June 8, 2019
Map of Morocco. (Double click to enlarge this or any image)
We are off to Morocco on Sunday morning, June 9, 2019 for a week. Very short adventure for us, but we are happy to have a special invitation from the Mayshad Foundation to spend several days in Marrakech at their annual festival. So we will leave a bit early, stay 2 days in Casa Blanca and then drive to Marrakech. Be back home on the evening of June 17.
Sometime in the mid-late 90’s we visited Morocco for a couple of weeks and drove all over the country with a very nice guide, whose name we do not remember. He even took us to his home in Tangiers to meet his whole family and share a meal. Here are some snaps I copied from the album.
We found the photo album, along with photos of our guide’s family, but there was not a single description or date anywhere, so, unfortunately, we are not sure when we were there. On later trips I started adding descriptions and dates. We do remember spending a night in a bedouin tent in the desert, complete with camel transportation, Moroccan entertainment, lamplight dinner and breakfast.
A strong wind came up during the night and we woke up covered in sand. While I slept through most of it, Mark remembers a miserable night. In the morning a bedouin wrapped my head for our camel ride, which was followed by breakfast in a less windswept tent.
Now we are going back, but this should be a more comfortable adventure. We learned about the Mayshad Foundation from Joel Revzen, the Classical Tahoe Conductor we met a few years ago during performances in Incline. He has conducted programs in Morocco for the Mayshad Foundation’s guests and invited us to join him this year for a similar program.
The following is a description about the Foundation taken from their printed material. I include it because our entire experience will be colored by the Foundation and its founder, Nezha Alaoui. We will learn more as we go and fill you in.
Founded in 2014 and chaired by Nezha Alaoui, The Mayshad Foundation is an American-based NGO with offices in Morocco and New York.
The Foundation has structured innovative social projects in rural areas of Africa to benefit marginalized communities with focused efforts on women and youth. These projects aim to improve the living conditions of these communities through the launch of income-generating activities.
The field projects established by the Foundation are the result of consultations with local communities, the expertise of their team and the solutions that emerge from meetings and conferences organized on topics such as education, entrepreneurship and mobilization of women and youth and their roles in civil society.
The Mayshad Foundation creates thoughtful and innovative solutions to local issues. Through various programs, it aligns itself with the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.
The Foundation gathers experts, world leaders, and community members to discuss a variety of topics and themes with a goal of providing innovative and pragmatic solutions in order to achieve defined Sustainable Development Goals.
It then launches tailored sustainable actions as a result of the solutions determined by those leaders and community members.
The Mayshad team’s experience combined with successful outcomes of the conferences allow them to maximize value and strengthen the impact of their actions in the field.
To visit their website go to: https://www.mayshadfoundation.org
Now you know as much as I do. I will send posts as I have photos and experiences to share.
Love and Hugs to you all,
Julia and Mark
Adventures with Julia 