Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
November 24, 2007

Moroccan projects target social deprivation. 
By Sarah Touahri 22/11/2007

Despite government and civilian efforts to combat social problems, Morocco has a ways to go before it can put an end to poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. Although Morocco has undertaken major social reforms, both public and private efforts have failed to eliminate social deprivation. According to Minister for Social Development, Families and Solidarity Abderrahim Harouchi, insufficient economic growth, high birth rates and the sluggish development of rural areas have diminished the effectiveness of public policy. These figures bear witness to a number of social problems. According to official statistics, the poverty rate is 14.2%, unemployment is at 9.6%, and illiteracy is remains at 40%.

Mohamed Najib Guedira, director of the social development agency, points out that development is everyone’s concern. "The fight against poverty starts with improving incomes. We must not only make up the deficit in material provision but also in terms of income," he said.

The social development agency's role is to assist social projects in even the most far-flung communes. Two thirds of its projects are run by associations. "Most associations are not working collectively," Guedira said. "But over the past two years, we have seen a new situation: associations are starting to network to enhance their effectiveness." A national social development network established last year brings together researchers, civil society actors, administrative decision-makers and private enterprises.

Guedira stressed that despite setbacks, there is cause to celebrate advances made in the fields of health, education, housing, access to basic services, pensions and social security as well as the emergence and dynamism of civil society and women’s movements.

Sociology professor Jamal Maktoum said Morocco has displayed great dynamism in its development, particularly since the launch of the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) in May 2005. "The INDH is a major conceptual turning point in public policy in the field of human and social development." Maktoum said. "But everyone’s efforts need to be combined if we are to fight social problems such as unemployment and poverty."

In the year following its inception, the INDH began 1,104 projects. More than 6,000 were undertaken in 2006 and it is expected that the number of projects will reach 7,000 in 2007. So far, the INDH has spent approximately two billion dirhams on projects.
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Country girls struggle to complete their studies.
23/11/2007 by Sarah Touahri

For both cultural and practical reasons, many rural Moroccan families prefer to invest in educating boys rather than girls. New public and private projects hope to improve school opportunities for girls. In rural Morocco, many girls receive no secondary school education while others never go to school at all. The school attendance rate for girls across the country is 60.3%, but in rural areas it is just 16.5%. The main reasons: rigid traditional attitudes, the isolation of some douars (settlements) and the lack of roads and public transport.

Families in the countryside often prefer to keep their daughters at home rather than sending them each day to a school many kilometres away. Classes are frequently set up in areas requiring dangerous travel for the students.

Samira Sellami, 12, studies at a school fifteen kilometres from Témara. She dreams of continuing her studies in secondary school, but the nearest of these is around 30 km from her home. She is keenly aware that her parents do not have the funds to pay for her travel every day. "There's just one bus through here, and you have to wait ages for it. I’m prepared to put up with the transport misery to finish my studies. But, given that my parents are poor, my dream could turn into a nightmare. Let's hope there's a miracle to save my future," she said, her eyes full of tears. There are dozens of country girls like her, suffering in silence.

For cultural reasons, and in light of the difficulty of reaching schools, some families prefer to invest in educating boys rather than girls.

Jamal Hdidouche, a teacher in rural communities for ten years, told Magharebia that despite the development being witnessed in Morocco, attitudes have not changed. "Most parents feel their daughters should marry early and so deprive them of schooling despite the efforts of teachers. Some [girls] leave in the middle of the school year."

This is the situation of Touria Farahi, 16, who is in the third year of secondary school. Her parents obtained a judge's permission to marry her off, because the legal age under the Family Code is 18. Touria had hoped to finish her secondary studies. Her mother, Kenza, is uncompromising. Working her way through a tub of dirty laundry, she told Magharebia the destiny of all girls from good families lies in marriage. "I never wanted my daughter to be a teacher or a doctor. I know that we don't have the means to reach these objectives, so she must marry as soon as possible. It’s by setting up her home that she will be able to face the future," she exclaimed, casting a worried glance in the teenager’s direction.

