Well, Classes are done! Humdillah (Praise God!) as we say!
Which means I'm just left with two papers (one on Moroccan authoritarianism and the other on the gender bias in the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the World Bank & IMF...sounds exciting...not) and three finals (Arabic, International Law and Middle East Politics).
Really not so much, though I've been severely lacking in motivation this week so hopefully I'll get my act together without losing to much sleep.
Not too much else going on...getting ready to come home!
Hannah
Friday, May 11, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
Retreating
So, it's the last week of classes and as a good college student I am doing my duty and avoiding my last homework assignments like the plague. Consider it a form of anger that Valpo is already done with classes and descending into the wonderfulness that is finals week. Bah humbug.
This past weekend, a number of the other international students and I set off with the church community for a beach retreat at a hotel a little outside of Rabat right on...you guessed it...the beach. Ah the Atlantic...if at some point I can live on a beach at least for a little while, I'd definitely be okay with that. :-)
The retreat was nice, though slightly heavy at some points. The topic was how we as Christians attempt to deal with the overwhelming issues of the world. Those of you who know me well, know that I have struggled with this exact issue a lot over the past couple years. And so I was happy to note that as we made our list of huge issues: poverty, terrorism, war, sex traffiking, materialism, affluenza, negative effects of economic globalization, illegal imigration, abortion, hatred, lack of hope, racism, etc. that I was able to not feel that weight of hopelessness but feel like someday I'll be able to do my part in makign a difference in whatever vocation God calls me on and that I have to trust that God and his followers will work to do the rest. It's impossible to do it alone and feeling like its overwhelming when looking at those issues only serves to trigger paralysis.
Unfortunately, my mind did not dwell on this nicely packaged conclusion very long. :-(
After we made this list, we heard David and Julie Brown talk. This is a couple who has been working in Morocco for the past few years with the illegal African refugees. This may come as a surprise to many of you from the states, where the illegal immigration that we hear about is from Mexico and Latin America and preoccupies the minds of many in the US. But refugees and migration are huge issues worldwide too. Morocco especially is currently in a complicated crisis as the closest North African Country to Europe - specifically Spain. Sub Saharan Africans come up through the sub Saharan desert (a brutal brutal journey where 1/3 of the travelers die along the way) to Morocco in the attempt to get to Europe. Some of these are displaced by conflict, many others by poverty and lack of economic opportunity (ringing any bells for those of you who know the ins and outs of the immigration issues in the US). However, unfortunately when they arrive in Morocco they get blocked.
The borders between Morocco and Spain have been cracked down (when I traveled to Madrid a couple of months ago my passport was checked like 10 times between the two airports) and its virtually impossible to get into Europe. Unfortunately, Morocco's response to all of these aliens in their country is less than humane. Officially, there is absolutely no refugee problem. Unofficially, refugees are rounded up int he middle of the night, jailed, and then dropped off back into the desert and told basically to leave ASAP...of course you can imagine these refugees are less than thrilled about returning on the death trip through the desert and many simply returned. Unfortunatley, even if they are granted asylum papers these are not actually respected by the Moroccan police because of the lack of an official policy towards the refugees. These is fruther complicated by the fact that the Moroccan economy is terrible and cannot support its own people - unemployment is HUGE here - much less these people coming in.
Europe's reponse is another complicating factor. Morocco and Europe's relationship has always beena nd continues to be strong, and the EU is virtually dictating this policy because it does not want these illegal immigrants (even though crops are now dying because of the lack of temporary labor that the African refugees provide) coming into the EU. This is understandable. And thus they are forcing Morocco to crack down. However, because there is no official policy there is very little move room...if the refugees want to return to their home countries for example they try to get on a plane, they're taking ot jail and then dropped off in the desert, even if their ticket is payed for. There is an organization, the International Organization for Migration (largely funded by the EU by the way) that sometimes organizes planes to take migrants back...but its very expensive and not easy.
Amidst all of this, David and Julie Brown backed by the churches of Morocco, some Islamic organizations and some human rights organizations are attempting to be a light of support and love for these migrants. They described the above issues to us and their work - interviewing hundreds everyday who are asking for help of some kind. Sometimes medical, soemtimes job, sometimes needing emergency housing or simply a hug. They tell their stories, sometimes lying, sometimes exaggerating, often crying and begging for help. David and Julie and their team (practially the sole people working on this issue in the country) help as many as they can, attempting to use the money in their small budgets for the most urgent needs, but also helping some individuals start their own microenterprises and certainly acting as champions for the people.
