Morocco, a generous nation
Re-learning what it means to be kind
While travelling we have had several discussions about our experiences and what we have learnt thus far. For the time being my mind is set on one day returning and living in a small village in a quaint house and drinking overly sweetened tea.
The people we have met have been incredible. A scary reality, Moroccans are friendlier, more helpful and generous than most Europeans. We arrived at Tangier Med Port, on November 19th and since then have already completed two investigations (a village and a city) and driven hundreds of kilometres.
I bet you´re wondering, what is an investigation?
Essentially it is a set time, a few days, in which a team of two or three are out of the bus intending to learn about a specific topic. A village investigation adds another goal, its people and their way of life. It’s almost as if the village is a lens through which you want to learn about a topic. My first village investigation began on the main road called R417 which connects Tanger Med to Larache. We (my investigation partner and I) had five days and four nights until we needed to meet the bus in Rabat (a city further south) and our topic of choice was agriculture and religion.
Seems like quite the adventure right?
As this was a village investigation, our primary objective was to find a village and a kind family to host us. The idea is to spend a few days experiencing the daily lives of others while also giving them insight into our way of life through stories and photos.
Agriculture is among the main economic pillars of Morocco, contributing around 12 per cent of the total GDP. I am happy to share that we managed to visit two families, one of which produces solely for home consumption and the other sells extra produce in the local souk (market).
So what do they produce?
From their animals (a cow, a few goats and chickens), they make dairy products such as butter and cream cheese and get their meat. Many families in smaller villages use older methods to plough land relying mostly on donkeys and manual labour. They also produce most of their fruit and vegetables and live almost completely off their produce.
When we leave for our investigations, we have to create a budget for the time that we will be out of the bus. This budget includes food, transport and emergency accommodation (if you can’t find a host). For our 5-day investigation, Bruno and I managed to find hosts for all nights and spent a total of 50 Dirham (€5) in total. This was all thanks to the generosity of the people we met.
Although this was just the beginning, this village investigation is part of a culmination in Northwestern Africa that showed us how kind and humane people are. We continuously experienced kindness that humbles, and makes us question the type of person we are, question our upbringing and our culture.
Do you think it would be possible in Europe?
This was just one of several investigations along our four-month travel to Guinea Bissau, stay tuned for more stories, adventures and thought-provoking articles.
