So day 2 of our trip started nice and early, with an 8am breakfast at our homestay. Our host grandpa (we LOVED him) got up early and made us a Moroccan feast. There were flat crepe-like things that were a bit crispier that we spread with butter and fresh strawberry jam. There were also two types of honey--since I'm not a huge fan of honey, I only tried one of them. It was incredibly sweet, so I preferred the jam. They served the same kind of whole wheat bread from the night before with olive oil, which of course, I couldn't resist. The olive oil was very flavorful and fresh because Morocco is a big producer of it. There were also rolls with sesame seeds on them and a honey-bun type thing that was not too sweet.
We ate our breakfast with Ashraf, who explained that for Moroccans, it is very easy to get a passport, but nearly impossible to obtain a Visa. Like the two sisters from the day before, he had never been outside of Morocco. In order to get a Visa, a Moroccan has to have a lot of money and a job--basically to show that he or she will return to Morocco, so usually young Moroccans can't get them. Ashraf told us that he wants to visit California, New York, Washington D.C. and Texas, so I told him that one day, when he makes it to NY, he can come visit me!
So after our breakfast, we regrouped with everyone and drove about 20 minutes to Salle, a huge town next to Rabat which is know as a "dorm town" since a lot of people who work in Rabat actually live in Salle and commute because it is cheaper. We drove past the Salle shanty town, which is a huge area of unimaginable poverty. People there live in makeshift shelters, have to steal electricity, and don't have any running water. They work as handymen usually, which means that there is never a stable income, making social betterment impossible. This shanty town was the 3rd biggest in Morocco and was created in 1980 as people began moving from the country to the city to find jobs. It wasn't meant to be a permanent settlement by any means, but as time passed, more and more families found themselves in this reality. We were told that the police are scared to go and the people who live in the shanty town are scared of the police, so there is never any police influence, meaning crime is common. After our drive, we arrived at our destination.
Hope for Salle is a non-profit organization that tries to help the people in the shanty towns. It began in 2002, and in 2004 the NGO was a large meeting room and a classroom. In 2006, it was a meeting room, an administration room and an outside area. Now, it is in a large building with several rooms that was given to them by King Mohammed VI, PERSONALLY! Hope for Salle works predominately with children and young people, some with and some without diplomas. We sat down to speak with some of the volunteers and had one of the most stimulating conversations I think I have ever participated in. One of the volunteers is named Simo (a nickname for Muhammed), and he was great! He also accompanied us on our trip the next day, but we met him because he works at Hope for Salle. The volunteers explained that they help young girls stay in school by offering extra classes and the center, and a grant from the government is going to allow them to help 400 girls this year. They also help people find jobs and even teach them how to look for a job. I realized that this center is some peoples' career services, but there is a major problem with corruption in Morocco, so even if someone is qualified for a job, the person won't get the job unless he or she has connections to the right people.
We got into some pretty heavy political talk at one point of the conversation--it was really interesting to see what the Moroccans thought of their own government and America's upcoming elections. I noticed that pretty much everyone in Morocco was more informed about the American issues than the average American! The volunteers explained that the poor people had been marginalized by the local government and a while ago, there was an incident where the shanty town people began throwing garbage in the middle of a busy street in order to demand help. The new government's Prime Minister, who had been just elected came and walked through the shanty towns without bodyguards and the media to stop the roadblocks. This connection to the people makes the Moroccans hopeful that this government will be more "with the people." The agreement reached dictates that every two shanty homes will be demolished and turned into a two story apartment.
We also discussed the Arab spring movement that Egypt started last January. We asked our host why they thought that the Moroccan people didn't have a violent uprising like Syria and Egypt. Their response was that the King is a symbol of stability and also that there are many different ethnic groups, making it difficult to organize everyone behind one common cause. The February 20th movement from last year was a peaceful protest by the Moroccan people regarding the high level of unemployment. On March 9th, a new constitution was proposed. This fast action showed that violence wasn't needed to achieve change. Moreover, Morocco gets a lot of money from business with Europe (like agriculture) so if there were a revolution, the economy would be negatively impacted. They also explained to us that now that Egypt and Tunisia are in ruins since their revolt, Morocco is now the #1 country for Northern African tourism, which is obviously beneficial to them.
We asked them what they thought about American politics-- one thing that the volunteers were clear about was that in their mind, there was a difference between the American government and the American people. They think that the government is still an imperial power and that American democracy is not true democracy and used the war in Iraq as an example of how the elected officials don't truly represent the will of the people. They also thought it was hypocritical for the government to fight for democracy in oil rich countries, but ignore the ones without oil. I could see how their perspective was formed, based on what they saw in the news. I really enjoyed seeing how they viewed American policies because it is always cool to see an international perspective.
