{"id":235,"date":"2009-06-12T06:17:37","date_gmt":"2009-06-12T13:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/?p=235"},"modified":"2011-06-28T00:41:55","modified_gmt":"2011-06-27T22:41:55","slug":"sights-sounds-and-smells-of-morocco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/sights-sounds-and-smells-of-morocco\/","title":{"rendered":"Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"

I took a team of the interns to Morocco last week after they completed their first term at the G42 Leadership Academy.\u00a0 Our primary mission was to make contact with some new “friends” that are living and working inside Morocco to bring peace, hope, and love to this nation caught between Islam and the West.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>
In one of the medinas - <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Morocco is interesting in that it sits on the Straight of Gibraltar, just an hour-long ferry ride from Spain and Europe.\u00a0 Because of that it is one of the more ‘progressive’ Muslim nations, trying to hold on to the rituals and rules of Islam while at the same time, embracing and befriending the West.\u00a0 I was struck by the true “Clash of Civilizations” going on in this nation. On one hand, it is truly an Islamic nation, with tight controls on behavior, dress, and religious practice.\u00a0 On the other, the younger generations listen to American pop music, dress in trendy European styles, and enjoy practicing their English.\u00a0 And here we were, American (i.e. Christian) tourists who were continually the object of attention for most locals.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
On the trek near Moulay Idriss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since our goal was to make contact with as many future partners as possible, we traveled around quite a bit.\u00a0 We were based in Meknes, which was a medium-sized city that was central to many of the places we wanted to travel.\u00a0 So we did, by taxi (7 people jammed in one taxi for 2 hours–fun!) and train, and by foot.\u00a0 We got to trek into villages and speak to locals with a mix of Spanish, French, and Arabic; we got to wander in old medinas full of colors (and smells :^P ); and we got to visit and play with orphans at the Village of Hope orphanage in Ain Leuh, Morocco.<\/p>\n

The Village of Hope isn’t really an orphanage, it’s more of a children’s home.\u00a0 And it was nothing like we expected–it wasn’t rows upon rows of dirty beds, bored children, and dusty grounds.\u00a0 It was an oasis of family, community, life, and love!<\/p>\n

A bit of background–in a Muslim society, sex out of marriage simply “doesn’t happen.”\u00a0 If somehow a girl does get pregnant, she is shuttled off to the city to have an abortion or off to the country to have her baby, leave it at an orphanage, and then return to her life.\u00a0 In fact, we were told that Muslims believe that orphans are born without a soul, therefore it is okay to kill them.\u00a0 So orphans in Morocco really don’t have a chance to ever re-integrate into Moroccan society.\u00a0 BUT, at the Village of Hope, each orphan is actually adopted by a family that commits to raising that child as their own until they are 18 years old.\u00a0 There are currently 4-5 families with 8-10 “children” (natural and adopted) each that live at Village of Hope.\u00a0 They live in community, and their children attend school on the grounds, provided by Moroccan teachers, in Arabic.\u00a0 The parents come from South Africa, Holland, America, the UK, and around the world.\u00a0 So these kids get to grow up learning multiple languages, in a family that loves and cares for them.\u00a0 It’s an amazing concept!<\/p>\n

And the Village of Hope reaches out to the community as well: children from local villages attend the school, they are currently building a clinic that will not only care for the families on-site, but will care for villages as well, and they bring in local tradesmen and farmers to teach the children to be workers and leaders.\u00a0 They are truly building a generation of Moroccans who will re-enter society, no longer stigmatized, but who will be a light to their fellow citizens!<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

That is just one place that interns and graduates may be involved in the future… I will try and write more soon.\u00a0 Just as an update, the June term starts Monday 15 June, with four new students in addition to the five already attending.\u00a0 We are growing quickly and we are hopign to move into a larger, more modern facility by September!\u00a0 Please be in prayer that a property opens up that will be perfect for us. Other than ongoing classes, this is my highest priority right now, to find a place that will have the sleeping capacity, classroom space, and a large kitchen to accomodate all of the students we are planning on having.<\/p>\n

Thank you to everyone who is following us and praying for us on this journey…. and thanks to Michelle for letting me use her photos…!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Khalid,<\/a>
Khalid, (with Sean and I) our unofficial tour guide for the city of Moulay Idriss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took a team of the interns to Morocco last week after they completed their first term at the G42 Leadership Academy.\u00a0 Our primary mission was to make contact with some new “friends” that are living and working inside Morocco to bring peace, hope, and love to this nation caught between Islam and the West. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1105,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions\/1105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/warriorshepherd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}