The girl, eyes brimming with tears, scrubs the floor in the hallway of the family home before exclaiming in desperation: "At least let me get my baccalaureate. I won’t wear myself out travelling the 10 kilometres between us and the school." But Kenza's mind is made up. "Even if she doesn’t marry this year, I won’t let her be exposed to the dangers on the road to go and study," she said.

Civic groups, meanwhile, are playing a leading role in promoting education for country girls. Ahmed Charouf of the Olive Branches association says group members are travelling to rural areas of Morocco to encourage parents to let their daughters go to school. Sometimes, they manage to convince a few people. But usually they come up against inflexible attitudes. "We have been able to persuade several family heads to send their daughters to school, but others would hear nothing of it." He added, however, that in recent years his group has "seen some progress in the level of school attendance among girls."

Charouf said the distances involved in getting to schools remain more of a hurdle than tradition.
To deal with the problem of distance, some associations are issuing bicycles to students so that they can get to school without too much difficulty. For example, following an appeal from education inspectors, teachers and parents' groups, the "Just for Them" association partnered with the Decathlon Foundation to offer 200 all-terrain bicycles to 200 female secondary school students in Tiznit province.

The state is also taking action. The Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity is building and equipping centres to accommodate and care for young girls from poor families who are attending school. This action is being led in collaboration with local communities, the National Order of Architects, the Public Testing and Study Laboratory and NGOs.

The girls’ hostels help to counter the tendency of country girls to drop out of school. The initial programme provided for the construction of nine such centres: Khmis Zmamra, Sidi Ghyat, Azilal, Taznakht, Brikcha, Tazarine, Aïn Leuh and Sid El Makhfi (Taounate). The ninth hostel (Adrej) is in its final phase. An additional programme provides for the construction of 20 other hostels in various regions around the country.

According to the national education ministry, the improvement of schooling for girls in rural areas is everyone’s business. The government is trying, within the confines of its budget, to build schools all over the countryside to reach its objective of making education available to all young women, not only those in urban areas. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/reportage/2007/11/23/reportage-01
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Morocco association launches project to combat violence against women.
Naoufel Cherkaoui 23/11/2007

An educational plan in central Morocco will teach young people about gender equality and women’s rights. A project to spread a culture of gender equality and combat violence against women began Tuesday (November 20th) in the central Morocco region of Fez-Boulmane. As part of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, the EU-funded program will offer law, civic education and women’s rights workshops to some 4,620 middle school and high school students and 3,900 women in poor areas.

President of the Chourouk Association for Social Development, Lahcen Afkir, told Magharebia, "We have chosen young people who study in two middle schools located in the same area where our association headquarters is based, and also from two other middle schools located in villages on the outskirts of the city, where we've been operating since 2001. As for the women, they have been selected from some of the neighbourhoods where we've run programs to combat illiteracy." "We have created a methodology and identified our vision," he added. "We have also drawn up an action plan extending to 2012 because we want to be more accurate and professional."

The Chourouk Centre has been operating in the Fez region for seven years to enhance the status of women and young people. The centre started with combating illiteracy, Akfir explained, then moved on to legal and civic education. "Our aspiration is to combat violence against women in a new way, not to wait until violence has taken place. We do this by spreading a culture of gender equality and promoting women's rights. We have chosen the category of young people on purpose because we wanted to deal with the roots of the problem. We hope to eradicate the problem once and for all by educating young people to respect women from an early age."

Akfir’s group also created a network of associations to shed light on the new family law and strengthen co-ordinated efforts in the Fez region. The centre receives contributions from the British embassy in Rabat and Oxfam-Québec, a Canadian non-governmental organisation working in the field of sustainable development.

The Cherouk Association contributes about 10.32% of funding for the 109,843-euro education project.
"The preparations for the project, which will extend over a three-year period, started last September by forming the project team, preparing workshops and attracting boosters," Afkir added, saying that through a partnership with the Ministry of National Education, the group will be allowed to use school halls from 6:00 to 8:00 PM daily.

