Nineteenth-century Swiss adventurer
Isabelle Eberhardt dressed as a
Berber man, became a Sufi, smoked
kif, operated as a triple agent, married
an Algerian dissident and wrote her
memoir The Oblivion Seekers – all
before the age of 30.As Fatima stands up, she feels a pang of arthritis. It’s beginning to interfere with her work,
and she worries about the family that has largely depended on her since her husband passed
away a few years ago. She thanks God she can work, and is determined that in two years,
she’ll make the pilgrimage to Mecca, inshallah (God willing).
THE FOREIGNERS NEXT DOOR
With an attractive climate and exchange rate, Morocco has 100,000 foreign residents – and counting. Moroccan emigrants
from Europe and the US are increasingly returning to Morocco to live, retire or start businesses, creating a new upper-middle
economic class. The carefree spending of returnees is a source of major revenue and a certain amount of resentment for
Moroccans, who grumble openly about returnees driving up costs and importing a culture of conspicuous consumption that’s
unattainable and shallow.
An international vogue for riads (traditional courtyard houses) has spread from Marrakesh to medinas (old cities) across
Morocco, with many Europeans buying and restoring historic structures – and pricing Moroccans out of the housing market in
their hometowns. As Moroccans move to the peripheries, suburban sprawl and traffic has increased, and medina
neighbourhoods can seem strangely empty and lifeless off-season. To many Moroccans who remember the hard-fought
independence movement, European enclaves bring to mind colonial French-only villes nouvelles (Click here ). In response to
claims that their mere presence is changing the local culture, some expats point to the satellite dishes on their neighbours’
houses, and claim that globalisation is inevitable.
Maybe, but travellers can make the exchange more equitable by venturing beyond riad walls to explore Moroccan culture,
meet Moroccans on their own turf and ensure Moroccans benefit from tourism. Lonely Planet recommends licensed
guesthouses that provide fair pay and working conditions to employees and promote positive cultural exchange; you can help
by sharing your experience at [email protected].Afternoon: Meet Rashid
Looking for lizards, Rashid almost bumps into a trekker along the 4km mountain path from
school. His sisters tease him that he’s such a dreamer, he always lets the goats get away.
They used to walk to school together, but last year’s drought hit their Middle Atlas village hard.
The family had to sell their donkey, and make tough choices about who they could spare this
harvest season. Eleven-year-old Rashid is a better student and worse goatherd than his
sisters, so he gets to go to school – for now, anyway.
He likes to surprise his sisters by bringing something home
from school: a lazy lizard, beans from the school garden, and
one time, a foreign trekker for tea. His family served their best
bread and butter, and though no one understood a word the
guy was saying, he wasn’t bad at koura (football). The
postcard the trekker sent through the village association is on
the family-room shelf, and Rashid is sure that if he can go to
the regional middle school, one day he’ll write back in perfect
English.Evening: Meet Amina
It’s 6.30pm, and though Amina just got back from her French literature class at university, she’s
ready to go out again. Not that there’s anything special on the agenda: a stroll, maybe the
library or an internet cafe so she can get some privacy from her pesky little brother, who