Morocco: its culture and people.
In this blog post, I’ve highlighted the major components of this Expedition.
The Projects
All of the participants were divided amongst three community projects:
Teaching English
Childcare for impoverished families
Project development for a women’s empowerment NGO
Although I normally volunteer in a psychiatric hospital, I helped out with the teaching English project for this week of the Expedition. Deena, Dewey and I loaded into a grand taxi each morning to get to the youth day center in Salé. Although the center was not a school, many children would come here when they were not in class in order to supplement their learning. In fact, I was surprised by the number of students we had on our first day. At least twenty kids between the ages of ten and eighteen piled into the small classroom.
Although there was no curriculum or standard lesson plan, I thought back to my early language lessons in middle school, and the three of us brainstormed some ideas during the 20 minute drive. We gained momentum as the lesson went on, spitballing ideas off one another. By the end of the week, we had covered basic greetings, jobs and professions, family, food and restaurant dialogue. We used drama improvisation and interactive role playing to teach conversational English as well as story building and song lyrics to introduce proper grammar.
I found that teaching seemed to come naturally to me and that I genuinely enjoyed it! Furthermore, I loved working with the young adult age group, which is consistent with my experience working at Lincoln High School. Although I’ve always insisted that teaching was not in my future, perhaps this is an area I need to reconsider?
In the afternoons, we regrouped to paint the interior of the same day center I was volunteering. More kids arrived in the afternoon, and the work was truly a collaborative process. The kids loved helping out, and we broke up the work with frequent impromptu dance parties.
After the painting was finished for the day, the families of the children would bring by heaping plates of pastries, breads and cookies to go with traditional mint tea. Typical of Moroccan gatherings, there was way more food than we could eat, but it was fun to try new delicacies!
The People
Each evening, the Expedition group would go out to dinner with a group of Moroccans. On our first night, we were joined at a traditional restaurant by young Moroccan college students. After the obligatory introductions, we broke out into small conversations, and I really enjoyed getting to know the young men—for they were all men.
The students came from upper-middle-income backgrounds. Many of them were following established family career paths in medicine or law. All of them spoke English fluently, and one of them had studied at Duke before returning back to Morocco. I enjoyed learning more about the Moroccan educational system, which silos students at a younger age based on career interests. Unfortunately the devastating unemployment rate in the country makes it difficult for even the educated to find employment. We also discussed harassment of women, and it was refreshing to hear these young men talk about how demeaning their culture can be toward women.
I connected particularly well with one of the medical students, Taha. He had a girlfriend who studied psychology, and he was very interested in my work at the psychiatric Hôpital Ar-Razi. We exchanged contact information at the end of the night and met up on a couple occasions during the remainder of my stay in the country. As a woman in Morocco, it was not always easy to meet guys who were interested in a platonic friendship, which is why I valued my time with Taha. Always respectful and gentlemanly, he reminded me of my guy friends back home.
The next day, we had lunch with a group of young professionals. Unlike the young academics we had met earlier, these men—again they were all men—were lower-middle income of the working class. English was not spoken fluently among the men, but we had fun swapping English/Arabic/French terms.
Lunch was hosted in the home of a Jewish Moroccan woman. She had been the professor of Thaqafat leaders, Kareema and Fairouz. With mountains of food and endless mint tea, she was the picture of Moroccan hospitality. After a four-hour lunch, we reluctantly woke from our comatose state and headed back to our host families… just in time for tea!
Later that week, we invited American ex-pats to join us for dinner out at an Italian restaurant (taking a break from the traditional cuisine). Unfortunately, many of the ex-pats were unavailable to join us that night. However, I reached out to Whittie alumni, Nicole, who had been living in Rabat for ten years (thanks Alumni Office!). I invited her and her French-Moroccan husband to join us for dinner that evening, and we had a blast learning about her life as an ex-pat, raising an American-French-Moroccan child who spoke over four languages and working as an environmental consultant.
On Friday, we were invited to lunch by our respective families. Fridays are colloquially known as “Couscous Fridays.” All members of the family are expected to come home for lunch where a huge communal dish of couscous is served with either vegetables or lamb. Spoons are optional.