Fatiha Hassouni of the EC Mission in Rabat commented, "Since 2004, the EU has been funding several projects aimed at raising awareness about women's rights and equal opportunities for women in political fields." "Moreover, gender equality is basically a part of human rights and represents a social justice issue."
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Employment and social housing, new government's key priorities, PM.
Rabat, Oct. 25

The government will create 250,000 jobs per annum, build 150,000 social housing units, reduce taxes and make the exchange system flexible, newly-appointed Prime minister, Abbas El Fasssi pledged before the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Presenting the program of the freshly formed government for the next five years, Mr. El Fassi said his government will "create over 250,000 jobs per annum in order to reduce unemployment rate to 7% by 2012," compared to the current 10%. The second main project, said Mr. El Fassi whose conservative Istiqlal (independence) Party won the September 7 legislative elections, is to "step up the pace of building social houses to reach 150,000 units annually and launch a national program to build 50,000 economic villas."

King Mohammed VI launched, in July 2004, a national program to eradicate by 2012 all shantytowns hosting over 280,000 families. Economically, "in order to improve the investment climate," the government will adopt "a competitive and simplified tax system," reduce taxation of companies, make the exchange system flexible, reduce income tax and examine the possibility to reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT).

The government will also endeavor to increase growth rate from 5% achieved in the past five years to 6% in the future, and double the volume of investments. Another main concern for the government is the purchasing power of low-income families. In this respect, the government will allocate USD 2.4Bn to the Caisse de Compensation (Compensation Fund) to subsidize basic and oil products, strengthen citizens' purchasing power and ease the negative fluctuations of the world market.

As for hydraulic resources, the government will build ten large dams and 60 little dams by 2012, to face the structural drought that affects the agricultural sector. In tourism, main source of foreign currency, the governmental action includes raising bed capacity from 150,000 beds to 265,000 by 2012, which will provide 80,000 direct jobs and increase tourism revenues from USD 7.5Bn to 11.5Bn.

The presentation of the PM of the government statement came few hours after the Ministers’ Council chaired by King Mohammed VI in Marrakech in which he urged the new government to place social and human development issues atop of its priorities. The social and human development issues, said the sovereign, should be the main concern of the executive, within the framework of “a bold, coherent, concerted, objective and ambitious governmental policy,” according to a press release of the King’s Office.

King Mohammed VI also urged the government to embark, once winning the confidence vote at the House of Representatives, on the efficient implementation of this program, and to devise a finance bill that would encourage development, investment and employment, underlining that this program should be translated into projects and tangible measures.
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Reforming education, health system on agenda of government's action.
Rabat, Oct. 24

The government will endeavor to enable some 250,000 children aged 9-15 to join school yearly, and mobilize material and human resources to overhaul and promote the health system and the quality of services in this field, said, here Wednesday, Prime Minister, Mr. Abbas El Fassi. Speaking during the presentation of the Government statement before Parliament, Mr. El Fassi noted that the government aims to promote literacy and non-formal education in order to provide children who did not go to school with an opportunity to qualify them to join either formal education, vocational training or the job market.

In the area of health, the premier said the government will sketch out a national map on health with the aim of reducing disparities between regions, taking account of specificities and pressing needs of each region and remedying deficits in terms of organization and coordination.

The governmental program in this field also aims at training qualified human resources to promote the management of the sector and improve the performance of health institutions to better respond to the growing demand of the citizens. The Prime Minister also noted that the government will endeavor to create more income-generating activities as part of the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH), launched three years ago to fight poverty and social exclusion.
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31K villages connected to electrical network, minister.
Rabat, Nov. 22

Some 31,000 villages have been connected to the electrical network since the launch of the Global Rural Electrification program (PERG), that is a 92% electrification rate against 18% only in 1995, Minister of Energy and Mines, Amina Benkhadra revealed on Wednesday. Speaking at the House of Advisor's question time, Mrs. Benkhadra noted that all the necessary measures have been taken to reach the 94 per cent threshold by 2007, adding that the other villages will be covered by (PERG) next year.

Concerning bills payment difficulties, the minister pointed out that the Moroccan electricity utility (ONE) has adopted a pre-payment system that offers numerous advantages. The PERG is due to be terminated by end 2007, when 98% of the rural areas will have been linked to electricity.
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Morocco counts over 2,300 HIV/AIDS cases, study .
Marrakech, Nov. 21

AIDS prevalence in Morocco up to June 30 is estimated at 2,306 cases, 39% of which are women, revealed, here on Wednesday, a study presented at a planning workshop on AIDS. The study showed that people under 40 are the most concerned by AIDS with 42% of cases documented among people aged between 30 and 39 and 23% among those between 15 and 29.

