April 21--After a quick luggage drop at our hotel, the Across Hotel in Fés, Hicham took us to his home for lunch and conversation. We met his wife and twin sons, who graciously greeted us. He took us on a quick tour of his home (note the kitchen photo below) and told us lunch would be ready very soon. Shortly after our arrival, his wife served an extraordinary lunch, and we all sat around a table and learned that everyone shares from the same plate in Morocco. We also learned that silverware isn't so common. "This is what people eat at weddings," Hicham told us. As we ate, I admired the stylistic elements of a Moroccan home - beautiful tile on the walls, the rich fabric on the wall-to-wall couches, and the ever-present Moroccan tea set. As we dug into the delicious meal of chicken, olives, and fries, we learned that this is a meal often served at weddings. The conversation topic was, quite literally, all over the map. Of course football (soccer) came up almost immediately. We also talked about playwrights (Beckett), documentaries, culture, music, education, and teaching, of course. On tv while we ate was the Abu Dhabi National Geographic channel, and we even got to see a documentary on music in rural Moroccan communities. As we wrapped up our lunch and rich conversation, we heard Hicham tell us about his perception of how educators should be perceived: "We are the opportunity for our schools. Not we have an opportunity for you." A refreshing way of thinking for anyone who is set to join a company, organization, and especially a school system. After wrapping up lunch with the requisite tea and cakes, he showed us his stamp collection and then taught us the words for "let's go." "Yalla yalla," he said. And off to the old medina we went. Once we arrived at the medina, we stopped to take some photos in front of the famous "Blue Gate," then headed inside to do some shopping. Once again, even though we had visited Fès with our group, we were mesmerized by the maze of streets and alleyways and the old-world feel of it all. We marveled at the architecture, crafts, scents, and Sunday crowds in the medina. We also got to witness the real-world connections to one of our lectures in Casablanca just two days ago. Nawal Gharmili Sefrioui, the CEO of Orange Money Maroc, enlightened us on the topic of "Financial Inclusion." Today, in the Fès, we saw the day-to-day impacts of a country's financial situation on a shopping day in the market. During the lecture, we learned that Morocco is mostly a cash society, but that there are people and companies working hard to offer banking opportunities that are more inclusive. The result: Ease of payment for consumers and more options for business owners to receive payment. We learned about Orange Money and their efforts to offer consumers and business owners more autonomy, leading to economic growth. While we were intrigued by this lecture, it wasn't until we went shopping in Fès that we saw the ways that a more financial inclusivity can lead to economic growth: When one of my colleagues stopped at the ATM to get some shopping cash, she was unable to withdraw money. "Oh," Hicham told us, "the ATMs often run out of money on the weekends." We stopped at two additional ATMs with the same result. Aha, I thought, this is why mobile money and a company like Orange Money is so important to economic growth. For each consumer - tourist or local - who cannot withdraw money, there is a business owner who cannot make a sale that day. To learn more about Orange Money and its headquarters in Morocco, here's a nice press release from January of 2020. Luckily, we had enough cash to do a little shopping, and Hicham led us past shops with pottery, leather goods, books, crafts made from horns, Moroccan football jerseys, and more. One incredible highlight from this particular medina trip was our stop at a perfume shop. Hicham, as noted earlier, is connected to so many shopkeepers, business folks, and educators, and wanted to take us to a relative's shop. We ended up in this glorious, mirrored, immaculate shop. Everything smelled divine. We drank mint tea, sampled products, and walked away with beautiful vials of perfume. If you can believe it, after our evening visit to the medina, Hicham had even more in store for us! We ran into his dad on the street and quick stopped by to meet his sister and dad, just a five-minute walk from his own home. Then he led us back to his home again (mind you it is about 10pm at this time!). We walked up the stairs and found mint tea and sweets are waiting for us - a beautiful spread! We spent some more time talking about school, and asked about the homework load in Morocco. He said, "Moroccan students have a lot of homework and that is a problem. I must teach for the test or they will fail. But it is not effective way to teach how to communicate." He then went to his bookshelf and showed us his binder of plans. "Please take it with you to look," he said. Then he mentioned that we would have soup for dinner(!). His wife brought out a delicious homemade soup, bread, ricotta, dates and figs. It was an amazing evening treat! As we ate, his twin boys packed for school. He reflected a little on their childhood versus his own. He told us that children used to play outside all of the time, "I grew up playing games in the Medina. Now, tablets and tech have taken over." Sounds familiar! After dinner, he returned us our hotel for a night of rest. Tomorrow, our school visits will begin! The anticipation builds...
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AuthorAmy Frontier teaches at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Archives
September 2024
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