2020 MACECE Newsletter
WELCOME MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
To the MACECE Community – current Fulbrighters, alumni, colleagues, partners and friends: 2020, need I say more? It is difficult to find the words to adequately describe the past year. 2020 was a year that brought confusion and clarity, indescribable challenges, hardships, trauma and loss. It was the year when the world came to a crashing halt and then we were all faced with a unique opportunity to pause, reflect, reassess and perhaps realign. It was a year when countries became more insular, borders closed, and travel was suspended. It was a year when our social lives took on a whole new virtual identity. In March 2020, the US State Department issued a level 4 travel warning which suspended the Fulbright program. Commissions and Posts around the world scrambled to assist our Fulbrighters in getting home as countries began to shut down their borders. Many exchanges had to be put on a momentary pause as travel options became obsolete. As the lockdown in Morocco persisted through June, the MACECE team learned how to adapt to an entirely new way of remote working. Our Fulbrighters both in Morocco and the US explored innovative ways to maintain their networks and connections virtually. The US also experienced an election year, paving the way for some new opportunities for change. 2020 has truly been a year of transformation. The global community quickly found itself needing to pivot between lockdowns, sanitary measures, economic stability and more reliance on technology. A new normal was established that took some adaptation, patience and flexibility to get used to. Although we are no way out of the woods with the COVID-19 pandemic, the MACECE team looks to 2021 with optimism and a renewed sense of purpose. As some of our grantees have started their Fulbright programs online and our educators have adapted to virtual teaching this fall, we have realized that this is a moment where international education and exchange is even more important than ever before. As the world has for all intents and purposes “paused” and countries have closed down their borders, we, as the international exchange community must renew our commitment to mutual understanding and rebuild the bridges that were broken due to this pandemic. We must look for innovative ways to collaborate and continue the good work that we have started. As we enter the 75th anniversary year of the Fulbright program worldwide, we must accept the challenges of this year and see the opportunities that Fulbrighters can seize in making an impact and a difference in our home and host communities going forward. We needed to adapt and exercise great patience and agility to get used to the new normal that was established." I want to thank first and foremost the steadfast MACECE team whose hard work, agility, empathy, and dedication helped the Commission to weather a very challenging year and provide the utmost support to our grantees and alumni community. I also want to express my gratitude to our Deputy Director, Ms. Hafsa El Bastami who just joined the commission in February 2020. It was not an easy time to start a new role such as this in the middle of a pandemic. Ms. El Bastami’s professionalism and support from the start has been invaluable to the team. I also want to thank the MACECE Board and our two governments for their unwavering support and guidance to the Commission to push through the hurdles. To our grantees, alumni and partners, I thank you for your patience, flexibility and solid commitment to the values of the Fulbright program to help us to continue our important mission of mutual understanding in the midst of unprecedented circumstances. I hope you will enjoy this year’s newsletter which captures the triumphs, the struggles, the emotions, the opportunities, the friendships, and moments of our community this year and in a profound way, provides hope for the future. Stay in touch and be well. Rebecca Geffner
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News from the Commission Moroccan-American Conference:
National Higher Education Pedagogical Reform: Preparation for the Bachelor On January 7th and 8th, MACECE, in collaboration with the US Embassy in Rabat and the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, organized a Moroccan-American Conference on National Pedagogical Reform: Preparation for the Implementation of the Bachelor.” Held in Marrakech at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine, the conference was launched by Minister Saaid Amzazi, Minister Delegate Driss Ouaouicha and Chargé d’Affairs of the US Embassy David Green. The conference brought together 128 presidents and vice presidents of Moroccan universities to discuss the new educational reforms of 2020, including the move to the 4 year bachelor system. Ahmed Ezzedine, Associate Vice President for Educational Outreach and International Programs at Wayne State University, Pia Wood, Vice Provost and Dean of International Affairs at University of North Texas, and Jason Lane, State University of New York, Albany were among the invited speakers who presented on various aspects of the US higher education system, English as a language of instruction and education in the digital age. Dr. Mohamed Tahiri, Director of Higher Education and Pedagogic Development (and Fulbright alumnus) discussed the challenges and opportunities in Morocco’s higher education reforms along with the President of Ibn Tofail University, Azzedine Elmidaoui.
MACECE’s Executive Director, Rebecca Geffner, and Outreach and Recruitment Officer, Moustapha Laalioui presented to the university presidents on Fulbright exchange programs along with colleagues from the US Embassy, USAID and EducationUSA. The conference provided opportunities for participants to examine ways in which the US government can continue to support the Government of Morocco in its goals for higher education during these historic reforms.