Participants to this three-day meeting stressed the need to expand partnerships at the local and the regional level to facilitate the implementation of Morocco's 2007-2011 national strategy to fight AIDS. They, however, noted that such a task requires to acquire a thorough knowledge of the social, economic and cultural contexts and on the current epidemiological situation so as to adapt the national strategy to fight AIDS to regional and local realities.

This meeting aims, among other things, at developing a thorough regional intersectoral plan to fight AIDS, define results in terms of providing health care to the people infected and examine the positive sides and the weaknesses in terms of fighting AIDS.

Since the first case of AIDS appeared in 1986, Morocco has progressively introduced a series of measures and countless provisions to cope with the spread of the epidemic. It has recently implemented a USD 47Mn national strategy to raise the awareness of over a million persons, mainly high-risk populations, create 150,000 screening centers and provide medical assistance to 4,000 people by 2011.
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Poverty rate dropped to 14% in 2004 in Morocco, minister.
Rome, Nov. 21

Poverty rate in Morocco dropped from 19% in 1999 to 14% in 2004, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Aziz Akhannouch revealed here on Tuesday. Addressing the 34th session of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mr. Akhannouch said Synchronized work between Morocco and the FAO allowed 350 Moroccan rural communes to benefit from anti-poverty programs.

"Cooperation with the FAO is tremendously valuable for Morocco, especially the technical part of it."
According to the minister, food security has always been one of Morocco's priorities to ensure a constant supply of food products through developing a productive agriculture, responsible management of fishing resources and developing aquatic activities.

Coverage rate of national demand in basic food stuffs have reached “satisfactory levels,” Mr. Akhannouch underlined. This includes fruits and vegetables (100%), meat (98%), dairy products (85%), sugar and cereal (55% and 60%). Though covering 11% only of the overall agricultural area, irrigated agriculture contribute by 45% to the Value Added Agricultural, and considerably contributes to Moroccan exports, while playing, at the same time, a key role in supplying the national market, especially during drought periods.

Touching on fisheries, Mr. Akhannouch said Morocco has adopted a rigorous management and development policy to ensure the maximum of production, while keeping a biological ecosystem balance. “Well-aware of the importance of food sanitary security, Morocco has embarked on a harmonization process of its judicial arsenal with international conventions and recommendations concerning food standards in collaboration with the FAO and World Health Organization (WHO),” he added.

Mr. Akhannouch expressed Morocco’s satisfaction with the FAO cooperation, mainly in the field of irrigation, agricultural foods improvement, animal health and anti-locust efforts. On the regional level, the minister recalled Morocco’s contribution to setting up a special program on Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa, and called for more assistance from FAO to carry out this program.
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Gov. earmarks over USD 21Mn to provide redeployment training for 3,450 graduates.
Rabat, Nov. 20

The government has earmarked USD 21.5Mn to provide redeployment training for 3,450 graduates, including 1,800 in scientific training. The figures were revealed during a meeting, chaired here Tuesday by prime minister Abbass El Fassi. The meeting examined the training-redeployment program for job-seeking graduates, whose agreement was signed on August 2, 2007 between the government and 25 associations representing these graduates.

The program, which will be implemented in stages up to 2008, is meant to contribute to the qualification of job-seeking graduates and help them integrate in the job market. The task of trainers is limited to devising training programs that meet the specific needs of employers and job market. At the end of this training, trainees will receive a double diploma (from training and professional institutions), which will increase chances of the job-seekers’ integration in the companies offering jobs that meet their qualifications.

This program covers training fields related to data management, software development, web development, network management, mechanical conception, data management, project management and risk management in health and security sectors.
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Universal Children's day: Morocco committed to improving children's situation.
Rabat, Nov. 20

As the world celebrates today the Universal Children's Day, Morocco seems more committed to improving the children's situation and adjusting its national legislation to international standards. The North African country is keen on improving the children's condition through several bodies, including the Moroccan Observatory of Children Rights (ONDE) which is chaired by Princess Lalla Meryem, sister of King Mohammed VI.

