Announcing our next trip! May 26 - June 9, 2009

Dear friends, past and future travelers,

Over the holidays, as I prepared to dedicate myself to the task of creating this website, my mind was flooded with memories of last year's trip -- the anticipation that filled my mother-in-law's living room where we gathered on the first day, the mint tea sweetened with good conversation in Rabat's seaside cafes, the streets of ancient Fes overflowing with people and music from everywhere, the sunrise that pierced the wide open sky over the Sahara at dawn, the smiles and songs that more than compensated for the lack of a common language -- and most of all, the clarity I felt as we said our teary goodbyes and parted ways on the last day, and the commitment I made in that moment to find space in my life for more of the kind of simple but transformative travel that we had all just co-created.

We are blessed and thrilled to have the opportunity to lead another band of adventurers to Morocco in 2009! One year ago I wrote the letter below as an invitation to join our inaugural trip. Reading it again now I think it provides as good an introduction to our upcoming trip as anything I could write today...

Why Morocco? Why now?

Morocco is a country at a crossroads. Geographically situated between Africa, Europe and the Middle East, it has for centuries been a meeting ground of Eastern and Western peoples, cultures and ideas. In modern times its status as one of the world’s last true monarchies only seems to amplify the political and ideological predicaments it shares with other countries in the Islamic world -- the legacies of an autocratic past confronting the challenges of a democratic and pluralistic future, with puritanical and progressive readings of Islam competing fiercely for Muslim hearts and minds. All of these elements converge to make travel in Morocco, in the words of one observer, “a schizophrenic experience.” Still, crossroads are places rich with possibilities, and Morocco offers them in abundance -- possibilities for seeing through stereotypes, finding communion with people of a different faith, and making peace with a part of the world that most Americans view through a lens of fear and mistrust.

Years ago I imagined Morocco and the rest of the Islamic world as a darkly mysterious, perhaps even dangerous place. At 19, the enigma was irresistible. I went. Alone and with no Arabic to speak of, because it appealed to my sense of adventure, and because I was eager to test my resourcefulness. Three years later I had mastered what one might consider the basics of life in Morocco. I learned Arabic, made friends, and held a job. I learned the grid of streets around my neighborhood, the buses that took me to and from town, the price of tomatoes, and even how to cook a handful of local specialties. Eventually, it felt like home. And somewhere along the way, the thirst for adventure gave way to a desire for real understanding of the place and its people, not just in passing, but in an intimate and profound way. Today, after six years of marriage and three kids with my Moroccan husband, I find the real adventures in unexpected places -- fitting three car seats into the back seat of an impossibly small Renault, visiting six dozen relatives in fourteen days, negotiating differences on every subject from making tea to raising children, and most of all, imparting to my little ones a sense of belonging to the country of their father’s heart. Though my travels in Morocco are no longer thrill-seeking jaunts into the unknown (believe me, with 3-year-old twin boys, the thrills follow me everywhere), the country still holds an almost magnetic appeal for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing its treasures with friends and family on several trips over the past few years. On these trips I am the “bridge” in a mundane sense -- interpreting between languages, showing people the sights, making sleeping and eating arrangements, etc -- but also metaphorically, guiding others down a path that mirrors the evolution of my own experience of the place, from the elusive and foreign to the intensely familiar. Today it strikes me that my journey to mutual acceptance within my Moroccan family is not so different from the journey we all undertake in growing into awareness of ourselves as part of the whole human family, its relationships brimming with complexity and ..... possibility.

We have timed this trip to coincide with the renowned Festival of World Sacred Music in Fes, and it could hardly be more timely, as the war in Iraq heads into its sixth year and the so-called war on terror holds no promise other than to further polarize Western and Islamic societies. The Festival is the proverbial oasis in the desert of fear and intolerance. In striving to awaken hearts and minds through spiritually grounded music and dance, it embodies the divine imperative to find beauty in one another despite our differences. Simply put, the Festival represents Morocco at its best. The spirit of the Festival will contextualize the rest of our travels in the country -- in the Atlas Mountains, home to indigenous Berbers whose communities thrive in spite of systematic efforts to dilute their cultures and languages; in Marrakesh, gateway to the deep South and the vast Sahara, a collage of Arab, Berber and African influences; and in the coastal cities of Casablanca and Rabat, the political and economic hubs of a country grappling with the mixed blessings of globalization.

We are committed to making space throughout the trip for real connections with our hosts, including homestays and meals together, music and movement... we hope you will take advantage of this unique opportunity for community-building and peace-making with the people of Morocco.

With that we invite you to explore this website, check out the details, and contact us with any questions. Looking forward to traveling with you soon!

Sara Jane
with co-leaders Zouhair, Diane and Masankho