Helnan Chellah Morocco Rabat

... a 12th century minaret in Rabat, conceived to be the world’s largest architectural tribute to Islam.

Tour Hassan is a 44 meter tall prayer tower, located on a bluff overlooking the River Bou Regreg. It is the tower element for an adjacent mosque, begun in 1195. The tower is ascended by ramps, allowing the faithful to ride a horse to the top of the tower to issue the call to prayer.
The ...

... it's always good to see them. We had a lot less kids come this week - maybe 10-15 tops each day. We're not sure why, but Abdellah said that the hospital slows down in the summer so that could be it. Or, Mohamed said they might have known we were leaving and decided to stay away. Who knows? We think some of the moms knew it was our last day yesterday, as several asked to have pictures taken of us with their kids. There is a guy at the ...

... returning patients, but overall it was harder than I thought it would be. It's just so easy to get attached to these kids so quickly!

In the afternoon we had an educational program on Islam, presented by our Program Director, Mohamed. It lasted nearly two hours and could've gone on much longer, as it was so interesting! I would like to read up and learn more about it after this program ends. Next week we're having a presentation on women ...

... get most of them to do it, so we'll have at least 20+ hands. I'm just wondering if we'll be able to pull it off without the paper getting destroyed? Inshallah. This afternoon we had a cooking class and our House Manager, Kadija, taught us to make chicken tagine. About six of us attended the class and we made the main course for dinner tonight. And, no, I did not touch the raw ...

... spent a lot of time helping kids up the slide and down the slide, up the slide and down the slide - you get the idea. I don't think they're used to being so silly or seeing adults be silly, and it was nice to see them smile. One little man came in, promptly introduced himself, shook our hands, and pulled out paperwork to show us that he had just received shots - not one, but two - in his left arm! He also showed us his name. I think he's been around ...

... inside the old walls of the city. They are generally smal twisting streets lined with shops selling everything from spices, fruits and veggies to touristy things (rugs, lamps, "traditional" clothing) and the latest in Nike or Adidas wear. Luckily this was not the only tourist attractin in all of Rabat, but our first night we were a bit worried. So in the morning we did wander through the Medina and found our way up to the Kasbah. Kasbah is the word for Fort ...

... then snuggled up in bed. I must admit I did surprise myself by thinking my thermarest camp mattress was equally as comfy. Will have to wait for tomorrow night's bush camping to confirm that. Jamie and Oliver stumbled in not long after both of them passing out near automatically due to having been drinking rum with Jay earlier on. Great day considering it was just a drive day. It was hard trying not to fall asleep as you really didn't want to miss anything.

... to help us muddle through exactly what we were supposed to do with the various parts of our meal (the broth goes ON the cous cous, you drink the yogurt like milk thing).  They soon headed back to the university with their friends after some goodbyes, Abdessamad giving us his phone number and email address and telling us we were welcome in his home if we came back to Rabat.   We headed back to our hotel (this required some more friendly direction giving from ...

... will fast for the whole day, rather than the half-fast they usually perform (children who have not hit puberty usually fast only until lunch). After Ftour all the women in my host family, including a visiting cousin and her two-year-old daughter, Iman, helped my six-year-old host sister A'isha and Iman apply eye-liner, eye-shadow, and lipstick (several times before we could get it to stay only on their lips). Next, we hit the streets and ...

... at which point the fast is broken with water and a single date before prayer. The fast-breaking meal, the ftour, only comes after each person in the house as prayed. (This excludes the six-year old, whose fast breaks at noon and who simply prances around the house, munching on the food her mom has been preparing all day without being able to eat, and mimicking the call to prayer before she can excitedly hand out dates.) It is a Moroccan tradition ...