Ifrane

Ifrane is a small town where Al-Akhawayn University is located. While the university looks like it is in the middle of nowhere, my friend Badr proved to me that the town had some special qualities to it. On a total three hour walking tour, I discovered that the centre town was actually not too far from campus. We walked through the centre where there were bustling little shops surrounded by local people. We shoot some pool at a kid’s park, took photos with the famous lion statue which apparently brought the release of the artist who was in formerly in jail, and ate chicken hotdogs at a local café under the becoming sunset whilst feeding chips to a stray cat.

During my tour, I noticed how the women in Ifrane dressed. On first impressions, I was extremely surprised with how super liberal women at the university dressed; skimpy shorts and tank top. However, outside the campus, women dress conservatively for the most part not only because it is a Muslim country but to avoid sexual harassment, which is a common problem. Accompanied by my Moroccan friend Badr and my American friend Geoff, I was in good company away from local men.

The next day, Badr kindly drove me around Ifrane in a very unsteady car. In fact, he warned me not to wear the seat belt but in fear, I did, and the seat belt became stuck in its holster - so I had to climb my way out of it. On Saturday morning, Badr took me to a marketplace known as suk, which is where locals sell second-hand goods in vast quantities. Such an experience made me laugh. In London, I donate many clothes, household goods and unwanted shoes. Now I know that our unwanted goods get sent to poorer countries such as this to be sold to poor people. I was taken to the suk as I was on the hunt for cheap trainers/sneakers for this trip. Sub-consciously, I was looking for clothes that could possibly belong to me from London – you never know!

From the suk, Badr drove me to Ifrane’s forest area where we sat near a lake accompanied by at least 50 goats. At one point, we were ambushed by local men and their horses who insisted that we take a ride. I didn’t feel too comfortable riding a horse that was drooling, and knowing my luck with animals, the horse would probably kick me off. Nevertheless, it was a lovely spent afternoon, and now I shall return to my Arabic alphabets and phrase book.

First day in Morocco

Hooray – I made it to Morocco in one piece… after a two hour flight delay and my driver leaving me stranded at Fes airport. Nonetheless, I am safe at Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, which looks more like a holiday resort than a university campus. I’m surprised with how big this place is, but I guess most campuses look large compared to my home universities in London. The mosque is at the centre of the university, and all buildings have a high pointed arch, to enable snow in the winter season to run down it.

After an extremely bumpy landing, I tagged along with an American family in figuring out how to get to our destination, considering our drivers ditched us. After some contemplation, I decided to grab a taxi and was lucky to share it with an American student, Geoff, who was heading to the same university as I. As the first students to arrive from our group, we stuck together looking for our tutors, ID cards, and most importantly, food! 

Security is quite tight in this university. There are security guards everywhere, but people seem very friendly. As I post this on my second day, I have managed to make a friend, Badr, who has agreed to show me around Ifrane after his library shift. I’m looking forward to it.

I was surprised to be sharing a room with someone, a really nice native Moroccan girl, Ayda, whom I hope will teach me the basics of Arabic, and how to get to certain places. I’m quite pleased with how this trip is panning out.

I have 3 days spare before the rest of the Diplomatic Academy of London group joins me in our lessons in North African and Middle Eastern politics. During this time, I aim to learn the basics of Arabic, buy gym gear in order to work out hardcore, read through my United Nations briefing paper, and educate myself on Moroccan culture and system.

Metro newspaper

As part of my summer fundraising initiative, I have been working for Metro at the Associated Newspaper London head office. Metro is Britain’s third largest newspaper, and the paper is distributed for free at stations every weekday morning. Throughout my education, I have studied media and actively taken part in broadcast media and editing, and it is very interesting to be working in one of the biggest newspaper associations in the country.  I currently work for the distribution team, and I would like to kindly thank the team for making feel a part of their group.

The Associated Newspaper London headquarters has quite an impressive interior with its large, super high glass ceiling, spiral staircase, a fountain that flows against black marble, massive lips to sit on, and the glorious koi pond which I walk by every day into the Metro office. When colleagues learned that I was training in diplomacy, the comment was often that this was an office with no diplomatic tact whatsoever. It is quite an... interesting experience to say the least. Below is a link to a short video of where I worked at Metro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wHeBuM9x_w

In the next few days, I will begin my journey in Morocco to study at the Al-Akhawayn UniversityUnited Nations in New York. These trips would not have been possible without the support of a few individuals. I would like to give massive thanks to Edwin, Bhavna, Professor Nourallah, Izzy, Abdalhamid, Tanvir, Bunmi, The Gilbert Murray Trust, and importantly Anthony for all the support each and everyone one of them have given me. I would also like to thank all my friends, colleagues and family for providing me well wishes, and having so much faith in me and my work.

Thank you all, and please do follow my progress on this website.

Personal Empowerment

As part of the ‘personal empowerment’ seminar, I was invited by the Human Culture Collective to speak about “maximising one’s image through social media strategies”. This was an opportunity to discuss how far this blog has taken me and how I was able to build a personal brand through extremely cost-efficient ways. The seminar was held at Birkbeck University. I was quite astounded with just how big the audience was. At least 40 people had shown up.

I was the first speaker to open up about brand social media, followed Sidney Sanni discussing the world of self-publishing, and finally a video presentation by Julene Siddique. While there were many concerns about issues of privacy and online identity, my discussion was primarily focus on how to broaden one’s horizon through blogs, Facebook, twitter and other social mediums.

I would like to thank the Human Culture Collective for the promotion of this event and the success we had achieved on that night.

If you would like a copy of my presentation, please do leave a comment.