Mohammad wanted to show me the Berber village in which he grew up, Azrud.
He has an inspiring story. There in Azrud was a Benedictine Monastery - Tioumliline - est.by a group of French monks primarily as a retreat center for other ,inks, but they began doing social work in the area with no intention of conversion. Indeed, they honored the Moslem Faith of the locals. (And now I really understand why). So the undertook to visit local schools and choose young boys who were the brightest of the crop, offering a classical education to them at the monastery. Mohammad was one of the boys, and he studied at the monastery with them from age 10 to 18. He told me there are only 4 of the former students left now in Morocco. The monastery is in a cedar forest, quite beautiful although now abandoned, as the government forced the monks out in the 1990's. A film was made about the monks, "Of Men and Gods" which was a winner at Cannes Film Festival. Mohammed is very grateful for the education he received there and feels blest by them.
We visited the very lovely spacious home M & K have built for their retirement just outside Azrud. There are 4 or 5 bedrooms, 4 baths. She said they may rent out some as an Air bnb. It's a perfect location, in the forested mountains yet only about an hour from the city of Fes. Pictures follow.
Sent from my iPad
What a wonderful story of the good that can come when peoples of different perspectives make the decision to focus on what they have in common and work together. It's also an example of how government screws things up under the veil of "helping the people" when in reality their actions generally have roots in solidifying power and accumulating wealth. I'll look for the movie.
ReplyDeletepretty sure Bob & I have seen the film; will watch it again, knowing this personal link.
ReplyDelete