Morocco!

I don't even know where to begin. I've been thrown right into the mix of things and have been working day and night and weekends. No internet at home yet so I am taking advantage of the hotel I'm in up on the Algerian border.

I am truly at a loss for words for the power of the work that Moroccans all around the country are doing for Moroccan-US relations. I have been to a Ministry of Youth Music camp, seen American High school students learning Arabic, given orientations to Moroccan students going to America, a basketball camp in the far north (Oujda and Nador), the Oujda American Corner, given TV, internet, and radio interviews in French, and oh yeah, learned how a US Embassy works (well, sort of).

I am totally and completely exhausted, yet energized by the power of the programs and the work so many people put into making them happen. The below pictures are from a trip this week.

2 students from Oujda singing "A Coat of Many Colors" - they were amazing

A play about Cinderella in English. This is in Oujda American corner in the conservative north.

Basketball Camp girls in Oujda

Nador girls!

I don't know why this river is this color, but it incredible. I begged the driver (thank you Larbi!) to stop

Walls of the imperial city of Fez. All of these I took from the window of the moving car, no time to stop! :(

Graveyard, somewhere near Fez

Roman ruins dot the countryside everywhere

Who knows, but it's beautiful

Walls around Fez, thousands of swallows fly around and sit in the ventilation holes

The medina in Fez

Entrance to Fez medina, the biggest in the Muslim world

A museum in Fez, they just had the Sacred Music Festival the night before

This is the most beautiful country in the world

Bye Bye Betsy

I loved you from the moment I saw you, a true coup de foudre. Hopefully you will come back to me whole.At home where you belongAck! KidnappedI now have an empty driveway :(

Goodbye

I feel like I've committed the ultimate adultery by living in DC these last 6 months. Baltimore is hometown and somehow I had always cultivated this adversarial thing against DC. But, really it IS apples and oranges. This is a false city, a false construct. Visitors, dignitaries, fancy buildings will never/never compete with the spirit, soul, blood, sweat, and tears that comprise Baltimore City.

I love you, Greatest City in America. I will miss you.

Penecostals and the damage they do in the developing world

I am so angry right now I could spit. Since Penecostal missionaries have brought their faith to West Africa they have done in inordinate amount of damage that anyone who calls themselves a Christian must decry.

Penecostal beliefs in Satan and possessions have blended with traditional African beliefs of witchcraft and sorcery to create a violent and volatile mix where children are tortured and accused of being witches and killed or ostrasized.

Deteriorating environmental conditions as a result of the oil industry in the Akwa Ibom state in southeastern Nigeria have caused residents of this impoverished area to cast blame on innocent children for unexplained deaths, poor fishing returns, lack of money, and simply unrealized dreams. Children are held by churches, beaten, starved, and often murdered because they are believed to be the root of all of the problems.

There are two groups working on this issue, CRARN (Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network) and Stepping Stones Nigeria. If you consider yourself a Christian, instead of giving money for more missionaries to go overseas or to build a church that no one needs, why don't you contribute some money to undo some of the damage that other Christians have wreaked upon this world. Now that I would like to see.

Also, if you want to learn about this for yourself, watch the HBO documentary called Saving Africa's Witch Children.

The Judge! I love Baltimore!

So earlier this week I decided to use the "search and record" function on my DVR to look for shows about Baltimore, my home town. I found an episode of American Gangster featuring Melvin Williams of Baltimore, also known as the man who brought heroin to the city.

Imagine my surprise when about 11 minutes in, The Judge (he shows up at 1:24 on the karaoke video), as in the Judge who has been oddly singing karaoke around the city for years, was interviewed several times throughout the episode. Squealing with delight I called the one person I knew would recognize him from the karaoke singing days of yore at the now-defunct Kelly's (crabs and karaoke, really what more could you ask for?).

So, if you're interested in the backstory behind the creation of The Wire (based on Melvin's criminal exploits) (another footnote, Melvin played the Deacon of the church in The Wire - he was great) or The Judge (yes, all caps are needed), watch these videos.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am debating posting a video of me singing "Rhinestone Cowboy" at Kelly's last year. I may be worse than The Judge.
Thoughts?
Nevermind, I'll do it and if there is political fallout, so be it.

Fulani pix

Here are some pictures of Fulani I took with my Dad near the lake/dam in Notse.

IRIN Africa | GHANA: Police crackdown on migrant Fulani herdsmen | West Africa | Burkina Faso Ghana Mali Togo | Environment Food Security Governance Human Rights Migration | News Item

IRIN Africa GHANA: Police crackdown on migrant Fulani herdsmen West Africa Burkina Faso Ghana Mali Togo Environment Food Security Governance Human Rights Migration News Item


I find the conflict between nomadic and settled people fascinating and not discussed often enough. Nomads, often seen as outsiders by settled communities, are often blamed for various crimes, usually robbery, rape, and killing/sacrificing and/or abducting children. It is easier to blame someone outside of one's settled community than it is to look inside the community for the perpetrators. The result is two-fold, one the outsiders are consistently vilified and two, the persons truly responsible for committing the crimes are never held accountable.
This phenomenon happens around the world, think of the Roma in Europe and also resettled communities around the United States.
I remember being in Florida staying with parents of a friend when a number of robberies occurred in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. Roma in the United States often spend winters in Florida during the circus off-season. Before even looking at the facts everyone immediately blamed the "Gypsies" and pretty much drove them out of town.
Of course, either the Fulani did it or a bunch of Losso in a spirit plane. Sheesh. No need to look any further.
I'm not saying these groups are completely innocent either, but sometimes these accusations become self-fulfilling prophecies, "well if I keep getting blamed for it, I might as well do it."
The orphaned children in Johannesburg are the same way. No one helps them because they are believed to be "tsotsis" so they start robbing because there's no other way to get food and people already think they're tsotsis.
Human nature will never cease to fascinate me. . .