MOROCCO

 

READ

In the Country of Others, written by Leila Slimani and translated by Sam Taylor, is the story of a French woman and a Moroccan man who fall in love during World War II. Mathilde is living with her father and sister in Alsace when she meets Amine, a soldier from Meknes who is fighting on the side of the French, since Morocco is a French colony at that time. They fall in love, and when the war is over, Mathilde goes to live with Amine in Morocco.

At first, they live with Amine’s mother in Meknes, but eventually move to a house on a piece of land that had been left to Amine by his father. He works hard, but he has little success at farming until he finally settles on growing fruit trees. Even then, their family, which has grown to include daughter Aïcha and son Selim, never has much money. Mathilde also works hard, not only with all her domestic duties, but helping to care for local people who have injuries and illnesses.

But there are tensions between Amine and Mathilde. She finds him dour and brutal, and he thinks she’s capricious and frivolous. Mathilde is troubled by how differently women are treated in Morocco than in France. She tells her sister “what it was like to live in a world where she had no place, a world governed by unfair, repulsive rules, where men never had to justify themselves, where she was not allowed to cry if her feelings were hurt.” But somehow they muddle along, projecting a united front when they need to.

To a large extent, the whole family is caught in a sort of no-man’s-land. When a movement begins for Moroccan independence from France, there is uncertainty as to how Amine and Mathilde will be perceived. Will their sympathies lie with the French colonizers or with the Moroccan nationalists? One old laborer tells Mathilde that she must never open the door if he knocks on it because, “If I come, it will be to kill you. It will be because I’ve ended up believing the words of those who say that if you want to go to heaven you must kill French people.” But the true test will come the night that the nationalists set fire to the farms owned by Europeans.

Many different themes are addressed in this book – colonialism, miscegenation, the treatment of women, and racism, among others – which provide much food for thought. I enjoyed Slimani’s storytelling, and hope to read more of her books in the future.

COOK

During the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is celebrated, requiring fasting from sunrise to sunset. After the sun goes down, there is a feast, called iftar, that breaks the fast. When Mathilde arrives in Meknes, she decides to fast during Ramadan out of respect for her husband and his family. Her mother-in-law spends every day cooking, and Mathilde wonders “how anyone could deprive themselves of food while spending their days amid the aromas of tajines and baking bread.” So I decided to try making a vegan tajine using a recipe I found on the Cuisinicity website. The main ingredients were potatoes, sweet potatoes, olives, and chickpeas, simmered with a variety of spices. The recipe made a ton of food, so I’m glad I like it well enough to look forward to eating the leftovers.

GIVE

GlobalGiving had several listings for Morocco on their website, many of which are projects of the High Atlas Foundation. According to their website, the High Atlas Foundation is “[c]ommitted to furthering sustainable development & supporting Moroccan communities to take action in implementing human development initiatives.”

The project I chose to support would help to build and maintain an argan tree nursery and forest in the city of Essaouira. If you’ve ever seen pictures of trees full of goats, it’s likely that the trees the goats had climbed were argans. The project description states that “[a]rgan trees are endemic to Morocco and are vital to maximizing prosperity, food security and biodiversity in the nation’s region of Essaouira. Its processing into oil and sale conducted by women’s cooperatives empower them and their families, and provides markets a medicinal and delicious food product in high demand.”

More information about this project is available at Argan Nursery and Forest in Essaouira, Morocco - GlobalGiving.

NEXT STOP: MOZAMBIQUE