For an effective implementation of the United Nations agreement on children's rights, the ONDE presented several proposals, in particular the adaptation of national legislation to the provisions of this agreement. Executive director of the ONDE, Said Raji, mentioned, in this regard the amendments of more than 240 articles, adopted by the government and passed recently by the Parliament.

To speed up the implementation of the United Nations agreement, a child parliament, of which the first national session took place in 1999, was set up to educate the principles of democracy, citizenship, peace, tolerance and civic behavior to children.

Morocco, faithful to its international commitments, was the first country to prepare a report on its achievements in the field of child protection and submit it to the United Nations in accordance with the recommendations of "A World Fit for Children" document. It has also drawn up a bill that aims at regulating child domestic labor and improving the legal framework meant to protect children in Morocco where, according to figures released Monday by Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity, Nouzha Skalli, the number of working children under 15 in Morocco is estimated at around 177,000.

Morocco had launched in 2000 a project to combat child labor in the handicraft sector by offering kids under 15 education and enhancing work conditions of working children. The North African country which has also taken an innovative approach in tackling the problem of child labor mainly through offering non-formal educational opportunities, is working towards achieving gender parity, and bridging the gap between boys' and girls' education.
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Over 175k working children under 15 in Morocco, minister.
Rabat, Nov.19

The number of working children under 15 in Morocco is estimated at around 177,000, according to Social Development, Family and Solidarity Minister, Nouzha Skalli. The announcement was made in an interview with the French-language newspaper "Le Matin du Sahara et du Maghreb", pulished on Monday, on the occasion of the Universal Children's Day, celebrated on November 20.

The minister added that the government has, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor, drawn up a bill that aims at regulating child domestic labor and improving the legal framework meant to protect this section of the population. She recalled, in this respect, the national program to fight the labor of little girls as maids dubbed INQAD, calling for the involvement of all the components of society to fight this plight.

Morocco had launched in 2000 a project to combat child labor in handicraft sector by offering kids under 15 education and enhancing work conditions of working children. It has also taken an innovative and bold approach in tackling the problem of child labor mainly through offering non-formal educational opportunities. The country is also working towards achieving gender parity, and bridging the gap between boys' and girls' education.
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Government bill to regulate child domestic labor.
Rabat, Nov. 19

The Moroccan government has sketched a bill that aims at regulating child domestic labor and improving the legal framework meant to protect children, Social Development, Family and Solidarity Minister, Nouzha Skalli said on Monday. The text was elaborated in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor to slash the number of children under 15 in the job market, which stands today at 177,000, the minister said in an interview published in the French-language paper "Le Matin du Sahara et du Maghreb".

Mrs. Skalli also recalled the national program to fight the labor of little girls as maids dubbed INQAD, calling for the involvement of all the components of society to tamp down this plight. Morocco had launched in 2000 a project to combat child labor in handicraft sector by offering kids under 15 education and enhancing work conditions of working children.

Morocco has also taken an innovative and bold approach in tackling the problem of child labor mainly through offering non-formal educational opportunities. The country is also working towards achieving gender parity, and bridging the gap between boys' and girls' education. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/government_bill_to_r/view
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Morocco, model for cultural diversity (international colloquium).
Fez (198km east of Rabat), Nov. 23

Participants in the international colloquium on dialogue of civilizations underlined, here Friday, the Moroccan experience in the field of cultural diversity respect. They also highlighted, at the opening session of this meeting, the importance of dialogue between cultures in order to clear up misunderstandings, adding that rejecting the idea of "watertight separations between religions" and advocating the "life together", is a necessity of inter-religious dialogue.

The chairman of the Arab world institute in Paris, Dominique Baudis, stressed, in his address, the need for all actors to "recognize the right to be different to engage into a dialogue based on equality and reciprocity, to respect each other." He called for a dialogue, which takes into account characteristics of each nation, adding that "intercultural dialogue should include religion as well."

Moroccan minister of culture, Touriya Jabrane Kraytife, for her part, said that there is no clash between civilizations and cultures; it is rather “a fight between people who do not understand the essence of values differences.” "We need to draw up a world charter on citizenship to teach the rising generations the values of belonging to this world", she said.

