Karsen's CGA Blog

Life in the medina.   The medina is a city within walls. It’s the poorest section, but holds the most culture of Rabat. Although most people in the medina follow the same religion, their thoughts are very different. In the medina many are treated like family even if they are really not family. This trip has been a real eye opener.             On this amazing trip we get to go on home visits to see the homes of the kids and converse with their parents. These opportunities have been great for me because I get to understand their way of life and culture. Throughout this trip I have had the chance to go into the homes of four students from our school. You never know how hard it can be until you see with your own eyes how hard it can REALLY be. The sizes of some of these homes are unreal, no bigger than my bedroom, but they survive. The homes that I have visited have very different views. Two families I met wanted thei...

Islamophobia, the fear of Islam or Muslims. This is a real fear and it is very common throughout the world, especially in the United States. Stereotypes are also very common in the United States and it’s not unusual to look at someone differently based on a stereotype. Stereotypes are formed mostly through the media. Major stereotypes at the moment are about the presidential election and about Muslims or Islam. There are a lot of stereotypes formed about Muslims. For example, all Muslims are bad people, all Muslims are part of Isis or that Muslims have some evil plot to kill. From my experience all those stereotypes are wrong and there is no reason to be scared of Muslims. The people I have met in Morocco and the people I see in the streets of Rabat happen to be Muslim and they are the sweetest people I have ever met. In school each class has a personal translator to help you to teach the kids and Wissam is mine. Not only does she help me in class but she helps my fellow group of tea...

Family This trip has been full of many surprises. Thankfully as the trip has progressed the surprises have increasingly become better. Through many tears, lessons, breakthrough moments, home visits and sharing a house with a bunch of amazing people, this trip is shaping into the best of my life. Never in my life have I been challenged more. Teaching is not easy, let alone teaching kids who do not even know how to say, “Where is the bathroom?”  This gives me a little more sympathy for teachers. The hardest part is having so many different levels of understanding. One student understands in ten minutes, another student understand in 30 minutes or longer. However, teaching seems to get a little easier every day. It helps to know what you are teaching is helping them. Conversations have gone from “Hello how are you?” with no answer to, “Hello how are you? I am fine thank you, how are you?” or, “What is your name? My name is Zineb and I am very excited.” Never in my life have I s...