For this, they have been followed by the Moroccan government...police have shown up on their doorstep and their voices will not be heard from the officials. Though, they have had to step in and help diffuse tense situations on occassion of migrant sit ins with the police and UN diplomats.
My first response to this story was...wow. It reminded me that facing a long list of issues and keeping hope in the face of AIDS, malnutrition, human slavery, school shootings, suicide bombers and decade long conflict is one thing but thinking about how complex and interconnected each one of these world problems is...devastating.
My second response, was one of amazement at the work this couple is doing. Such hopeless and thankless work...seeing these illegal refugees day in and day out, and then on the weekends going from church to church to raise money to continue their cause. It's just so much. It would be so so hard. And yet such work is so needed. And not just here, in the US, throughout Africa and around the world...
And that brings me to my third response...I've been thinking a lot about international law lately and the tensions between our sovereign state system (our world since the Treaty of Westphalia in the late 1600s) and some of the pressing issues of the day: migration across borders, global warming, intrastate conflict (Darfur, the Congo, Uganda, etc). My international law teacher loves to warn me in class about the perils that will surely occur if the Westphalian system collapses and the sovereignty of states is not respected. Certainly, events today threaten to do so - the US intervening in Iraq, states meddling in other states' business, basically the idea that other states can go into another state and change it as it sees as a direct contradiction to sovereignty...but at the same time I have such a hard time understanding how its so much better when we have people desperately trying to survive crossing the harshest terrain in the world for work and food and being beaten and thrown out of countries because of lines drawn on maps. I know its not as simple as that...certainly its the knowledge that its not that simple that makes my head spin. But it also makes my heart cry out "there has got to be a better way!"
Refugee/Immigration issues are some of the most complex too because you have that problem of "illegality" in that on the face there seems to be a clear "right" and "wrong." These people left their country where they had citizenship (perhaps nothing else, but at least citizenship) to come to another state in an illegal manner. The argument goes that if they had just stayed their would be no problem. And their arrival wihout any resources simply drains economies and causes increased social problems (like in Morocco, there is a lot of racism towards Africans and a new lower class being formed of squatters and the poorest of the poor). So clearly, these migraints are in the wrong and deserve what they get....the problem with those arguments are that they fail to conisder the larger world problems. These people leave some of the most desperate situations...sometimes literally running for their lives, pushed out because of conflict and terrible violence. Other times because it is simply impossible to find jobs and provide for their families. David and Julie told us that sometimes entire villages will pool their money to send two of the strongest young men to go get jobs and send money back to support the entire village. What else are people supposed to do? Especially in a system where globalization is making the rich richer and the poor poorer and where some might say rich countries are continuing a new cycle of exploitation on the poor in Africa and Latin America to support lavish Western lifestyles. Even if you disagree with this argument, the worldwide economy is so interconnected now that we are integrally tied to these people.
Oy. It's so complicated. And I can be the good college student and argue both sides to death and understand the issues till I'm blue in the face and yet the problem is still devastating on the ground with no real solution in sight. Here, in Europe, and in my own country. It makes me impatient to get out of this whole school thing and go do what I can to help. But then again, that's a whole catch-22 in and out of itself because the people who get to make decisions...yeah they have law degrees, and masters degrees and PhDs and job experience...oy. And to achieve any of that I have to first finish two more papers and three finals to end this semester.
And I've come full circle.
9 more days in Morocco...
This past weekend, a number of the other international students and I set off with the church community for a beach retreat at a hotel a little outside of Rabat right on...you guessed it...the beach. Ah the Atlantic...if at some point I can live on a beach at least for a little while, I'd definitely be okay with that. :-)
The retreat was nice, though slightly heavy at some points. The topic was how we as Christians attempt to deal with the overwhelming issues of the world. Those of you who know me well, know that I have struggled with this exact issue a lot over the past couple years. And so I was happy to note that as we made our list of huge issues: poverty, terrorism, war, sex traffiking, materialism, affluenza, negative effects of economic globalization, illegal imigration, abortion, hatred, lack of hope, racism, etc. that I was able to not feel that weight of hopelessness but feel like someday I'll be able to do my part in makign a difference in whatever vocation God calls me on and that I have to trust that God and his followers will work to do the rest. It's impossible to do it alone and feeling like its overwhelming when looking at those issues only serves to trigger paralysis.