According to France’s ambassador to Morocco, Jean François Thibaut “Morocco constitutes, for several countries of the region, a useful reference, a case that is worth reflection concerning dialogue between civilizations.”
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Jeep Brand and Its Partners Assist Community in Morocco.
IMI NIZRANE, Morocco, November 20 /PRNewswire

Donation for new school project to commemorate Jeep driving event in Morocco -- Brand new kindergarten constructed for remote village community -- Journalists from approximately 30 countries provide additional educational materials for school children. As part of the international media driving program to mark the introduction of the new JeepCherokee 4x4, an important new educational project in Morocco has been completed.

In keeping with an established practice of leaving a charitable legacy behind at locations where it holds driving events, Jeep and some of its supplier companies have funded the construction of a new kindergarten in the village of Imi Nizrane, near Erfoud. The new building, which is to be used by children up to six years old, was completed as over 300 journalists took part in a driving test program on roads, off-road trails and sand dunes in an area close to Imi Nizrane, a village with a population of 150.

"By way of saying thank you to the community for hosting our driving event, we wanted to give something back of lasting value that would benefit the children and the community in the future," said Mike Manley, Executive Vice President - International Sales, Marketing and Business Development.

"While there is already a school for older children in Imi Nizrane, there is no educational facility for younger children and it was clear that there was a need for one in the village." "We feel this is an immediate and tangible way for us to show our gratitude to the community for allowing us to host such an important event in the area and to leave something lasting behind that will be in place long after our Jeep event is over," he added.
Journalists attending the driving event in Morocco made donations of their own by bringing school supplies, such as pens, crayons and paper, from their own countries and donating them to the new school project.

"We have a primary school in our village but when the children first arrive here, we have problems because they have never had any pre-school education," said Dawdi Nabil, a teacher in Imi Nizrane. "This new kindergarten is so important to our village because it will help the young children in our community take their first steps towards their education."

The Jeep brand has previously supported local community projects to mark the brand's annual Euro Camp Jeep event, in countries such as Italy, France, Austria and Croatia and also on the occasion of the media drive of the previous version of the JeepCherokee in Botswana.
Web site: http://media.chrysler.comhttp://www.chrysler.com

Nathalie Bauters, +1-248-512-3799, cell: +1-248-346-7579, nb14@dcx.com, for Chrysler LLC ; NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, please visit the Chrysler media site at http://www.media.chrysler.com. For more information about 2007 labor negotiations, please visit http://www.chryslerlabortalks07.com. http://www.itnews.it/2007/1120231401732/jeep-brand-and-its-partners-assist-community-in-morocco.html
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The delights of Morocco.

Is the popular holiday destination of Marrakech really what it is made out to be? Local writer Rizwana Patel shares her family's experience. A four hour flight from Manchester Airport transported us to Morocco. Even as we were packing my husband and I were anxious about taking our one-year-old son to a country so different from home, but he loved it. He thrived in the bright colours, the romantic beauty, the exotic smells and the generous charm of the people of Marrakech, Morocco's most mesmerising city.

Must see The Jemma Al Fna is a giant square in the middle of Marrakech city which every evening, for centuries, has been host to entertainers, budding entrepreneurs and food stalls. It is absolutely chaotic and frenzied with activity. Throngs of people form inquisitive circles around animated jugglers, wrestlers, fortune tellers and dancers.
We watched nervously as a human pyramid of six men tall swayed as if with the warm smoky breeze. Nearby a storyteller narrates folklore.

We stand there, understanding little, but wholly absorbed in his mellifluous Arabic, extravagant gestures and the dramatic bang of a drum. We were left amazed, I felt as if I had entered a giant open air theatre in some distant medieval land full of mystifying smells and sounds and sights.

Must Eat Sitting on rickety bench amidst swirling barbeque smoke and the unparalleled activities of the Jemma Al Fna square before us, we had a delicious chicken tagine(stew) with juicy olives and pickled lemon, soup and cous cous salad. There is line upon line of open-air food stalls where charming young boys, no older than fourteen, guide us through heaps of colourful salads, plump kebabs, spicy chicken skewers and other mouthwatering pleasures. When we seek reassurance on the meat being halal, the waiter looks genuinely hurt ant dismayed telling us "Me Muslim, you Muslim, trust 100% halal, no haram , Morocco all halal, all Muslim."

