Day ONE in Morocco- Nov. 8, 2009

1st day of delegations- Sunday 11/8/2009

After breakfast, the group departed the hotel at 10:00am in a morning city tour. It included Kasbah of Udayas, Mausoleum of Mohammed V.  Our tour guide, Saeed, gave us a brief about the Moroccan history.  (see pictures below) After the tour, we departed to lunch at “Le Tapis Rouge” restaurant where we had two lunch presenters; Siham Bojji , from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Naima Oumakki, from Associat Josour in Rabat.  Both presented to the group about women in Morocco and the economic situation, the implementation of new laws and policies, and women and hijab.  Naima talked about how she revealed the public opinions and community frustrations through her theatrical work and how she is working through different channels to fund plays that promote community needs. 

We went back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner brief, as we entered the hotel, I was thrilled to find “Hussien” – my beloved husband- waiting for me in the lobby.  He flew from Libya to meet me for 2 days in Morocco.  It was really good to see him and enjoy his company with the group of delegates.

Later that night, the group left to the “La Peniche” restaurant for dinner at (Av. Prince Heritier Sidi Mohammed Rive Droite du Bouregreg) Sale, Morocco, Tel 037-78-56-59/61.  At dinner we had a U.S. Embassy Brief by Ms Mary Jeffers, Public Affairs Officer, at the U.S. Embassy in Rabat.  Also we enjoyed a presentation by Milouda Hazeb, Former MP and Dupty Mayor in Marrakech. 

Miloluda’s presentation was very interesting and informative about the women’s role in the community and how it evolved to recieve higher support and participation.  she also talked about the training efforts of educating youth to engage them in leadership roles.  She also talked about the implementation of the mentoring concept, as one of the methods and tools utilized to narrow the gap between the older generations and the younger.  This was one of the biggest challenges that they are trying to overcome which is building a collaberative and a connected community. 

 After dinner we all took beautiful pictures to caputer all our joint efforts.  Afterwards, we left back to the hotel to rest and be ready for next day.

Hassan II grave area- Rabat

In Rabat 1st day- City Tour

Ctiy Tour

Rabat streets

City Tour- the big wall

Streets of Rabat

Delegates from the left- Katarina Bonde, Shauna Woods, Nancy Zylstra, Me (Lubna Mahadeen), Cathy Allen, Senator Lisa Brown and Jamie Hawk

Boat dinner- MILOUDA HAZEB FORMER MP- DEPUTY OF MARRAKECH – with Hussien

Hussien & Lubna with Senator Lisa Brown at the boat dinner

Reaching out- Rachelle- Lubna and Denise

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