week 8 in Morocco

Morocco has had a lot of recent controversy on rape; particularly after the suicide that occurred last year when a sixteen year old girl killed herself after being forced to marry her rapist. Moroccan law states that a rapist can escape prosecution if he marries his victim. Virginity before marriage is sacred in Arab culture, and if a girl engages in pre-marital relations or is raped, she loses face in society and her status as a marriageable candidate is seriously downgraded.  Because my placement lobbies against the government for many different issues, one of them the legal marriage age (the Moroccan government is considering lowering the marriage age from 18 to 16) they took us to the courthouse to observe a case today.

Two medical students raped two seventeen-year-old girls, after the girls got into their car past midnight a few days ago. This was not their first accusation of rape, officials said. Furthermore, the students bribed the judge to let them walk free. The girls were scheduled to show up in court today. We waited for three hours and the procedures were running late, so we ended up leaving. It was still interesting to hear people’s perspectives and many adamant stances on a girl’s honor and the importance of preserving it at any cost.

Because it is summer and also Ramadan, temperatures are high and so are tempers. Fights, screaming arguments and sometimes even flying fists are common as people, thirsty, hungry and forbidden from smoking wait anxiously for sunset prayer. However, today was really hot and my Canadian co-intern and I decided to buy some ice cream to soothe our throats. As to not invite dirty stares, the only courteous and reasonable thing to do was to buy it and look for a safe place to hide and enjoy our frosty treats. We snuck into a driveway and began to devour our much-anticipated dessert. A few minutes into our ice cream, a man walked by in order to enter his home. We hastily tried to hide the ice cream behind our backs (like guilty children with their hands in the cookie jar) but of course, it was too late. He asked us where we were from and profusely welcomed us to Morocco. He assured us that it was no problem that we were eating and even invited us to take a seat and make ourselves comfortable. He was very kind, and I think that he beautifully embodied the image of a humble Muslim; even in a time of discomfort because of fasting, he still graciously represented Moroccan hospitality to a T.

These past two months in Morocco have been very interesting; I've learned so much in that amount of time, but at the same time I was trying to adjust to a different lifestyle. But, this is my eighth week and I feel like I am finally assimilating into the culture. Last night I was able to interview a Berber activist through Skype, and his answers were extremely interesting. He shared what motivated him to fight for the rights of Berber people in Morocco and how many times he had been arrested. It is very inspiring to see a group of indigenous people who have had their basic rights suppressed for so long, come together and take a stance for their heritage and their country. I am looking forward to these last four weeks in Morocco and continuing to gather information from sources for my capstone project.