Unfortunately, my mind did not dwell on this nicely packaged conclusion very long. :-(
After we made this list, we heard David and Julie Brown talk. This is a couple who has been working in Morocco for the past few years with the illegal African refugees. This may come as a surprise to many of you from the states, where the illegal immigration that we hear about is from Mexico and Latin America and preoccupies the minds of many in the US. But refugees and migration are huge issues worldwide too. Morocco especially is currently in a complicated crisis as the closest North African Country to Europe - specifically Spain. Sub Saharan Africans come up through the sub Saharan desert (a brutal brutal journey where 1/3 of the travelers die along the way) to Morocco in the attempt to get to Europe. Some of these are displaced by conflict, many others by poverty and lack of economic opportunity (ringing any bells for those of you who know the ins and outs of the immigration issues in the US). However, unfortunately when they arrive in Morocco they get blocked.
The borders between Morocco and Spain have been cracked down (when I traveled to Madrid a couple of months ago my passport was checked like 10 times between the two airports) and its virtually impossible to get into Europe. Unfortunately, Morocco's response to all of these aliens in their country is less than humane. Officially, there is absolutely no refugee problem. Unofficially, refugees are rounded up int he middle of the night, jailed, and then dropped off back into the desert and told basically to leave ASAP...of course you can imagine these refugees are less than thrilled about returning on the death trip through the desert and many simply returned. Unfortunatley, even if they are granted asylum papers these are not actually respected by the Moroccan police because of the lack of an official policy towards the refugees. These is fruther complicated by the fact that the Moroccan economy is terrible and cannot support its own people - unemployment is HUGE here - much less these people coming in.
Europe's reponse is another complicating factor. Morocco and Europe's relationship has always beena nd continues to be strong, and the EU is virtually dictating this policy because it does not want these illegal immigrants (even though crops are now dying because of the lack of temporary labor that the African refugees provide) coming into the EU. This is understandable. And thus they are forcing Morocco to crack down. However, because there is no official policy there is very little move room...if the refugees want to return to their home countries for example they try to get on a plane, they're taking ot jail and then dropped off in the desert, even if their ticket is payed for. There is an organization, the International Organization for Migration (largely funded by the EU by the way) that sometimes organizes planes to take migrants back...but its very expensive and not easy.
Amidst all of this, David and Julie Brown backed by the churches of Morocco, some Islamic organizations and some human rights organizations are attempting to be a light of support and love for these migrants. They described the above issues to us and their work - interviewing hundreds everyday who are asking for help of some kind. Sometimes medical, soemtimes job, sometimes needing emergency housing or simply a hug. They tell their stories, sometimes lying, sometimes exaggerating, often crying and begging for help. David and Julie and their team (practially the sole people working on this issue in the country) help as many as they can, attempting to use the money in their small budgets for the most urgent needs, but also helping some individuals start their own microenterprises and certainly acting as champions for the people.
For this, they have been followed by the Moroccan government...police have shown up on their doorstep and their voices will not be heard from the officials. Though, they have had to step in and help diffuse tense situations on occassion of migrant sit ins with the police and UN diplomats.
My first response to this story was...wow. It reminded me that facing a long list of issues and keeping hope in the face of AIDS, malnutrition, human slavery, school shootings, suicide bombers and decade long conflict is one thing but thinking about how complex and interconnected each one of these world problems is...devastating.
My second response, was one of amazement at the work this couple is doing. Such hopeless and thankless work...seeing these illegal refugees day in and day out, and then on the weekends going from church to church to raise money to continue their cause. It's just so much. It would be so so hard. And yet such work is so needed. And not just here, in the US, throughout Africa and around the world...
And that brings me to my third response...I've been thinking a lot about international law lately and the tensions between our sovereign state system (our world since the Treaty of Westphalia in the late 1600s) and some of the pressing issues of the day: migration across borders, global warming, intrastate conflict (Darfur, the Congo, Uganda, etc). My international law teacher loves to warn me in class about the perils that will surely occur if the Westphalian system collapses and the sovereignty of states is not respected. Certainly, events today threaten to do so - the US intervening in Iraq, states meddling in other states' business, basically the idea that other states can go into another state and change it as it sees as a direct contradiction to sovereignty...but at the same time I have such a hard time understanding how its so much better when we have people desperately trying to survive crossing the harshest terrain in the world for work and food and being beaten and thrown out of countries because of lines drawn on maps. I know its not as simple as that...certainly its the knowledge that its not that simple that makes my head spin. But it also makes my heart cry out "there has got to be a better way!"
