I realize
that my last post was a pretty huge downer, so to make up for it this post is
going to be all about things I really like about Morocco. Since last time one of my cousins came by to
visit, and showing her around my town and a couple of nearby places really
helped to remind me what I love about this country. Some of these things I’ve talked about
before, some I have not, but all of them are things that give me hope for
Morocco’s brighter future.
With all my
talk about religion last time I think it’s important to lead with another
aspect of religious feeling here. The
other day I was sitting in the Dar Chabab
with my mudir and his wife talking
about different alphabets when they revealed that they can both read
Hebrew. Apparently they studied it for
fun for a couple of years while in university.
My mudir’s wife then started
talking about the Abramaic religions and how they all believe in the same God,
so they have no reason to struggle against one another. Then she went on to say something I’ve never
heard from any other Moroccan. She said
that you must choose the religion that feels best to you in your heart and in
your head, and that God alone can judge what is right for each person. Given how I haven’t felt tolerated for my
religious feelings recently this was a welcome message!
Last post I
also complained about how often we volunteers have to contest with people
trying to cheat us, or with people just generally making us feel down. While this does happen quite a bit, another aspect
of Moroccan culture has grown up against it.
Oftentimes Moroccans will feel compelled to try to defend us from the
less accepting members of the population when they can. I’ll give two examples from the last few
weeks. Last week I went travelling with
my mudir to a regional conference for
volunteers and their counterparts. On
our way back to site I went to buy a sandwich, but couldn’t afford the
exorbitant price the guy tried to charge me.
After telling my mudir he went
off and got me the sandwich for the real price.
Little kindnesses go a long way.
The other
instance happened in my town when one of the boys who is always a jerk kept in
character and started yelling at me in Tamazight and taunting me for not
following this other language well enough.
A seven-year-old girl walking on my other side started berating him for
being obnoxious in Arabic and managed to shame him into running off with a
scowl. It was awesome.
Younger
kids, boys and girls, are always what help my mood here. Now that the summer heat has finally broken
I’ve started up playing Frisbee with them again. I hope we can try to make it a little more
formal this year, but even if we don’t its a great way to get kids to have a
little fun and try something different.
I think
that’s all for now, but hopefully in the next few months once work starts
getting off the ground again I’ll have more and more interesting stuff to write
about. As they say in Morocco, take care
of your head!
P.S. Best way of saying good-bye ever, right? I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned it
before!
