8 August 2008

1st church service in morocco
So I went to my first church service in Morocco the other weekend! I went up to Oujda to celebrate my birthday with some other volunteers, and me and two Catholics went on a search for a church service. We found the church fairly easily (only two or three wrong turnsÉ) but then, how to get in?? We saw some folks in African style clothing who seemed to know where they were going, but lost them. The front door was lockedÉ and someone had thoughtfully piled the garbage from the square right by the door. The mosque was spotless. One way to know when you are in a Muslim countryÉ so we walked around back, trying all the doorsÉ at the very back door, we knockedÉ and the door was opened to us. By a Moroccan gentleman. And thus we found the Saturday evening mass of the chuch of Oujda. Attended by 5 West Africans and two French expatriates. And three Peace Corps Volunteers. Apparently this is usually better attended, but during the summer people leave for the cooler coast and the priest was sick, soÉ it was just us. Singing the mass in French, led in a very sub-Saharan style of call and response. It was beautiful! Very different, but beautiful. I miss that style of singing, how it’s all of a piece with dancing, the call and response, the earnestness. We introduced ourselves eventually, in French, English and Arabic, and were welcomed back. Oh, and I took the body. The bread. I hope that’s OK, seeing as I am still not Catholic. J