My journey in Morocco - By Heather

It has been two full months in Rabat, and time is flying faster each day. Visiting new cities each weekend and making friendships that I hope to keep for a long time has made my experience here some of the best months of my life. With each day, I feel my own world expanding. It’s almost hard to keep up sometimes, when the individuals you encounter everyday are actively breaking down stereotypes and creating new adventures for you to embark on not only physically but mentally right before your eyes. Whether it be another CIEE student from somewhere in the United States, a Moroccan who grew up outside of Fes but now lives in Rabat, or a Refugee from Liberia. Each story has brought me closer to the people around me and inspires me to provide people the opportunity to tell their stories to others, especially here where the opportunity to openly share their story through writing is rare. It was this reason coupled with the fact that there are few things that excite me as much as an open mic night that drove me to plan an open mic and writing workshop in Rabat this October!

I am from the suburbs of Chicago, and had the opportunity to live and work in the city this past summer for a poetry and writing non-profit called Young Chicago Authors. They do amazing work with marginalized youth in the city in providing them a space to tell their story and grow not only as writers but as people. Every week, they host an open mic and writing workshop called WordPlay, which provides individuals an opportunity to tell their story through their art in an inclusive and welcoming environment. Local artist’s art lines the walls and people who have become regulars are referred to as family. Everyone is there to create, learn and grow. It’s an experience of healing along with learning

I missed these opportunities. In fact the first few weeks I was here, I missed open mic nights more than anything. Two weeks into the program, intensive Darija was coming to a close and I could regularly be found writing countless poems throughout the day in my notebook. Poetry became the best way to remember the excitement and sensory overload that was becoming an everyday norm in this sensational country. I wrote about the rocky Temara beach, the winding streets of the Medina, the man in the Hanut who I interact with daily and the cat that sits outside my front door every morning waiting for me to drop him a piece of my breakfast.  My little notebook holds all this information, the stories, memories, thoughts. Recognizing how much the little notebook and the act of writing means to me, along with seeing the impact that Young Chicago Authors has on the Chicago community, I wanted to provide a space for Moroccans and Refugees within the Rabat community to feel their voices were being heard.

While the basic freedom of speech exists in Morocco, it is often difficult for people to find space to tell their story through artistic expression, especially poetry. According to many of the people I have asked, poetry is considered archaic and uninteresting. With the appreciation of Islamic poetry in Moroccan society, I found it ironic how difficult it was to find a space where people actively share and practice writing that they had done themselves. However, I was lucky to discover that of our cultural peers, Rihane had previously participated in a poetry competition in Rabat and she became a huge reason why this open mic happened!

We decided to have the event at a hotel in Rabat, just a few blocks from the study center, knowing that it was easily accessible for CIEE students and Moroccans living in Rabat. However, the Foundation Orient-Occident refugee center that a few CIEE students work with was a part of the population I was intent on providing the opportunity and their center is located all the way across town. Luckily, Madiha saved the day and helped arrange them a bus and 17 people from the center ended up coming to the event!

At around 6pm, the event kicked off. We started with a writing workshop where first, I had everyone create four lists. When these lists were finished, we split into two groups. Groups were decided by the language you were most comfortable speaking and reading in. We had a French group and an English group. The English speakers went over the poems “palindrome” by Nate Marshall and “Steps” by Frank O’hara. The French speakers went over the poem “Barbara” by Jacques Prevert. After reading through the pieces as groups, we would then delve into analyzing the text and picking apart meaning within it. Everyone was enthusiastically engaged in each piece and interacted with them in a way that provided for interesting conversation. After, we got back into the larger group and I gave everyone the prompt for the writing section. Which was to write a poem based off the list “People who make you smile when you think of them”. 10 minutes of writing later, the open mic kicked off.

People had the opportunity to share what they had written during the writing workshop or to share some of their own work they had previously created. It started off slow, with a few people eager to share what they had come up with in the previous hour. Then, as more people began to share, the vibe became more relaxed. At one point, waiting for someone to volunteer, one girl broke out in song and the whole room joined in. As each person made the decision to share, the support grew larger and larger. Writings in French and English brought the room together and peoples talents shined through. When it came time for a final piece, Momo, one of the CIEE students who was busy at work writing the whole night ended it beautifully with an ode to her mother.

Seeing the joy people had during the event and watching the room come together in the two and half hour event was a feeling unlike any other.  Since then, I’ve had friends take the time to write and send me poems after not having written for years. Others have told me about the connections they made that night. I couldn’t be happier with how the entire night went and that was 100% because of what positive energy everyone in the room brought to the table. It truly was a magical night and I can’t wait for the next one!