Entering Morocco, we knew that due to the culture and religious laws, our work here would look very different than it does in many other countries. Our team was assigned to the High Atlas region which stretches from Marrakech in the East to Agadir along the coast. This beautiful part of the world offers a variety of cultural experiences.
Jemaa El Fna square in Marrakech has been an active market for over 1,200 years and in some ways has not changed too much. There you will still find snake charmers, monkeys, Henna artists, and merchants of all sorts eager to tell you how much better their product is than the other 20 stores (with the exact same stuff). Hostels in the Medina are all open air with rooftop terraces which make the 5 daily calls to prayer from the many mosques in town ring out loud and clear. The 5am call, which is in Arabic, translates to, “prayer is better than sleep.”
Imlil is a small region in the Atlas Mountains that is the starting point for many treks and adventures, including the two day trek to Toupkal, the highest peak in northern Africa. Our time in Morocco would be mainly divided between these two areas.
The first two weeks included a lot of travel back and forth for me. While in Marrakech at the beginning of the month, we were able to find an international church that was mainly for college students from other parts of Africa. There, we met a few people who told us about another Christian church that met on Sunday mornings. While we were traveling to Imlil the next day, we made plans for a couple of us to return to Marrakech to attend the other church and try to make some more connections.
We were able to find a great AirBNB in Imlil where we had planned to spend a great deal of our month. Abdul, the owner of the house, was extremely hospitable. He owns the house we stayed in and another house that he rents out. He stopped by daily to make sure we were very happy, and had us all over for dinner during our time there. The people of this region all greet you with Berber whiskey (hot mint tea) and a smile, and will very quickly invite you to eat Tagine or couscous with their family.
One teammate and I returned to Marrakech the following weekend and would attend the aforementioned church, which was held in a small building that the Catholic Church in town allowed them to use. Security stood at the gate, which I thought was interesting, since they didn’t seem to have any problem with letting us attend. I would later find out the reason. At the church service we were asked to introduce ourselves, so I stood up and did so and let the people know that we were here for the month and that we are looking for opportunities to serve them. The chairman found me after the service and asked if I knew much about carpentry. My eyes lit up, “absolutely, what do you need!?” He explained that there was a bookshelf in their “library” that needed some repairs and that they had a storage closet under a staircase that could use another door for easier access.
Eager to get to do some work that I am a little more comfortable with, I said that we would do it. The next weekend the whole team would leave Imlil to come to Marrakech and work on our relationships with the long term people we had met. We would fix the shelf, and also go through about 10,000 books, tossing some, and organizing others, cut a new door into the storage closet, and attend church the following Sunday. An invitation was extended for us to go out to lunch with a few of the members, and at lunch we were offered a free place to stay, and a car to drive for the remainder of the month!
We saw this as an answer to some of the questions we had about where we would be going and what we would be doing for the rest of the month. The generous people were heading out of the country for a few weeks and asked if we would feed their animals, water their plants, and fix a few things around the house. Of course we said yes. At this point we cast a vision for what our purpose would be for this month, which was to serve the people who were dedicating their lives to work in Morocco.
It has been a particularly fun few weeks for me, as I have gotten to work with my hands quite a bit. The carpentry at the church was just the start, we wired and installed outdoor lighting at the home we are staying at, are preparing and painting windows this week, and will be reinforcing a small playground at the church.
We have also gotten the opportunity to spend a lot of time with other workers here and to hear their stories, which has been an incredible learning experience.
I said before that I would find out why there was security outside of the church. While it is not illegal to be a Christian in Morocco, it is illegal to try to shake the faith of a Muslim, and it is illegal for a Muslim to become a Christian. While we were in church the second Sunday, a few Moroccans attempted to attend the church, but before they could get in, there was an altercation with police and they were arrested. We did not know this was going on until an article was printed about it later in the week. The writer of the article was clearly not happy with the arrest, and was saying that they should have every right to enter the church if they choose to.
Long term workers see this as an encouragement. They say that this means that things are happening, that people are interested in what is going on. Interestingly, although there are mosques everywhere, and the call to prayer can be heard from any point in the country, if you look around, no one reacts to it. A few people may nod their head towards the mosques, but very few are actually attending. Morocco is very much a secular country, with Islam being the religion of culture, although it has only been in the country for two generations. Workers here feel that the doors are opening for the Gospel message to make waves in Morocco.
In many ways I am reminded of the way that many people in the United States and other Christian countries are Christian by culture, but not by faith or even action. Religious freedom is something that we take advantage of in America, but there is a lot that we could learn from places like Morocco. For instance, when is the last time you invited a stranger over for dinner, someone of a different religion, from a different country, or race? How eager are you to start conversation with people you don’t know? To hear about other people’s lives? As I have spoken to people here, almost every conversation starts with Salaam, which means peace, and throughout the talk I hear ‘in sha’ allh, which translates to “if God wills it.” Now, I know that the God that they worship is not Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father, but imagine if in every conversation we had, and every decision we made, we acknowledged that the plans we make will only happen if God wills it.
I continue to go into places seeking to “help” people, and I keep being the one who is impacted. I am looking forward to the coming months.