Refugee/Immigration issues are some of the most complex too because you have that problem of "illegality" in that on the face there seems to be a clear "right" and "wrong." These people left their country where they had citizenship (perhaps nothing else, but at least citizenship) to come to another state in an illegal manner. The argument goes that if they had just stayed their would be no problem. And their arrival wihout any resources simply drains economies and causes increased social problems (like in Morocco, there is a lot of racism towards Africans and a new lower class being formed of squatters and the poorest of the poor). So clearly, these migraints are in the wrong and deserve what they get....the problem with those arguments are that they fail to conisder the larger world problems. These people leave some of the most desperate situations...sometimes literally running for their lives, pushed out because of conflict and terrible violence. Other times because it is simply impossible to find jobs and provide for their families. David and Julie told us that sometimes entire villages will pool their money to send two of the strongest young men to go get jobs and send money back to support the entire village. What else are people supposed to do? Especially in a system where globalization is making the rich richer and the poor poorer and where some might say rich countries are continuing a new cycle of exploitation on the poor in Africa and Latin America to support lavish Western lifestyles. Even if you disagree with this argument, the worldwide economy is so interconnected now that we are integrally tied to these people.
Oy. It's so complicated. And I can be the good college student and argue both sides to death and understand the issues till I'm blue in the face and yet the problem is still devastating on the ground with no real solution in sight. Here, in Europe, and in my own country. It makes me impatient to get out of this whole school thing and go do what I can to help. But then again, that's a whole catch-22 in and out of itself because the people who get to make decisions...yeah they have law degrees, and masters degrees and PhDs and job experience...oy. And to achieve any of that I have to first finish two more papers and three finals to end this semester.
And I've come full circle.
9 more days in Morocco...
Monday, April 30, 2007
Home with the Roommate
Hello Again...It's been awhile.
Last week was another one of work...woo hoo. Can you tell I only have 2 more weeks of classes and that I'm jealous that my friends at Valpo are already in their last week of classes and can see the finish line? Ah well, 17 more days after today so I probably shouldn't complain, especially after my fantastic weekend.
My roommate Narjisse had invited me home awhile ago, but this was the first weekend we could make it work. And it was just lovely. We headed out Friday about noon via grande taxi to Meknes where we caught the train to Rabat (about a 2 1/2 hour ride). She lives in Kinetra which is about 20 minutes by train south of Rabat, but we first met up with her sister Khawla (prounced Khoula) who lives in Rabat and works for the Central Bank of Morocco (sort of like our Federal Reserve).
We had a bit of an adventure upon our arrival. I had meant to grab cash from an ATM in Ifrane, but we left in a rush so as to not miss our train and so I didn't. So, as soon as we got in and were walking towards our meet up place I saw an ATM and I was like perfect! [It always makes me nervous to be traveling without very much cash, just in case!] So, I went over to the ATM, a boy probably about 15 or 16 was sitting a little ways away from the ATM on the ground, but I didn't really think much of it as its pretty common to see people on the streets of Rabat begging or just sitting...so I punch in all my numbers as my roommate chats away and as I'm putting my 1000 dirhams in my purse all the sudden the boy lunges up and grabs my money! I was still holding on to the other end but was so surprised! He was holding on fiercely as my roommate started yelling at him to let go...all three of us were now holding on tightly to my money as we formed this little triangle of holding on to stuff, the money, and yelling at him to get away...as this was going on, another man on the street came up and grabbed the boy and started kicking and hitting him to let go (during this time the boy never responded...my roommate said he was probably high and so was in a bit of an obstinate daze)...he motioned for my roommate and I to let go of the money and soon the boy was on the ground being kicked but still holding tightly to my money has the other man began to pry his fingers off...finally he let go, though not without already having ripped most of the bills and we were all able to step back as he just flopped out on the ground still in his daze. We went into the bank and they taped up my money and off we went leaving the man to talk to the police....it was quite the experience. Luckily, both Narjisse and I were unhurt and I left with all of the money I had withdrawn. Narjisse said the boy was probably Sengalese...its a big problem in Morocco that large numbers of Africans come up through Morocco trying to get to Europe but end up getting stuck and begging in the streets.
Narjisse with my taped up 200 dirhams...
So that was my "almost getting robbed" story...luckily it did not have a lasting effect on the weekend. We met up with Khawla and went around Rabat a bit...seeing this cool old wall/gate, walking through the old kasbah taking pictures and being slightly touristy as Narjisse hadn't been to these places either. It was really nice 1) to be going everywhere by car because you see a place really differently instead of coming in by taxi and just walking to places you know from a guidebook, etc... 2) being with Narjisse and Khawla and being semi-local. I could see the other tourists from Spain, France, England or eslewhere and see them just standing out so much and I could blend in a bit more by being with them. Plus, it was nice to see that my touristy experiences haven't been too out of the ordinary...the grande taxi driver still tried to rip us off, we still took tons of picutres and asked for directions, the guys still made comments at us...this time I had two people with me though that could translate and we could all laugh together! :-)
After awhile in Rabat, we drove towards Kinetra on the freeway and arrived at our home just in time for a lovely dinner with her other sister Abir and her parents. They of course stuffed me and while weren't too pushy about filling my plate again and again, clearly wanted to make their hospitality known. Her parents don't speak English, but even they could understand some of what I was saying. Khawla and Narjisse speak really good English and even her sister Abir could communicate with me well, so I was pretty spoiled for the weekend. Narjisse acted as an amazing translator...I'm so proud of her with her English!