Must visit The souk (market) is a totally enchanting experience. As we wandered around the souks we dodged animals and carts laden with fruits, vegetable and men snatching afternoon siestas. We tackled the market like a maze, discovering hidden alleyways leading to stalls stacked high with Moroccan sandals and dens made by bellowing jabbas.

My son's eyes wandered from stall to stall, laughing happily when greeted by the locals. From deep within the souk, the beautiful echoing sound of the Muezzin calling for prayer brings a respectable hush to the clank of the water-sellers rusty brass cups and the street vendor's loud call.

Must buy You cannot visit Marrakech and leave without buying a pair (or two) of beautiful bright sequined sandals. When we stop at a shoe stall the stall keeper tells me excitedly: "In Morocco, no like England, you bargain, price up, down, up down," gesturing enthusiastically with his hand. "My price 200 dirham, you give your price." After an hour of animated chitchat and a refreshing drink I buy a few pairs for only 80 Dirham each, about £4.50.

Must pray The imposing minarets of the Koutibia mosque dominate the skyline of Marrakech. It is a beautiful mosque built by the Andalusians in the 12th century. We prayed there regularly beneath its glittering chandeliers, and sat in the mosque courtyard watching young and old hurry off inside.
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In Morocco, a trip to Marrakesh's market will have your senses reeling.
BY JIM FARBER  Monday, November 19th 2007

"Let's get lost," I say to a friend, thick in the bustle of Marrakesh's main square, Djemaa el-Fna. So we duck down one of a thousand shrouded alleyways, which leads us into a darker, narrower lane that snakes into a twisty clutch of passageways, each nudging us in directions we can neither predict nor resist.

Poking through the nooks and crannies of Marrakesh's ancient quarter (the medina) is like scanning the world's largest box of chocolates, pondering what may lurk inside each. Disorientation and surprise are the points of the place, providing the opportunity to be shorn of everything Western as you're sucked down a rabbit hole that screws not only with your sense of direction but with the sense of what century you're in.

Don't sweat the consequences. Unlike the impossibly gnarled medina of an even older Moroccan city (Fez), Marrakesh won't let you lose your way forever. These labyrinthine byways all funnel back to the main square - eventually. But it's in those minutes, or hours, spent wandering in between - in the hide-and-seek of the city - that you'll trip upon its soul.

Amid the dense souks (the markets that choke the medina with color and action), you'll find objects to sate every sense. Stalls groan with handicrafts for the eye, carpets for the feet, candies for the tongue and scores of potent spices for the nose. The last sense gets special attention. Stand still in the medina for a minute and smell the fennel, cumin, cinnamon, sage and saffron, each formed into psychedelically bright and cartoonishly huge conical spires.

Conical shapes count for a lot around here. You'll find them in the peaks of the men's traditional robe (the djellaba), as well as in the heavenward thrust of the tagines (those clay stewpots that imbue the local food with complex and unfolding flavors). That's a lot of exotica to absorb at once, but for Americans it comes with a rare sense of safety and ease. Morocco is less than seven hours from New York. (You fly through charmless Casablanca, then hightail it to more colorful places like Marrakesh - three hours by car, 25 minutes by connecting plane.)

Once there, not even a woman traveling alone has to worry about safety. I rented a bike one day and drove far from tourist sights into a shantytown and felt perfectly fine. Given that a big chunk of the nation's economy is provided by tourist dollars, it's no surprise that locals fawn over, defer to or at least politely ignore you. French tourists account for most of the trade here, logical since France used to run the place. The locals speak both French and Arabic.

For many Americans, naive about the Islamic parts of the world, Morocco provides a useful and rewarding education. It's one of the few countries in this part of North Africa you can visit without threat.

It's also a good place for us to work on our collective Islamophobia (the country is 98% Muslim). Here you'll see women with their heads covered (tourists needn't do likewise) in a way that conveys no judgment or strangeness. Likewise, you'll hear the five-times-a-day quaver of prayer calls from every minaret and find yourself basking in its beauty rather than what has been presented in the media as its strangeness.