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Samuel & Jessica NEW ARRIVALS | INSPIRATION | STORE LOCATOR
Fulbright Education dinner MACECE had the pleasure to take part in the Fulbright Education dinner that hosted Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce and Deputy Assistant Secretary Caroline Casagrande. The dinner was held in Rabat and was attended by Ambassador David Fisher and Mrs. Jennifer Fisher, Fulbright alumni: Dr. Driss Ouaouicha, Minister Delegate for Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Mohamed Tahiri, Director of Higher Education and Pedagogical Development at the Ministry of National Education, Dr. Amine Bensaid, President of Al Akhawayn University Ifrane, MACECE Chair Dr. Wail Benjelloun, MACECE Executive Director Rebecca Geffner and Deputy Cultural Affairs Officer, Stephen Weeks.
MACECE Hosts American MBA Students
On March 5, MACECE organized a panel discussion with a visiting delegation of MBA students from the Fox School of Business at Temple University in Philadelphia. The theme of the panel was "Education, Employability, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development in Morocco."The Commission invited four expert speakers to lead a discussion panel: Carrie Monahan, the Deputy Director for the Millennium Challenge Corporation and MACECE Board member; Fadwa Chaker, a Fulbright alumna of the Study Grant program and social entrepreneur and professor at Toulouse Business School; Manal Elattir, the Regional Program Manager for the Stevens' Initiative of the Aspen Institute; and Saida Chaabouni, President of the Women's Artisans of Morocco Network. It was an enriching morning where our guests, students and panelists exchanged ideas and best practices in the field. It also presented an opportunity for the MBA students to develop new interests in Morocco and the region.
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Annual Moroccan Studies Symposium One of the final events of a Fulbright Morocco research grant for Americans in Morocco is the Annual Symposium. Grantees, project affiliates, presentation discussants, and the MACECE community gathers at the Commission for this 2-day conference. This year, 2020, would have been the 27th annual event. Due to the pandemic and thus noin person events, the future of the Symposium was in question. In the spirit of tradition and to give departed American grantees an opportunity to present their research, MACECE hosted the first ever Virtual Symposium. There was a total of six sessions, with topics ranging from Moroccan ceramics to climate change and its impact on Morocco’s coastal areas. There were six diverse moderators, with each Fulbright American researcher presenting on their research findings, discussants commentating and adding to the presentation, followed by discussion and questions. We look forward to hosting the 28th Symposium in person in 2021!
Online PDO for Fulbright Study Grantees On August 10, 2020, MACECE, in collaboration with Amideast DC, organized the first virtual Pre-Departure Orientation for its 2020-2021 Study Grant Cohort composed of 10 Moroccan grantees. The AMIDEAST and MACECE teams congratulated the grantees for being selected to pursue their graduate studies under the Fulbright grant and emphasized that even though the Fall semester was to be conducted online, it was an initial step to familiarize themselves with the education system in the US and what is required from them as graduate students. The PDO served as an information platform to answer questions related to students’ expectations, school choices, degree plans, online learning, student life and other relevant topics.
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2020 Student Enrichment Seminar The Fulbright Commission hosted the 2020 Annual Fulbright Enrichment Seminar. 28 student researchers from the MENA region gathered to present their research findings and challenges. The seminar provides a unique discussion forum in which U.S. grantees can share, elaborate and discuss their on-going research. The Enrichment concluded with an excursion to Casablanca and a visit to University Hassan II, Ben M'Sik Faculty of Letters. The Commission was happy to welcome NEA Region ECA Branch Chief to Morocco, Sarah O'Sullivan, during the event.
Alumni Achievements Youssouf Amine Elalamy Congratulations to Fulbright alum, Youssouf Amine Elalamy for being among the ten finalists for the 2020 Prize of Five Continents of Francophonie, with his novel "C'est beau la guerre".
Najlae Benmbarek Congratulations to Fulbright alumna, Najlae Benmbarek on her appointment as the Director of Public Diplomacy and Non-State Actors at Ministère des Affaires Etrangères. Najlae's Fulbright took her to the University of California, Berkeley for an MA in Journalism.
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2020-2021 FLTA Virtual Orientation MACECE organized a virtual Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) in August for the 2020-2021 Fulbright FLTA grantees to help them navigate the program successfully. The cohort consists of nine grantees who have been successfully teaching virtually from Morocco during the fall semester. They are now preparing to embark on their in-person experience in the US. FLTA participants, coming from both the public and private sectors of the Moroccan education system, teach or assist in teaching Arabic to American university students for one academic year while taking classes at their host institutions. FLTAs also serve as cultural ambassadors in their U.S. communities.
Moroccan Fulbright Alumni Association Annual Conference COVID-19 is not only a public health crisis; it has also critically affected education, the economy, and the environment. What does that mean to Morocco? And how can the Kingdom respond to the challenges caused by one of the largest disruptions in history? Watch the Moroccan Fulbright Alumni Association Annual Conference hosted virtually in early December 2020 to explore the impact of the global pandemic and how Morocco can achieve a successful recovery.
