I arrived in Morocco mid-May and this is my first blog-post. I have been working with two separate havens for girls in my city. One is called "ISHRAQ" and is in the middle of the old walled city of Sale (pronounced Salay). The girl's home is an old Arab riyadh with an atrium in the middle and it houses thirty girls (ages 8-18) who have no family. The first time I went to the home I have to admit I was overwhelmed by the language barrier that I did not anticipate. Even with fluent French and just coming out of a year of classical arabic, the speed and multilingual quality of these girls dialect left me a bit at a loss. Fortunately for me, what they needed the most help with was their French exam the next week so we reviewed French grammar and I had them read a few French theater scenes out loud to work on pronunciation. After that we all had Moroccan tea (made with mint leaves, tea and a LOT of sugar). The second half of that first visit was just beautiful to me. I went through a bunch of the theater exercises that I have done in the past in various acting and improv classes and the girls caught on so quickly and had such an amazing eagerness and uninhibited quality to them. The contrast between them and the people that I have been in acting classes with was staggering. Here were these girls who could barely understand my butchered Arabic who were diving in headfirst to relatively difficult improv games and vocal work without pretense and without fear. It was the first of many exciting classes with those girls. Tomorrow the association that I am working with here (American International Women's Association) is hosting a barbeque for the girls and they will perform a group piece and then a short scene.
The other home that I am working with is called "Dar Taliba" (House of Students) and houses thirty girls from very rural families who want their daughters to be educated. I just got back this morning from an impromptu sleep over at Dar Taliba where we ate cous-cous, played cards, took turns singing, walked through their vegetable garden, ironed one girl's hair, listened to the radio (as I translated for them the songs in English) and danced to music that never gets turned off. I can honestly say I have never laughed as hard as I did last night. I am so honoured to be working with these talented, kind and generous young women.
In early July right before I leave I have reserved a space in a local cultural center for the girls to perform a show that I have called "Legends of the Arab World" (they will be presenting five scenes in French of Arab legends that I have adapted for the stage). I created a facebook group to invite my friends who live in Morocco and I am passing out flyers to everyone I see! I am so excited to showcase the work that my girls are doing and the strides they have taken in the French language and in their personal confidence through the amazing medium of theater.