A Moroccan perspective
by Seth Kwiecien, PathNorth staff
We met in Casablanca, toured the third largest mosque in the world, had a drink at Rick’s Cafe, and enjoyed a Venezuelan girl band on the 28th floor of our hotel as we looked out over the Atlantic.
We explored the Médina of Fez, (highlights including a steamed sheep’s head and honey tasting of 15 types) and shopped ‘till we dropped. We dissected gender roles with an intercultural-dialogue professor, experienced an inter-faith panel in an ancient synagogue celebrating the diversity and cohesion between Muslims, Christians and Jews, and toured the oldest surviving library in the world (feat. the oldest copy of the new testament in Arabic).
We rode camels through the endless Agafay Desert and experienced the ancient art of Moroccan storytelling under a brilliantly star-lit sky. We feasted by candlelight and ‘glamped’ in tents heated by wood stoves.
We shared our impressions and our discoveries, providing unique perspective to all we had experienced.
We faced the reality of our world while visiting Project Soar, a girls’ empowerment program that reminded us while adolescent girls may be the most vulnerable, when we invest in their future, their potential is boundless.
We raced through the Souk of Marrakech on an incredible scavenger hunt, showing each of us that when we experience things outside of our comfort zones with those we care about, we can do anything.
Along the way, we met many incredible people who helped us understand the many misconceptions we had. Through their stories, we were all able to see the world a little differently, opening ourselves up to new perspectives that are only possible when we take the risk to put ourselves in new situations.
