Happy Holidays!

Hello friends! Please excuse me for the absence of new blog posts for these last three months. Below, I have pasted a holiday email I sent to my close family and friends to keep you all updated until I can hopefully get back into the swing of things with blogging in the new year.

“The hardest job you’ll ever love” are the words that were continually repeated to me before I began my work as a Peace Corps Volunteer here in Morocco. For the life of me, I had no idea how true they would be. The challenges I am facing given my work situation and status as a foreigner in a society much more homogeneous than that of the United States have made 2015 the fastest and most unorthodox year of my young life. Every single day here is a new experience unlike anything life from 1992-2014 had ever introduced to me. The important thing for all of you to know is that I am really happy with my service in Morocco and have a host family here in my town who loves me like their own son.

The haste with which I introduced this message may perhaps give you all a small glimpse into the chaotic system of life I have gotten use to (which is to say I have gotten used to not getting used to things). However, my true intention with this email is to wish you all a Blessed Christmas and Holiday season. This is truly a very sacred time of year and my focus is on getting the most of this Advent season and having a wonderful Christmas with my family when the day arrives.

Yes! You did read correct; I will be home for Christmas this year. It will be a two-week visit where I will spend the majority of my time with my parents (whom I haven’t seen in eleven months) and some close friends in San Jose. I have not had a vacation for quite some time and am very excited to have this opportunity to go home and rest with some dear loved ones.

I know I last emailed all of you a ‘life update’ this past Easter and so there is certainly much news to fill you in on. As you can read from my introduction, I am certainly living life to the fullest here and am happy to share with you some highlights from these last several months.

Where have I traveled?

Work slows down quite heavily in the field of youth development during the hot summer months in my town. Consequently, much of the travel I have done in country has been when the youth center and local associations in my site were closed during that season. This last summer I was able to visit Casablanca, Kenitra, El Jadida, Fes, Marrakech and Ouarzazate all for the first time since I have been here in Morocco. Each city has its charm and unique memories. I would say that I was most impressed with Fes because it is an incredibly well preserved medieval city with lots of history and incredible architecture all wrapped together in labyrinth-like Old Medina. However, my favorite experience of the summer was actually working at an English immersion camp in El Jadida. I spent eleven days teaching English right next to the beach and then playing in the ocean once my classes were over. I also had the opportunity to attend a top-tier Moroccan soccer match with friends once the campers went home.

 Friends at I at the local match!

What has my work been like?

As soon as Eid l-Kebir ended, work has been non-stop until this current vacation I am preparing to take for Christmas. I have been teaching about four different English classes (four at a high school advanced level and one beginning class) and really have benefited from learning how to use English teaching to communicate ideas about subjects such as multiculturalism and human rights to my students. I attended a library-training workshop with a counterpart from a local association and, with a large book donation from Peace Corps, the association is opening up an Arabic-language children’s library in a village where the first language is Tamazight. I also attended a training of trainers for the Model United Nations program in Morocco with another counterpart of mine who I have been working with on a “Peace Club.” As part of this same club, I also wrote for a grant that has been approved for our club to operate a Peace Camp in our site during the school vacation in January. I am very proud to say that my old Arabic tutor Mustafa has been accepted as an English teacher with the Moroccan Ministry of Education and left our town to participate in a one-year preparatory program. My new tutor, Houda, is an incredible person and a very gifted linguist who has been doing a terrific job tutoring me since she took over this responsibility.



My friend Ali and I at the library opening at his association!

How am I doing emotionally?

There are a lot of challenges for me living in a new country with a very different culture than my own. I have experienced a lot of emotional highs and lows while in Morocco. The honest answer to this question is that I have truly never been more alive than I have been now. I am growing a lot as a person and learning so much about love, friendship and the meaning of family. Living alone here has its benefits because I can take periods of time to myself when I am feeling sad that I wouldn’t have in America. There are times when I can go “off the map” so to speak and take a day or two to myself for peace and quiet. I have the two most amazing host families (the one in my training site of Sidi Kacem and the one in my current town) and I have relied on them heavily when I have gone through difficult emotional times. I have cried with them, laughed with them and gone to them seeking advice and I have always been loved like a real member of the family.

How am I doing spiritually?

I have a close relationship with the priest at my local parish and he has become a confessor and mentor who is extremely accessible for help to his parishioners. Most recently, he allowed me to spend the night in the rectory in order to take me up to Meknes so that I could visit my host family in Sidi Kacem on the way to the airport in Casablanca. He has always been there for me through the emotional highs and lows of this experience and having a confessor I regularly frequent has been good for me spiritually. Sometimes being so isolated can have an unquestionably strange affect on a person spiritually so I do ask for prayer in feeling the providence of God in my life.

What thoughts are rolling around in my head?

A brewing passion of mine for some time now has been working in interfaith dialogue and cooperation between Christians and Muslims.

There have been times in Morocco where my feelings have been hurt by the actions and words of others very dear and close to me just because they do not have a very developed understanding of my religion. However, there are signs of progress such as a recent news story of Moroccan security protecting Pope Francis during his visit to the Central African Republic. Also, love is really a universal value that can easily cross religious boundaries. I have experienced immeasurable acts of love from Moroccans and I know that philosophizing and theologizing on such relationships from Moroccans themselves will result in new approaches to relationships with people from minority religions here in the kingdom.

The Catholic Church has been very vocal in criticizing the return of Islamophobic language in the public sphere since the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Paris and has undergone many brave efforts to participate in healthy interfaith dialogue with the Muslim community. Nevertheless, the use of Islamophobic language by many of our co-religionists (of all traditions and denominations) merits increased attention to be placed on this issue. Indeed, I am greatly troubled at the language that is being used by politicians and pundits alike in America.

Looking beyond just the U.S. and Morocco as individual countries proves that dedicated Christians and Muslims pursuing peace together is a necessary step in ending the conflicts taking place in now in Iraq, Syria, Central African Republic, Nigeria and so many countless other nations where these two religions struggle to coexist. Furthermore, many shared values provide opportunities for Christian-Muslim cooperation in a number of different areas in the international sphere.

My response to all of this is a desire to work for any organization or institution that values peace building through love between these two religions. I am interested in looking for teaching opportunities where I can incorporate such themes into the classroom with student populations from the relevant religious backgrounds. I am also interested in working with an organization involved in peace building efforts between the followers of these two faiths. If anyone reading this message is aware of any opportunities for me to pursue such a passion, please let me know.

What does Christmas mean to me this year?

I am happy that the liturgical year has us experience the Gospel every go-around as if we are witnessing such a transformation of history take place for the first time. Given the challenges and difficulties I have recently gone through, thinking of Christ coming to Earth to save the world gives me indeed great motivation to both meditate and celebrate during this Christmas Season.

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Happy Holidays!