As a theology major, I was eagerly anticipating some discussion about their beliefs and the Islamic faith. When we asked them about September 11th, they rightfully so expressed annoyance and sadness that such a small group of radicals could taint the world's view of all Muslims. Moreover, they were upset because, in their words, the terrorists were not even Muslims! They said that nowhere in the Quran is what they did acceptable--they pointed out that there is a section that says in war, a Muslim must not kill a tree because it is a living thing, animals for the same reason, women, children, old men, someone unarmed and someone who surrenders. Thus, the true Islam is the opposite of a violent belief system, but rather promotes peace among all people. I made the point that the American view of Islam is, unfortunately, very negative due to uneducated people spreading falsities about the faith.
After our visit, we took a quick walk to the local market, which was outdoors and filled with strange smells, bright colors, and a ton of people. I thought how funny it would be if there were a bunch of tourists in Shoprite, taking pictures of all the produce--we must have looked like freaks to the Moroccans, but they were all very nice and smiled as we gawked. We said goodbye to the volunteers and got back on the bus to drive to Chellah.
Chellah is the site of old Roman ruins from the town Sala Colonia. Juan explained that it was a small merchant town, one of many that was responsible for feeding Rome. The town was eventually settled by Muslims, and the Almohad dynasty used the site as a necropolis. Sultan Abu I-Hasan later built a mosque and the area became an important Muslim post. There were still elements of the pagan tradtion though, shown in the fertility pools filled with eels. We were able to enter the mosque because it is no longer a functioning one-- in 1755, during a prayer, an earthquake in Lisbon caused the mosque to collapse. Many worshipers were killed, as well as the Imam who was presiding over the prayer. It is one of the only mosques in the world to have a grave inside it (the Imam's). The whole area is now a tourist attraction, but it also has one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen.
After this visit, it was back to our host family's house for lunch--and we were graced with two more guests, Professor Lamas and Juan! It was incredible to be sitting there with everyone because SO MANY languages were flying back and forth--Arabic, French, Spanish,. English, AH! Abir, the 11 year old niece knows 5 languages already and is studying Spanish now. It was so impressive. Lunch was a large tangine with couscous, squash, peas, carrots, potatoes, pickles and chicken. We found out that couscous is the traditional Friday lunch--it is kind of like Italian's Sunday lunch with sauce and meatballs because Friday is the Sabbath for Muslims. There was plenty of fresh fruit for dessert-- bananas, tangerines (P.S. the name is from Tangier!) and strawberries. We also had a ton of fun playing a card game that was sort of like UNO, but pumped up 3 notches. It was so much fun to hang out with everyone and just relax and laugh.
When lunch was over, we went on a tour of Rabat's Kabash (old fort), the Medina markets, and "New" Rabat. Our guides were a PhD student named Nassim who was studying law and Mohammed--they were total opposites on the political and religious scale, so it was an entertaining tour, to say the least. We had many discussions about religion and Christianity-- Mohammed was especially interested in how I could explain the Holy Trinity- all my theology classes sure helped me try to explain the concept to him. But in the end, we basically agreed to disagree. We also talked a lot about American culture and the perception of Arabic countries to the West. We had an afternoon snack at this cute cafe-- Claudine and I both had a cafe au lait and shared the perfect chocolate dessert. It was awesome- we even met up with one of the volunteers from Hope for Salle and continued our discussion from the morning. We then walked around "New" Rabat for a little while, which is a much more commercialized and urban area of Rabat.
We thanked our guides and met back up with the Fordham group, and we then walked to one host family's house to meet 2 Fulbright stduents who are doing research in Morocco. It was a fascinating conversation, and I am definietly going to look into a Fulbright --but it is something I have to do soon!!
After this conversation, it was time for the Hamman--the traditional Arabic bath! I was a little wary because I didn't really understand how it would work, but it was quite the experience. It was kind of a large steam room with faucets of hot water, everyone got a large plastic bucket to put the hot water in, and we were all given natural soap and a scrubber to use. All of us Americans wore our bathing suits and washed our hair, but it was definitely interesting trying to wash our hair with a smaller bucket of water. It was SO warm though, so we didn't really want to leave. Moreover, I was terrified that once I left the Hammam, I would be absolutely freezing outside, but somehow, I was the warmest I had been there yet. The warmth lasted for about an hour and a half, so I was so happy that I actually went to the Hamman.
When we got back to our house, we had dinner, which was pasta noodles in a tomato sauce. We played another round of the card game, and then it was finally time for bed.
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