Moroccans are famously nonjudgmental, one element that has long drawn bohemians, druggies and sexually adventurous types, dating back to authors Paul Bowles and William Burroughs in the '50s, artists like the Rolling Stones in the '60s, and scores of neo-hippies since.

Visitors should definitely stay in the medina rather than the soulless new part of town, Gueliz. The new area looks like the more depressing sprawls of San Diego.

In the medina, you'll find hundreds of riads: cozy guest houses hidden behind the winding terra-cotta walls. Inside their doors bloom richly upholstered rooms, facing lush interior gardens. You can eat in these places as well as sleep. And you can score a great room in a gorgeous one for $200, $100 or even less a night. Many are so obscurely located in the belly of the medina that a guide has to lead you in from the main square by lantern. It's that romantic. In fact, you couldn't find a better place to go with a lover than Marrakesh. The riads ooze eroticism and promise any number of illicit thrills.

Standing in some of the more boho-chic of these, I couldn't help but envision the famous trip Brian Jones and the other Stones took here in 1968. They had their fill of decadent thrills in between Jones' recording sessions with a local group he made famous with the 1971 album "The Pipes of Pan at Jajouka."

You can hear an approximation of that music back in Djemma el-Fna. Horns cackle and bray day and night, mixing with the happy cacophony provided by squatting bands of pounding drummers. Go to the square at different times of the day, and you'll keep seeing it reborn. At times, storytellers spin tales. At others, the food stalls dominate the scene, packed with everything from dried fruits, nuts and orange juice to gleaming rows of calf brains.

There are also the endless hawkers and squawkers of the medina, some degrading themselves by donning traditional garb to shake tourists down for a coin in exchange for a picture. Notoriously, the square writhes with scammers, epitomized by the snake charmers, who, when you're not looking, bind their hissing creatures around your neck, then make you pay to take them off. (Coupled with the aforementioned calf brains, and the women who approach you with gigantic hypodermic needles that hold henna for temporary tattoos, this city would have made a great gross-out setting for "Fear Factor.")

For decades, Marrakesh was also famous for its aggressive salesmen, pushing everything from rugs to perfume, with prices "just for you, my friend." In recent times, the government has cracked down on such things. (It has also created a store where prices are fixed, the better to avoid the common, and agonizingly long, negotiations.)

Yet even the most irritating salesmen have their place. They're as a much a part of the scene as the mocking horn players, donkeyssauntering through the souks, speeding motorbikes that shoot right by them, and endless buyers and sellers lost in a hum of haggling.

Together they create a world of stimulating havoc, bedlam at its best. When you're through with all your wandering, you should spend significant amounts of time eating. Four-course meals are common here, highlighted by the freshest salads, and meat platters ladled over fine bowls of couscous in the steaming tagines. The locals are in thrall to thick stews dotted with nuts and dried fruits. Never in my life have I bitten into a desiccated apricot that held more flavor.

Also make sure to taste the pastilla, a meat or vegetable pie with powdered sugar on its crust. There's also fresh bread here to rival anything from Italy or France. And you'll find it hard to go anywhere without someone plying you with mint tea, spiked with more sugar than you'd find in an entire box of Fruity Pebbles.

You'll encounter many of these same delights in the "Imperial City" of Fez (three hours north by car). Yet that town holds pleasures of its own, which you should not miss. The most traditional of Morocco's cities, Fez has what may be the most perfectly preserved medina in all North Africa and the Middle East, dating back 1,200 years. Unlike Marrakesh, whose medina is mostly commercial, Fez's houses a living community.

It's also sunk in a valley, which provides any number of vantage points you can mount to take in the whole scene. From the lofty verandas of the grand Palais Jamai hotel or Hotel Les Merinides, you can take in the best views over the city's dusty beige rooftops and soaring ramparts.

One warning, though: To venture into Fez's medina, you'll need a guide. Otherwise, you may never find your way out again. Then again, a bit of straying in these cities is a must. By losing yourself in this part of the world, you'll find a fresh perspective worth treasuring.
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/travel/2007/11/18/2007-11-18_in_morocco_a_trip_to_marrakeshs_market_w-1.html?page=2
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