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Up close with the Fulbrighters
Meysoune Jabrane As a Moroccan Fulbrighter who went through confinement in the US during my Fulbright stay, the first week was overwhelming. I was scared for myself and for my family in Morocco and the daily video chats with them were not sufficient. I was feeling homesick and craved being around family. I wanted to go back, but unfortunately, Morocco quickly locked its borders. During the confinement, and similar to other universities in the US, we had to transition to online meetings. My research group at UCF held weekly meetings via ZOOM and since my work was mainly simulations, the transition was not very hard. I worked all week on my laptop and presented my results virtually to my research group for discussion. I was lucky to be able to have several communities during my stay in the US during the pandemic. It helped me to enjoy interacting and engaging with them without having to meet them face to face and most importantly, I had the chance to connect with my Fulbright community at a deeper level.
Youssef Hilmi Before I took part in the FLTA program, Fulbright was, to me, an exchange program like many others, more prestigious though. Now that I finished my program, Fulbright means more than that it’s an international big family. After spending one year in Corpus Christi, I was very sad to leave. I am so grateful to many wonderful people who made my stay there unforgettable. To Dr. Peter More, (my supervisor, the most helpful person of all time); Dr. Amy Sanford (The fantastic associate Provost), Dr. Kelly Miller (the most wonderful president), Dr. Anthony Quiroz (my history professor and my dear friend) and all my friends, I say THANK YOU with a loving heart. The MACECE and IIE support was very crucial. THANK YOU!
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Fatiha Tachakourt Fulbright is a good opportunity to be a global citizen and an ambassador of your country and culture. The whole Fulbright experience is the best memory I ever lived during 2019-2020. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was a little bit confused about my situation, as I had the choice to either go back home or to stay in the US. Since no one had a clear idea as to what was going to happen, I decided to learn how to live with uncertainty and continued my program, especially knowing that we had full support from IIE and Fulbright. My supervisor Dr. Alice Edwards, who is also a Fulbright alumna, my colleagues and friends were all very supportive and helpful.
Austin Bodetti Seeing as I now work from home after returning from Morocco eight months ago, I lead a relatively quiet life. The most exciting thing to happen to me since March was my stepmom yelling at me for opening a bag of pistachios in the middle of her Italian soap opera. The greatest disappointment of my return to the United States, of course, has been that when I order tacos at a restaurant here, I actually get them. Gone are the days when I could walk down the street from my Rabat apartment, point at an item on a menu because no one understood my comically accented Darija, and receive a “French taco”—which is neither French nor a taco. My life is, if nothing else, thematically consistent. While I have continued to keep in touch with my Moroccan friends through Facebook, Instagram, and my comedic email list, nothing can replace the presence of my delightful demeanor and the sight of majestically chiseled features. For this reason, I will be moving back to Rabat in late December. I look forward to seeing my Moroccan friends, reconnecting with my old taco dealers, and continuing the spirit of cultural exchange that led me to Morocco in the first place.
Zahra Ketoun ''This might seem like an ordinary hoodie; believe me, this hoodie would have been average without the blue letters written on its front. Those letters are part of my identity now, a chapter of my life that I lived to the fullest, and I will carry its memory and pride for the years to come. I had fun, grew up by the knowledge I acquired and grew young by the experiences I’m yet to explore. That word might look like random letters, but it’s more than that; it is people, stories, experiences, friendship, love, careers, communities, and countries, laughs, and a lot of fun. Fulbright is a network more than a scholarship, and it’s a community wealthy by its diversity and its people.''
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Julie Fouhy
Of the three African countries offered as locations for the Fulbright DA program, Morocco is the only one where French is taught as the primary foreign language in elementary schools. Morocco was the ideal locale to develop a unit of study for U.S. students, introducing age-appropriate elements of Islamic culture in public school elementary French curriculum. The need is urgent. American curriculum lacks relevant references and resources about the history, geography, and linguistic and cultural diversity of the Middle East and North Africa. French class can be a kind of Rosetta Stone, where a simple discussion of maps, resources, and family traditions sparks understanding of geography, political science, and human culture Countries once identified as “French speaking” are now presented as places where that language is one of many threads in a tapestry, spoken by some of the citizens for specific historical and cultural reasons. Teasing apart the language threads of a multilingual country prompts lots of inquiry into why we all speak what we do, how, when, where and with whom. When Africa shows up in the elementary or middle school curriculum in the U.S., it’s too often in the “deficit” model, presenting narratives and images of people who have less in terms of material goods than we do in the States. With a shift in curricula, we can encourage cultural humility on our side of the ocean. My intent was to flip that lens and teach about cultures incredibly rich in qualities we may lack, and possibly recognize a deficit on our side of the equation. By learning about others, we ultimately learn more about ourselves. I teach in Boston. Halloween, Christmas, and St. Patrick’s Day make their way into the historical and cultural context of the school year. Yet feasts and holidays that aren’t rooted in Christian traditions now shape our public-school calendars. As teachers, we haven’t fully mined the rich range of experience represented by our students and communities. When Ramadan rolls around each year, for example, very young children do an impressive job of explaining their families’ traditions and practices to their classmates. Without denying the importance of learning this sort of show-and-tell model, actual learning will increase when we, the teachers, supply curated books in our class libraries, put posters on our walls, and structure real lessons on the topics.
Navigating the complexities We were prepared for linguistic complexity but not to the extent that we encountered! We worked with a wonderful tutor, Fulbright alum Adil El Megaless, hoping to acquire enough Darija for the most basic interactions but one hour a week was not enough. Every language teacher should seek out ways to relive the experience of a frustrated novice learner, feeling meaning, success and confidence escape you as you hesitantly produce the slightest utterance. It was humbling. My husband made more progress with Darija than I, as he was doing more of the food shopping and cooking solo. He would identify, practice and carry out a very specific language goal per week, like buying a certain quantity of an ingredient or getting a haircut in a barber shop. Not speaking much French helped him - he couldn’t fall back on it as soon as the going got tough!
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Expectations exceeded! The Fulbright program exceeded my expectations. On a personal level, it was extremely successful. I anticipated bureaucratic challenges gaining access to public school, but, thanks to my wonderful mentor and advisor Imane Nejjar, the process of obtaining that all-important official permission became a valuable part of the learning process. Through her heroic efforts, combined with the generous hospitality of Moroccan Fulbright alumni like Madiha Ouakkach, Youssef Sahyouf and Abdelkrim Benqdad, I was welcomed into a wide variety of schools in Rabat, Salé and Kenitra - public and private. Monsieur Abdelkrim Boukir, the principal of the Ecole 6 Novembre in Rabat, took the time to explain the elementary French curriculum to me and invited me back to meet staff and students on several memorable visits. Although I teach elementary students, it was in meeting and talking to high school and university students that I gained the most insight into the experience of academic language acquisition in such a uniquely multilingual country. If the average American learns to speak one single foreign language at a high intermediate level, it is considered a bit of an intellectual feat. The standards in Morocco are SO much higher. I still marvel at the fluency with which the public high students I met speak accent-less English (a fourth or fifth language for many), after a few years of study. I am grateful to every student, school director and teacher who took an interest in my project (there were so many of them!), welcomed me into their classrooms and in some cases their homes, shared materials and offered incredibly helpful suggestions and ideas.
With the vast amount of material I curated (age-appropriate and otherwise) in electronic files and the many children’s books and educational materials shipped home, the immediately teachable unit boiled down to the idea that many Moroccan children speak one language at home (Darija) and encounter three alphabets in the course of their school day, two of which all learn as academic languages. I’m currently building collaborative multidisciplinary materials to share with my fellow teachers of art, music, science, math and social studies. Today’s virtual settings are the ideal staging ground literally eliminating the walls that separate our areas of study. In my emerging materials for young learners, a basic introduction to Islamic traditions and culture is folded into the context and background of the commanding presence and cultural stature of Arabic in Morocco. Wrapping my head around teaching elements of Islam directly in a French language class in the States turned out to be far more complex than I first thought, as material about Islamic traditions written for students in France (by French educators)doesn’t factor in certain subtleties that make Morocco so unique. Just ask me about why a Moroccan minaret had three balls instead of a crescent on top! The focus of the first Morocco-themed unit is about the school day and languages learned, supported with visual elements all as context - familiar to some of my students, intriguingly different and new for others - the minaret of the mosque being the central and visible in neighborhoods, the calendar of jours fériés, the presence of women and girls in hijab, or simple head scarves, the beautiful architecture and art work. The more time I spent in Morocco, the omnipresent visual of the indigenous Neo-Tinifagh script became too powerful to ignore. I had to include it in what I was teaching and thus put all three writing systems into the context of an historical timeline and some workshops to attempt the different writing styles.
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The Institut de la Culture Amazigh in Rabat was very generous with books, posters and other classroom materials in support of this effort. As I write this, it is what has been historically called Columbus Day weekend in the US. The historical erasure of the indigenous languages of the Americas is one of the major storylines in the profound cultural upheaval we are experiencing right now in the US. Looking at the example of Morocco, where an indigenous language has been granted official status, gives children big ideas to ponder. And why stop at Morocco? If successful, a curriculum like this offers more than greater knowledge about language in a single country. It promises that layers of understanding are waiting to be discovered all over the world.
Differences The most striking difference between American and Moroccan classrooms is in the emphasis on language learning. In Morocco, a bilingual education is accepted as a necessity. There are far more Moroccans than American who can communicate effectively in multiple languages! As a public school French teacher, my focus was public elementary French language instruction but visited many high school English classes taught by Fulbright alumni who had spent time in the US. I was left wondering if the high level of achievement in English I observed in those high school lessons can be attributed to the grounding in French and Arabic established in elementary school. Many of the high school students I met preferred English to French. In Boston, a handful of public schools offer bilingual Spanish-English programming but we are a long way off from making this universal. Language programming beyond English in Boston is allowed far less instructional time and only a handful of classes are offered in any language other than Spanish. My students will be surprised to learn that Spanish is taught in school in Morocco but not as widely taught as French. I am going to show the students the signs outside of all the public schools I visited, with the name of the schools written in Arabic and the Neo-Tifinagh script. This will certainly catch their attention! I’d like them to ponder which languages we would use for a bilingual school sign if we were to start to honor the indigenous languages and cultures who first lived in the land on which our school sits. Right now, the devastating effects of the global pandemic are revealing the societal repercussions of underfunding public education all over the world, threatening a generation of our most vulnerable students. Lack of access to modern technology threatens to set both countries back in terms of access to a free public education.
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Moroccan Hospitality We had firsthand experience of the famous Moroccan hospitality and tradition of showing kindness to strangers throughout our trip. We planned to spend the months after my grant ended in December traveling through Spain and France but found ourselves not wanting to leave our Diour Jamaa apartment in Rabat just as we had started to feel so at home in the neighborhood. We did travel around Morocco and briefly to Spain, but maintained our apartment as home base. The idea of starting all over and launching into the anonymity of the hotel circuit in Europe suddenly felt absurd when we still had so much to learn in Rabat. A mother and daughter pair living next door had reached out to us right at the beginning and made us feel welcome by introducing me at the local gym and hammam among other places. We enjoyed a lively exchange of prepared dishes between our households as my husband loves to cook, to share his favorite dishes and to learn new ones from an expert. Four months in one city can feel like a very long time in terms of the average summer trip but it is all too short when you are trying to understand a place and a culture. I was part of several lively WhatsApp groups with Moroccans I met at the university or in the French class I took at the InstitutFranรงais and those proved to be a daily source of cultural material and insights. Once the pandemic hit, the international press featured stories of Moroccans reaching out to shelter and protect travelers trapped in limbo while they figured out how to get home. We had been experiencing that generous hospitality all along and it only increased during the first months of the pandemic. Our neighbors helped us out in so many ways as we navigated the new realities of the curfew and the need for documentation while running errands.
We planned to spend the months after my grant ended in December traveling through Spain and France but found ourselves not wanting to leave our Diour Jamaa apartment in Rabat. 12
Unforgettable Memories
We loved the efficiency of the trains and Supratour and CTM buses. We took trips to Marrakech, to Essaouira, and on an adventurous loop through Chefchaouen, Tetouan and Tangiers with a brief but event-filled and dramatic side trip to Ceuta to fulfill our need to leave the country to renew our tourist visas. Seeing the desert for the first time in Merzouga on my 56th birthday last November felt like an otherworldly experience, something out of a dream. Tangiers was our favorite destination when we were traveling alone, without Moroccan friends to guide us. Our most memorable trip was to Fez, where we were hosted by a young university professor I had befriended from an English conversation group I helped facilitate at the Ecole Normale SupÊrieure in Rabat. When she heard we were traveling to Fez with another Fulbright couple, she arranged to meet us in her city of origin, inviting her sister and several friends, giving us a lively tour on foot to parts of the city we wouldn’t have seen on our own. After a long and eventful day, the whole group convened for tea and cookies at sunset on the roof of the riad where we were staying. Conversation flowed easily in several languages with a lot of laughter as we all marveled at our good fortune in spending a day that turned relative strangers into friends. Because of the presence of the five lovely young Moroccan friends, that roof and that evening became my single favorite destination.
This is so hard to say - so many memorable moments to choose from! A series of Friday marathon couscous hosted by a lovely family in a traditional medina home will always stand out. In order to write a unit about school in Morocco for young American students, I really needed to meet and talk to some actual Moroccan children outside of a school setting where my questions risked disrupting the school day. The daughter of another Fulbright couple was living in the medina with a young family as part of her university study abroad program. Her host mother welcomed both sets of American adults into their home with the most incredible generosity. Not only were we invited frequently to join the family for extraordinary Moroccan cooking and lively cross-cultural conversation, we were also able to meet and befriend a brother and sister pair who loved to talk about their school day, show me their homework and books, teach us some new games as well as learn some we had to teach them. These Friday afternoons were magical and memorable. I met another young family through a university student who was also the parent of two young children. Memories of the time spent with both young families will stay with us forever. We hope to maintain this friendship and return the generosity someday when the young people we met grow up and travel to the States.
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Moroccan Cuisine Zaalouk is the one dish that we have been able to replicate at home with some satisfying success. Even given Byron’s culinary skill, we are a long way off from producing the delicious couscous and tagine we tasted in Moroccan homes. When hearing that we did not purchase a tagine in Morocco, a young Moroccan friend here in Boston brought us one from a market in Revere, a city just north of Boston with a vibrant Moroccan community. This young man is the son of a man Byron met in one of his barbershop adventures in Rabat, a connection we’ve been delighted to pursue that we are home. Knowing that we don’t own a car, he delivered the treasured crockery in person. Once the pandemic restrictions lift, we plan to explore the markets in Revere on our own.
Fulbright Caravan
I prepared a workshop on writing a personal statement for applications for grants and graduate programs. I think we were meant to be a total of six presenters on six different topics but as the morning unfolded we ended up combining our topics sort of on the fly and co-presenting our prepared workshops. I was nervous at first, not sure what to expect, but the students were so engaged, asking so many great questions, that we found our flow. As always, I was so impressed with the language skills and diverse interests of the students we met. With very little planning, Professor Youssef Boutahar and I were able to find common ground in our presentations - emphasizing the importance of expressing one’s unique perspective and voice in order to make your “vision” stand out regardless of your audience, be it an application review committee or a crowded auditorium. Youssef asked me later if I would recreate the workshop for his students in Casablanca. I recruited a fellow Fulbrighter to join us, all the plans were in place for early in March - and then the pandemic hit. We ended up presenting our workshops as a virtual event after our return to the States. That experience was another first taking part in a virtual forum as a presenter. Now that I have more Zoom teaching experience, I’m sort of horrified by the skills I didn’t yet have when we did that first soft skills workshop across time zones way back in May. By jumping right into the world of virtual workshops, Youssef was ahead of the curve. There is no reason why we shouldn’t collaborate more frequently in the virtual world!
We want to return as soon as possible, cherishing and hoping to maintain the friendships that we made. We know that we are not alone in feeling we would like to find a way to spend more time in Morocco! There are still so many more places we would like to explore.
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Marouane M’haimah, MBA, Finance College of William and Mary “I got elected as a representative of the International Student Association. I plan to get involved in cultural activities in order to share Morocco's best traditions and values. I am also a member of the Global Friends Program that pairs volunteer students with a family in Williamsburg for cultural exchange purposes. The online format is not affecting the way we are learning. I am feeling that I get full information from classes and more importantly I can engage in class discussions smoothly. I can say that my name is now known for my professors and my peers…”
Soukaina Lakhsassi, MA, International Affairs American University “I find the American education system to be extremely interesting. Since I have started my classes, I have been really happy with how things are going. All my classes are insightful especially the complex problems one. It helped enhance my analytical & critical sense. I have been reading a lot of books as part of my assignments, and doing a lot of team work, which helped me learn so many new things and develop my skills on different levels. My experience in the classroom has been very positive. Since everyone in my university is in on an online schedule, I found it easy to keep up with this learning system. I am really existed to be in DC, my team members meet constantly & work together, whereas I can only join them via Zoom”.
Safae Amahrir, MS, City and Regional Planning Georgia Institute of Technology “The stress level of final assignments and exams is not as bad as I thought it would be, mainly because the instructors themselves are being very flexible with deadlines and especially sensitive to how students may be struggling with the many difficulties this year brought about.A positive and flexible learning environment that allows and encourages student support. I have been very fortunate to be apart of the Georgia Tech community where I feel supported by the instructors and my own cohort.Even though the remote teaching mode has been difficult, especially on my eyes – spending endless hours staring at a computer screen – I feel like the mental and emotional strain has been lessened somewhat over the past few weeks due to a growing support system, which I highly appreciate.”
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Jaafar Rouane I was assigned to Allegheny College, located in a calm town called Meadville in the state of Pennsylvania. My stay there was an amazing experience as I had the chance to teach undergraduate American students Arabic and the Moroccan cultures; a few months before flying to the States, I was studying in Morocco and I suddenly found myself a few months later indulged in a practical experience of teaching at an American College in the States! Amazing, right?! However, that extraordinary experience came also with a few challenges, which is not something bad as through challenges we grow and elevate! One of these challenges was the outbreak of COVID-19. I am not going to lie, but it was hard in the beginning as the outbreak was sudden and came out of nowhere. Suddenly, the campus became empty like a ghost town. However, I opted for staying calm and focused on the bright side, as I took the situation as an opportunity for me to do some reflection on my life and my goals, learn new skills and read new books. Overall, my Fulbright experience transcends description as it was beyond amazing.My favorite memory of my experience was to attend the midyear conference in Washington, DC. I had the chance to meet 400 plus amazing Fulbright FLTAs from all over the globe, which gave me the chance to network with some amazing humans and make friends from distinct nations, cultures and religions! Today, I am really proud to be part of a huge international network of amazing leaders! Thank you, Fulbright! "Once a Fulbrighter, always a Fulbrighter!" Go Fulbrighters!
Mouloud Mahi TCLP was a priceless opportunity to live with Americans, learn about their culture and share with them mine. Irving Elementary School, which hosted me for one academic year, was a productive place for an intercultural exchange experience. Teachers and colleagues were very welcoming and helped me teach kids Arabic and share different aspects of Moroccan culture. When the pandemic hit, my daily life rhythm changed and I was uncertain about my decisions. Fortunately, people around me and TCLP staff supported me and made the transition into this new mode smooth. The most satisfying reward I got is when I successfully finished the program and the most emotional moment was when my colleagues organized a farewell party for me. This program helped me grow up professionally and personally and I am forever grateful.
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Yassin Essaid In my host institution Campus International High School in Cleveland, Ohio, I received all the support needed both from the teaching staff as well as from the administrative staff both as foreigner and as a visiting TCLP teacher. I came back to Morocco with so many good memories of my students and my colleagues- going on a trip with my high school students to a number of colleges in different cities, visiting Niagara Falls and taking a three-day trip to New York City with some of my colleagues were some of the highlights. Missing every single moment I spent there is a lingering feeling that I have when reminiscing about my experience it the US.
Wafae Bouallala
I was blessed to live in an uncrowded city at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, which allowed me to enjoy walks and hikes while staying away from gatherings. Progressively, hope and faith replaced fear and despair and I started focusing on my research again. My supervisor shifted all our meetings online and I made sure to deliver. Surprisingly, going online opened new collaboration opportunities for my work and I could build fruitful connections with researchers from other states. My Fulbright experience was cut short indeed and many plans had to be cancelled, but I am grateful that in the middle of a pandemic, I still could enjoy it and take the most out of it.
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Olivia Segal August 25th, 2019 — I stepped off the plane in Rabat, breathing in dry, warm, Moroccan air for the first time. The several weeks following my arrival passed in a haze, from Rabat to Meknes, hotels to Moroccan homes. September 14th, 2019 —A 3-hour train ride to Marrakech, and I stepped onto the bus heading to Essaouira. The mind too tired for more questions, the body processing the new sounds and sights at every turn on the road to my new home. The haze began to settle, and I felt at peace in Morocco for the first time as we entered Essaouira, a small, bustling city through my right window, a gorgeous sun setting over the Atlantic through my left. Essaouira is known as the windy city. There is something magical about the wind, you always feel it yet never see it. You know it’s there, throwing up waves of sand on the beach or knocking over the chairs on café terraces. Maybe that is why nearly every person I met who travelled to Essaouira, intending a short stay, and had never left, was unable to explain why. You can’t see it, but you can feel it, the magic in this city.
Over the next several months I spent many days in taxis, commuting to and from the village where I gave classes to small groups of students at the local university. I spent many evenings in the medina, teaching English and learning more about Moroccan culture. In Essaouira, the fatalist aspect of Islam, the acceptance that all events are predetermined, mirrors the invisible force of the wind. We hear it, we feel its force, but to question the meteorological laws behind its presence is a pointless pursuit to explain and understand what need not be explained or understood. When the world began changing in the Spring, I knew I couldn’t leave. It’s a feeling that, again, seems futile to explain or try to understand. At the time I made the decision to stay in Essaouira, when my colleagues were grappling with the same questions, I knew I had to be here. I tried to untangle the invisible forces pulling me to stay, and then I stopped trying. I’ve learned that not everything can be explained or justified, some things need only be felt.We often respond to uncertainty by rationalizing plausible explanations. Once we are satisfied with these invented rationalities, we consider that they have an intrinsic value of their own and abandon the search for deeper understanding. I can say that Essaouira had become my home, my friends had become family. The two intertwined, the concepts of home and family fused, and I stayed. This is the best and only explanation I can offer, because beyond that I see no need for one.
Essaouira has lived many transformations since I arrived last September. The tourists that filled the winding streets of the medina have gone, and the waters are calmer than they were a year ago, void of the hundreds or surfers waiting to catch the next wave. But the city feels far from empty. In many ways, tourism is the lifeblood of this city, the major economic drive that supports the local community. A community that now finds itself in standstill, holding its breath. Every day I am moved by my neighbors and friends, who, despite the difficulty of this moment, find ways to enjoy their time together, to exhale. Maybe it's the wind that helps us all breathe.
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Loubna Zohra Aissaoui With a world that is at no moment identical to itself, a teacher needs to keep learning and improve his/her skills to benefit his/her students. My quest to achieve this goal led me to the Fulbright DAI program. The Fulbright experience was an opportunity for the Moroccan, Muslim mother that I am to achieve self-fulfillment and take her part in sharing about her culture and bringing back what helps her and other teachers to assist Moroccan students in their learning journey. In brief Fulbright is the best way to couple the useful and the joyful. I proudly say that I belong to Indiana University of Pennsylvania. And yes, I use the present because it is going to be part of who I am my entire life. I can never thank the people at IUP enough for what they did for us before and after the break of the pandemic. I couldn’t have asked for better. I will never forget the dean of the college of Education and Communication Lara M. Luetkehans for her humbleness and kindness and Dr Michele Petrucci, the associate vice president for the IUP office of international education for her dedication and caring. I am thankful to everybody at IUP: professors, people working in the library. They played a major role in our lives after the outbreak of Covid.
I came back with the belief that I can do a lot for my students and community from my humble position as a teacher despite the challenges.
I felt very unlucky when Covid 19 became a global pandemic. I had worked hard to gain the scholarship and I didn’t like the fact that something was going to change my plans. However, I was sure about one thing. I wasn’t going back to my country without completing the program and finishing the inquiry project that took me there in the first place. People cope with panic differently and in the beginning, there was a lot of uncertainty and many downs. It was at that time when stronger bonds were established between Fulbrighters at IUP and the sense of empathy was really stretched. “How are you?” was not enough anymore. How is family back home? How is the situation in your country? How many cases are there? These were frequent questions. We didn’t leave our places for two weeks because we were in New York and we needed quarantine. That time brought us closer and we learned more about each other’s countries and cultures. Thus, there was some blessing within the curse of the pandemic. It is not fair to mention one best memory in my experience because there were many. I don’t know which one to mention, but if I were to choose one, it would be the way we celebrated each other’s special days and the potlucks we had during celebrations: Eastern, India’s Independence Day, Ramadan, Eid ElFitr, the Superbowl…. It was more than just decorating the communal room together or gathering around a table containing dishes as diversified as our cultures. It was about the discussion and the questions we asked each other to know more about the special celebration. It was a chance for everyone to speak his/her mind while delaying judgement. My one word to describe my Fulbright experience is “Cathartic”. It purged my mind from stereotypes I hold about USA and other countries in addition to negativity and despair.
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Fulbright Visiting Scholars
2020 Cohort
Will travel to the US to begin their research throughout 2021
Loubna Amahdar Environment & Health Indiana University
Lahoucine Atourki Solar Energy Georgia Institute of Technology
Fouzia Lamkhanter Sociolinguistics & English Literature Salem State University
El Hassan Mayad Sanaa Saoiabi Samir Zouhri Crop Protection Physical Chemistry Vertebrates Paleontology & Nematology & Nanotechnology University of Detroit Mercy US Dept. of Agriculture Harvard Medical School
Abdelhadi Sabraoui Karim Bouzoubaa Biotechnology and Plant Computer Science Protection State University of New The Ohio State University York
Soufiane Idbraim Computer Science Rowan University
Hajar Chouiyakh Mechanical Engineering  University of South Carolina
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Fulbright Study Grantees 2020 Cohort
Will travel to the US to begin their studies throughout 2021
Rania Benkhedda MA/Public Administration Columbia University
Soukayna Lakhsassi MA/International Affairs Policy and Analysis American University
Marouane M'haimah MBA/Business Administration College of William and Mary
Anas Filali Baba MA/International Studies Johns Hopkins University
Soumia Hasnaoui MBA/Business Administration Temple University
Ismail Ilsouk Safae Amahrir MPA/Public City and Regional Planning Administration Georgia Institute Syracuse University of Technology
Mohammed Amine Kalakhi Ayoub El Jamal MA/Comparative Literature MA/Film and Intercultural Studies City University of University of Georgia New York
Oussama Rouijel MS/Urban & Regional Planning University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Will travel to the US to begin their research throughout 2021
Kaoutar Aalilouch Cellular & Molecular Biology University of California, San Francisco
Safae Bourhnane Computer Science University of Houston
Mokhliss El-azaar Meteorology Arizona State University
Saad Alami Merrouni Sociology Utah State University
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Hubert Humphrey Program 2020 Cohort
Traveled in December 2020
Dounia Benslimane Independent Cultural Operator, Casablanca University of Minnesota
Tarik Rhandour Head of the Regional Health Observatory in Fes Meknes Region Emory University
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www.macece.ma info@fulbright.ma Fulbright Morocco