Every experience is a journey, but not every journey starts the same even though we are travelling together.
By Allan Siao Ming Witherick
Today marks the first day for the majority of the group on our fellowship experience, but of course for some it started the day before- they’re transatlantic flights adding time; for others the journey started with their application, or their first experiences of Arabic culture. Regardless of where we marked the start of our own embarkation on this journey, on the 2nd it brought us all together on a bus. Indeed this might explain the interest in what we had written, and why had we been accepted, by other applicants who were not so successful.
The is no simple answer though, read through our biographies and you will find a rich and varied mixture of experiences, from those with experience of living in the region to others who had only the most basic of understanding of Arabic culture.
The commonality?
An interest in learning and a desire to change things for the better.
Today we heard briefly from ISESCO, our hosts in Morocco (we’ll hear more tomorrow) and also by video conference from the otherside of the world with UNAOC and Institute of International Education in the USA. The journey to the ISESCO building by mini-bus showed off both the good and bad of developments in Rabat:
- A light rail/tram line seeded in green and carrying many people
- Blocked by the traffic, still unused to it’s presence
So perhaps the selfishness of drivers is a cultural facet shared by drivers…
Of course, we must note that innovations like the internet, and Skype (originally developed in Estonia, a small Baltic/European country that many would find difficult to place on a map), have made the world that much smaller for all. Just a decade ago the idea of a video conference was virtually unheard of and indeed the technical difficulties did help to reinforce the value of face to face interactions. It was interesting to note that the suspected problem was the same as we would expect in any other country- too many people online!
So as a starting place to learn about the differences in our cultures Morocco is perhaps the most apt choice with it’s mixture of Arabic and French derived signs, tradition alongside modernity. Soon we will see.