• 2012 Morocco Itinerary
  • About me, Jane
  • Japan 2010 Itinerary
  • Morocco 2013 Itinerary

See Jane Travel

See Jane Travel

Tag Archives: Education

A word on literacy

26 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by seejanesblog in Morocco, Observations

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

arabic, cooking classes, cyrano de bergerac, Dar Basyma, Education, French, google translate, illiterate, learning languages, literacy, marrakech, Morocco, reading, recipes, riad, roxanne, stever martin, texting, texts, translator, writing

I take for granted that people know how to read and write. But in Morocco that’s not always the case.

One day I was home alone with our housekeeper / cook at Dar Basyma. I was without the aid of my constant interpreter / business partner and was excited about this chance to get to know her better. I pulled up the Google Translate iPhone app, typed my message and showed it to her in French. She shook her head no. Misunderstanding, I typed it in Arabic instead. Again, she shook her head. The look on her face jarred me to the realization that she cannot read. Not at all. Eventually I spoke into the app and it voice-translated, but not in Darija (Moroccan Arabic) so it was cumbersome and hard to understand. So we sat awkwardly in silence and smiled until Mokhtar came back and was able to help us “chat.”

Since then I’ve learned that guests have left her notes that she cannot read. And we’ve had some mishaps with household cleaning products being used for the wrong things, lotions put in the conditioner containers (because they’re both white), and using the wrong settings on the washing machine. And she has no ability to read texts or to proofread her own spoken texts to others.

I know this is more frustrating for her than it is for the rest of us. Our house man works well with her. They’re close friends and spend much of their time laughing and huddling together over their phones as he has become a sort of Cyrano de Bergerac, penning her texts to family members, suitors, and friends; like Steve Martin in ‘Roxanne.’ It’s sweet and it’s funny, but the bottom line is that it’s mostly sad that she can’t do this work herself.

As she tells it she was a girl who liked only to have fun (I believe it, as she’s always laughing and joking). She consistently ran away from school and finally just quit. School isn’t required and for sure not required for girls so there was no motivation for her to stay at the time. Now she regrets it. And as she’s in her mid- to late-30’s, so feels it’s too late for her now.

Since she teaches the cooking classes at Dar Basyma, I’m working to put together her recipes since she obviously has nothing written down! She’s an excellent cook and she communicates well without speaking fluent English or writing, but we have no record yet of any of her myriad dishes she prepares at Dar Basyma. It’s a big job that I will pursue on my next visit.

Her solution for our inability to speak to one another is for me to learn Arabic. As though that’s an easy (or quick) task! Since she speaks French and Arabic, to her that seems an easy solution. I’m trying…

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

The value of education

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by seejanesblog in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

children, Education, Morocco, school

It’s cliche to say, but education and our health are two of our most important possessions. Without either we don’t have much. Education is something I know I have taken for granted in my life. For one reason or another I didn’t apply myself when in school. I didn’t realize its value. And I’ve seen it happen to dozens of other people in my life: they choose to have fun more than to choose to learn.

In Morocco, there are thousands or millions of children living in the middle of seemingly nowhere who have no transportation to even get to their schools to learn. They walk or take a taxi or hitchhike each day to and from school. We picked up a girl and took her to school one day. Her walk would have been about 3 miles. We also picked up a young boy carrying a spiral notebook and took him 5 miles or more to his school. When we arrived at his school, there was nothing but boys milling about. That’s because girls are too valuable to have at home for housework and animal-tending to send to school. And also because the value of a boys’ education is greater than that of a girl’s to a family. It’s a fact. That’s how they think – – and I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. The fact that so many people believe it means there must be reasons for it. But it causes a literal ache in my belly to think of it. For one, it’s hard for the boys to get there. But for two, the girls aren’t even given a shot, in most cases. There is no transportation to and from school anywhere in Morocco. There are, though, social services that will provide vans and busses, but they are unreliable and sporadic. 

It makes me want to get a fleet of vans and help a community educate its children. But that would only be a drop in the bucket. 

Image

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 732 other subscribers

The Calendar

January 2023
S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Apr    

The recent past

  • Living above my means
  • The broken palm tree and a hug
  • The little old man of Bab Doukkala
  • The kindness of a stranger
  • Walk gently on this earth
  • Love everlasting
  • And suddenly it hits you…
  • It’s not what you’re given, it’s what you do with it

Stuff from my past

See Jane Travel

  • @BravoObsessed6 He sure has a type. 10 months ago
  • @bmvwood @debbie_bros Same! 12 months ago
Follow @seejanetravel

Blogs worth reading

  • Moroccan Sahara Tours on Facebook
  • My trips: Argentina, Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and Antarctica
  • My trips: Tibet, China and Vietnam
  • Nomadic Matt's Travel Site
  • Susan Atherton's blog
  • Travel Notes by Mr. and Mrs. Globetrot
  • Turkey Travel Guide

Food! Glorious food!

  • Street food in Marrakech

Stuff worth knowing

  • Barbara Robinson's Trip Report – Istanbul
  • Definition 'kasbah'
  • Definition 'riad'
  • Definition 'souq'
  • Morocco Travel Guide
  • Turkey Travel Guide
  • Volubilis, Morocco: about it

My traveling past in Flickr photos

...dunkler Himmel über StykkishólmurPapučica / Slipper flower (Calceolaria herbeohybrida)Dreamlike PathASUNDERGambrelWinter over the Grand Union Canal …"The Unknown From The Seine"Free  Feature • Read the 'Behind the scene' storyMare d'inverno
More Photos

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • See Jane Travel
    • Join 97 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • See Jane Travel
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: