Our Social Reporter Lumen has been doing a little thinking about a recent post on Tripadvisor.
There’s a very informative travellers’ website dubbed ‘Get the truth. Then go’ called Tripadvisor (www.tripadvisor.com). When I’ve got time I like to browse the topics and will reply if I think I can contribute something to the Morocco pages. The other day an old chestnut of a question hit the pages:
‘Hello.
Heading to Morocco with my wife this week from NYC. We were wondering if there was anything "western" we could bring with us- not to trade but to give away to those less fortunate. We are not wealthy by any means but not starving either.
We will be in Fez, Marrakech, and Agadir for about 10 days total.
I hope I don't sound pompous.....just trying to be nice.
Thanks for your help.
XYZ, NYC.’
Now I seem to remember my son going off to Malawi many years ago, and they took old t-shirts and new bicycle tyres to give away where appropriate. But Malawi was then, and still is, a desperately poor, now AIDS-ravaged, third-world country where the people might benefit from something given in good heart by tourists visiting from rich, first-world countries, or in our case, visiting Malawi from South Africa, a better-off, developing country.
XYZ’s question worried me a lot and got me a-pondering. What was it that made me so uncomfortable with the concept?
After a lot of thought, I decided that I really don’t like the idea of rich Americans thinking that doling out something ‘western’ will ease the plight of people in Morocco. There’s an arrogance there that these poor unenlightened Muslims might benefit from something ‘western’ that a rich (or this case, not starving) New Yorker could bring to ease their lot.
While still in pondering mood, I went to Marjane at the weekend and looked around to find something that I couldn’t buy. It’s true, I have to admit, that I can’t find Marmite, at least not in Fez. That’s an English thing, I suppose. But I can find everything else that I could find in my own supermarket in my own home town.
In the end, it’s ignorance on XYZ’s part; he’s showing his total lack of education and knowledge of the world. Morocco isn’t a third-world country. It’s a developing country. Sure, there’s lots of poverty and people from ‘western’ countries could look upon a lot of it with pity in their hearts and wonder what they can do to alleviate the lot of the poor.
In the end, I advised XYZ that bringing himself and his wife to Morocco and spending their tourist dollars here would provide jobs and keep people in employment. I said he should bring smiles and an open mind.
However, someone from Devon in the UK had the opposite reaction. She suggested he should bring pens, pads of paper and MacDonalds toys to give out to the children who are less fortunate. This is a common idea, I’ve seen it from Burma to Nepal to India and is something that perpetuates the common cry of Moroccan children: ‘un dirham’ or ‘un stylo’; something that really grates on my nerves, particularly as most of the time the children don’t actually know what they’re saying. This Devon person even said in her amazingly paternalistic fashion – ‘their faces are a picture – not to be missed’. I don’t like it; if you really want to help children, then find a school and donate some funds or pens and paper for them.
In response to this nauseating suggestion, a wonderfully erudite (but to me, unknown) contributor by the name of Dysfunctional said, ‘How would you feel when Japanese tourists started handing out pens, pads of paper and Macdonalds toys to children in the streets of sunny Devon?’
My sentiments exactly.
lumen - Fes Morocco.
Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
9 comments:
On the other hand, quite a few people who have traveled in Morocco have benefited from the generosity of Moroccan hospitality. It might not be amiss to be prepared with a few, small, nice gifts that would be a token of appreciation should one be so fortunate as to make a new acquaintance and receive an invitation.
Despite the fact that most things from curry powder to quality streets are available, it doesnt mean that everyone can afford them. In fact imports in marjane cost more than they do in most of Europe.
I have walked through the streets carrying marjane bags only to be asked not for a 'stylo or dirham' but instaed 'what is it like in marjane'?
I agree with bill day if someone treats you with generosity and kindness (which I have too many times to count) is it really so wrong to give them something in return that they can't afford?
I visited Morocco some years ago and found it to be one of the most beautiful and picturesque of countries. I understand your point about handing things to children - though the people are poor and as ill guided an opinion that the lady may harbour, I suspect that there was charity in her heart. I hope to visit again one day.
Actually, in reading the above comments I have thought further on the matter - people like to give, the Moroccan people are especially hospitable and I found some wonderful generosity. even very poor Moroccans hand beggars money. It is good to share the wealth if you can afford to, the Moroccans set a good example by their own actions - and you can if you buy a plane ticket to another country.
I am inclined to agree with the above. As long as it done in the right context e.g not just handing out gifts to kids in the street. There is no harm in offering someone a gift, particularly if it is an expensive (by moroccan standards) import. Surely people have the right of refusal after all.
Lumen. Was it really necessary to publicly ridicule XYZ for being 'arrogant', 'ignorant' and 'lacking in education and knowledge'? At the end of the day he/she was just trying to do a nice thing.
Surely all XYZ needed was a little guidance.
Kids begging for pens and dirhams is more than annoying. This summer, as we drove through the Middle Atlas on a motorbike, my partner and I encountered children who would race out to the edge of the road and begin a furious dance, apparently hoping that we would stop and give them something in appreciation. As we drove past, smiling and waving, the children shouted angrily after us. This reminded me of something I read about bicyclists getting pelted with rocks thrown by children in mountain villages. It is one thing to give a gift in a situation in which you are offered hospitality, but it is another to cultivate this sort of behavior in children. Children dancing by the side of the road for handouts is demeaning and dangerous, not to mention dangerous to bicyclists who don't give them a dirham and get whacked with a rock.
Dysfunctional, also well known on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree, is also the mastermind behind the Morocco FAQ - http://www.triotours.com/faq/ma/
index.htm.
I agree with Dysfunctional. 100%. Having been pelted with rocks by unsatisfied "urchins" in another North African country, I strongly believe that hand-outs are not the answer. There are better ways to contribute.
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