Blogs from Rabat, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Morocco, Africa - page 6

Some of the volunteers from our home base have been volunteering at a local orphanage. Today I learnt a few things about the system in Morocco. For starters, most of the kids in the orphanages are boys. This is surprising to learn since it is usually more girls than boys that end up in orphanages in every other country that I have come across. For instance the Mother Teresa’s home in India had 99 girls for every 1 boy as boys get adopted quickly and girls are abandoned by families. The reason in India for this behavior is that a boy is seen as an asset, sort of insurance in old age; whereas a girl is seen as a burden since she would consumer resources for her wedding and then would go off to take care ... read more

My friends travelling with me must be tired of listening to me say "This reminds me of India" dozens of times since we came here. In fact, there are a lot of similarities between India and Morocco, to say the least. Here are a few worth pointing out... Over crowdedness: When I was walking around in Casablanca, it was a similar experience as being in New Delhi i.e. utter chaos everywhere. Traffic pouring from all directions, hundreds of cars and bikes, none following road rules, yet finding their way through the mess without any incidents. My American friends felt very scared of riding in the petit taxis holding on to their seatbealt-less seats in run down cars fearing a collision at every turn. Pollution: Again, the car exhaust fumes, dust, dirt, garbage-quite like any big city ... read more

Morocco had been one of the trips that I was most looking forward to. Not only was it going to be my first time to Africa, but I had heard so many great things about the country that I was excited to see what made everyone speak so positively of it. I went with an organization that our school works with called Morocco Exchange (http://moroccoexchange.org/) whose program is run very similarly to the multiple immersion trips that I have done while at Santa Clara with a focus on educating through solidarity and dialogue and with lots of reflection times. There was about 40 people altogether from my program that went but we were divided into groups of about 15 or so once we got there and each group had their entirely own agenda and schedule which ... read more

I am catching up on my travel blog and writing both Tuesday and Wednesday in one sitting so I apologize if I overlap! As I said on my previous blog I have been suffering with some stomach problems so I did not go to placement this morning. I skipped lunch & breakfast and hoped for the best with an outing to the Chellah ruins this afternoon. What are the Chellah ruins? Here is a little stock background info: Abandoned, crumbling and overgrown, the ancient Roman city of Sala Colonia and the Merenid necropolis of Chellah is an amazing site! The Phoenicians were the first to settle but the town really grew when the Romans took control in about 40 AD. The city was abandoned by the Romans in 1154 in favor of the new city Sale, ... read more

I woke up in Rabat. It is nice being in a hotel with good AC, but I am glad I sweated a little more for my 1st two weeks in Morocco as it felt more authentic… staying in riads is 1,000 times more special than staying in a proper hotel (even though having a pool in the heat is sweet). We got in the car and drove a bit until we hit the Roman city of Volubilis; I can’t remember a time in my entire life that I have been somewhere so old! It was recently deemed a world heritage site. They are waiting/seeking funding so they can start excavating more of this ancient Roman city. It was interesting. Our local guide described how the Romans lived. How the choice of this land was strategic. I ... read more