Her sister and I hung out a bit that evening and then went to sleep...got up the next morning by her mother's orders to come down to breakfast where there was a delicious spread awaiting. Then, Narjisse, Abir, Khawla and I headed out to see a bit of Kinetra. We saw this really cool old castle that protected Kinetra centuries ago...Narjisse and I have a plan now to marry rich husbands who will renovate it so we can live in it someday. :-) It was very cool and had an amazing view of the beach and the water...ah, the Atlantic. We explored a bit as our guide took us around, again with the girls translating for me. Then we went down to the beach, felt the sand in our toes and the cold water of the ocean, then dropped by the supermarket near their house (very much like a Walmart Superstore with grocery included) picked up a cake for the family and then headed back for lunch.
Lunch was a huge meal with her family and her aunt and uncle and their two girls. It was in this formal dining room which was beautiful...we started out with artichokes and melon, then they brought out bread and vegetables and salad, and then a HUGE platter with a fish surrounded by lots of yummy vegetables (the vegetables at AUI suck, so I love any occasion where I get healthy food). I was stuffed by the end and then they brought out this amazing cake her aunt made and fruit. Followed by coffeee! Oy! It was delicious.
Narjisse, Me and her family (and aunts and uncles) after lunch...my camera took to long to take the picture so i look slightly bizarre. Oh well.
Everyone hung out a while and then her father took Abir, Narjisse, I and one of Narjisse' friends Ichraq to the nature reserve in Kinetra called the Centre National D'Education Environmentale...basically where all of these birds migrate from Europe and make a rest stop in Kinetra before heading down to sub Saharan Africa. Pretty cool, eh? It was very beautiful and reminded me a bit of home with the lush trees and lake and such. Narjisse's father got us in to see the center even though it was closed ("She came from America to see!") and it was cool to see the exhibits they had set up for visitng school kids and such and then to see the birds.
Back for a snack, her mom/their maid made harsha just for me (my favorite breakfast food, sort of like cornbread except not) which was delicious. Then we ran some errands, came back for a quick supper of spaghetti and chilled for the evening. When I went up for bed that night I found a beautiful kaftan waiting for me...one of the traditional dresses here in Morocco. I was so touched, her family was so utterly sweet to me!
Narjisse and I got up the next morning and jumped on the train to Rabat, again met up with her sister and saw a few more of the sights. We saw Hassan Tower (a mosque that was never finished but would have been HUGE) and the Masueloeum of Mohammad V and grabbed some lunch at the mall before jumping back on the train for our trek home. Blah. I think the worst part of traveling is coming back home...train to taxi to Ifrane. Neither Narjisse and I were particularly happy to be back to cold Ifrane after sunny beatuiful Rabat and Kinetra...but alas.
So it was a wonderful weekend, though if anything I was perhaps a tinge more homesick as it was so nice to be in a family house again and to be welcomed so hospitably. As soon as we got back I rushed off to go be a part of the student-led service for church which was somewhat scattered as is the nature of those things, but turned out pretty well overall. We made these little books with our favorite scriptures and quotes that went along with the lectionary's theme of God the Good Shepherd and the whole congregation absolutely loved them! So that was exciting.
Now, I'm sort of back in the grind of things. Tomorrow is Moroccan Labor Day so we have a pretty broken up week, which is lovely because that means I only have 3 days of class...but today has been pretty blah. I'm ready to go home and all my classes have reached that frustrating point of no one wanting to be there. Yesterday in Middle East Politics we debated the Arab-Israeli conflict for about a half in hour which is sort of hopeless...as well I'm getting kind of tired of the dynamics between teh international students here. They're lovely people, but I think we're reaching the end of the rope so to speak...I almost hurled one of them through the window yesterday, so I've taken most of the evening to just chill by myself. Narjisse and I watched Cheaper by the Dozen on tv so that was fun! :-)
But now only 17 more days...2 papers, 1 presentation (this Thursday in Arabic so keep me in your prayers), 3 finals, and one huge packing ordeal to go. This weekend is the beach retreat with church which should be lovely and then after that, we may have one last intl. student hoorah before we go, but we'll see. I may just study and get ready to come home!
Until then....God's peace.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