Although Deena and I had regularly dined with our host family, we received a special invitation that day to dine at our host grandmother’s house where we met the extended family.
The Learning
On the days when we weren’t doing light construction/painting in the afternoon, we attended culture classes taught by Moroccan experts. Our first class was about the changing world for women in Morocco. The lecture unearthed a number of incongruities that I am still trying to wrap my mind around. For instance, Moroccan women are currently the leading demographic in universities across the country, yet literacy rates for women are at only 40% (it should be noted that this number takes into account the dismal 10% literacy rate for women living in rural areas). Some political reforms have made educational opportunities possible in urban environments, but women still face a deeply patriarchal and religious cultural context that encourages domestic pursuits.
For more about women’s rights in Morocco, I plan on writing another blog post that discuses the topic in more depth.
On a lighter note, our next cultural class taught us Moroccan cooking! The traditional dish in Morocco is called “tagine,” which refers to the earthen pots used to steam meat and vegetables. Our teacher had us chop up the vegetables while she seasoned the meat with spices—namely, turmeric. Surprisingly, the most important thing she stressed was not the type of meat or the ratio of spices, but the presentation! Different colored vegetables are carefully arranged around the meat in visually appealing patterns. Hosting is taken very seriously in Morocco!
The Tour
The Expedition began with a sightseeing tour of Rabat and ended with weekend of luxury in Marrakech. In Rabat, we started by visited the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. The tower, which remains unfinished since 1150, would have been the tallest Mosque of its time. However, only 45 meters now remain as a testament to its grandeur.
The Mausoleum, where the present king’s father and grandfather have been laid to rest, is made of brilliant white marble. In traditional Moroccan style, the exterior has been intricately caved in lattice pattern and topped by Moroccan green tiles. Royal Guards in full feather stand at each entrance, but visitors are allowed entry.
Finally, we visited my favorite place in Rabat, the Oudaias Kasbah! With some of the best views in the city, it’s no surprise that the Kasbah has become home to many expats. Narrow alleys that end abruptly at someone’s doorstep, blue and white-washed walls and a family of cats who will make themselves comfortable on your lap add to the appeal. The “hidden” café nestled out-of-sight in the Kasbah became my favorite place to visit when I wanted to relax in the African sun with a good book and a delicious powdered almond cookie.
At the end of the Expedition, we were treated to a trip to Marrakech, the most visited city in Morocco. The Expedition rented an entire Riad—a term that often refers to a guesthouse with an interior garden, courtyard or reflecting pool. If you are looking for one single reason to visit Morocco, you need only type “Moroccan riad” into Google images. These guesthouses are beautifully decorated in traditional style and often include a sumptuous breakfast of Moroccan crêpes with honey and jam, rich yogurt, orange juice, coffee and tea.
A tour of Marrakech led us through the beautiful Yves St. Lauren-designed Jardin Majorelle with its cobalt blue walls, canary yellow accents, native cacti and sparkling reflecting ponds. Then we walked through market streets of the medina until we reached Ali ben Yousseff Medersa, an old dormitory where students once lived and studied the Quran.
A luxurious hamman spa waited our tired bodies after a day of hiking through the city. We were welcomed into fluffy white robes and led into a female-only steam room where our feet soaked in rose-petal tubs and our bodies were scrubbed until they were raw. A full-body massage concluded the experience, leaving us feeling as warm and gooey in the center as a fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookie.
Our last night together was spent in the beating heart of Marrakech: Djemaa el-Fna. This pedestrian square on the edge of the medina was filled with the liveliest of characters. Snake charmers and trick monkeys, grizzled storytellers and henna artists, dancing schoolboys and traditional “healers” were all out to impress. But the most fun was found in the bustling medina haggling over the price of beautiful pashminas and aragan oil cosmetics. Rule of thumb: Don’t pay more than half the asking price!
This fast-paced, 10-day Expedition was a whirl of faces and places. With authentic cultural experiences and thoughtful reflection we really did get to know the “Arab World Beyond the Headlines,” and I felt like I made some great friends in the process. Luckily, however, the journey was not over for me! Follow my blog to read three more months worth of adventure.