an old, old conflict

Sometime in the middle of January, I started noticing scarves of red and white or black and white check showing up more and more and more. Especially on young people, both male and female. These scarves are a show of support for Palestine in the continuing saga of war and peace between Palestine and Israel. It’s interesting watching the difference between the news coverage of, say, CNN, BBC, and Al Jaziera. Three different takes on it, three different ways of displaying the fights, three different levels of graphic footage. There is a LOT of support for Palestine here, but not in a scary way. People protest, they talk about it a lot, and they wait to see if the new world leaders can get a handle on the problems… I spoke to an old man, and asked him if he thought there would be peace. He said, "we will wait and see. Inchallah, there will be peace." I hope so! And I hope the support here remains peaceful, for it is only something like that that would put us onto Plan Z: evacuate. And I don’t want to evacuate. I want to be here. I do want peace, though. Fair peace, for both sides.

traditional healing

My host father is a healer. He sets bones, fixes dislocations, sprains and strains, and treats various maladies including colds, arthritis and slow to heal injuries. He’s pretty darn good at bone-setting. I’ve seen him do it, and I’ve seen the results. They are impressive. A compound fracture that protruded the skin is now a mostly functioning arm. Still weak, but hopefully it’ll get there. He makes splints out of cardboard and string, or bamboo and string.
He also brands people. With a nail, and in conjunction with a blessing. It’s called "kt"-ing. This technique can be used on just about anything. On the belly for a cold, on the place of injury or pain for a slow-to-heal break or strain or arthritis or what have you. I’m beginning to wonder what percent of the people here have scars from it. Probably quite a few. The blessing is interesting. He uses a little crystal, of salt, maybe, and waves it in a circle over the area to be treated, while muttering some God-phrases that I really can’t make out at all. He then sticks the crystal in his mouth and blows/spits forcefully over the area three times, says a parting blessing and then commences the branding. After the branding comes another blessing. It seems to have some effect, or at least people think so, for they come to him from all over the village and from other villages, too.
He also has a formidable array of knowledge about various causes and effects, some of which is probably valid and some of which probably isn’t. The other night, after watching him work on a shoulder and wrist, I mentioned that I had had a screw put in my foot to fix a break. He asked if I had taken it out, and I replied no. "But you must take it out!" he said, "or you will get shellal!" And illustrated by shaking his hand like a feeble old person in the grips of Parkinson’s disease. I didn’t quite know what to say… For certainly if this were an important consideration my doctor would have told me. But my host father simply brushed that off with an "ur isin!" ("He doesn’t know!") But he should know. Doctors pay an awful lot in schooling to know just that kind of thing. I can only imagine the lawsuits… "Repair of compound fracture of femur causes Parkinson’s!" No, I don’t think that’s a good cause and effect… but how does one explain that if that were the case, someone would have figured it out by now??? I gave it up as a bad job that time. Next time, we shall see.

Hmmam

Yes, that's an actual word, albeit spelled phonetically. Hmmams are the coolest! Actually, the hottest... they are communal baths here in Morocco. Sort of like a sauna, but with multiple rooms of various hotness, and wet. The idea is to get really hot, slough off skin, clean out pores, and wash hair and everything else in a good hot climate. I've really come to enjoy them, and think ther is really no better way to get turly clean.

That said, today takes the cake! I went to a Hmmam in a new city, a pretty big on with two sections for men an dwomen, as opposed to alternating hours like at smaller Hmmams. It was lovely and relaxing, and the people were most helpful. I am currently travellig, and so had to borrow a chair to sit on and a cup to pour water. All of this done in my Arabic... which is realy pretty bad. I call it 'Keyword Arabic'. But everyone was very helpful.

The way it works is you wet doan, and the put a special soap made of olive oil all over, and leave it for a couple minutes. It helps the skin come off once you rinse off and then start scrubbing. And scrubbing... there are special mitts for it. At some point shampooing and conditioning happen, and shaving if you are so inclined. I hear in the mens section they also strech eachother... women typically dont do this. Maybe its because many are also occupied with cleaning off their children.

So I had done all this and thought I was just about done, rinsed off all my soap and shampoo and the little chair and my mitt, and headed on my way. But, little did I know, I was not done! A mother and daughter who I had noticed enjoying their Hmmam together tugged on my hand, and motioned a question: did you have someone scrub your back? I motioned and tried to say that I had done it myself. She, understandind, shook her head in dissapproval, and motioned emphatically for me to sit down in front of her. So, after my protests met with no giving way, I sat myself down, and proceeded to be scrubbed more thoroughly than I have ever been scrubbed before. Back, arms, sides... all rescrubbed! She finished and rinsed me off, handed me my scrub mitt and motioned me to get to work on my legs... again... so I scrubbed away, and then rinsed off. I asked her if I was done (I was learning that my bathing was no longer only my own concern...), and she handed me a loofah with her own soap on it. Lovely soap it turns out. Must have been half oil, because it left my skin amazingly soft. I was finally rinsed off (think buckets helpfully splashed and dumped over my head), and then my things re-rinsed, and I was done. According to all involved. :) I turned, told her 'God bless your parents,' ie. thanked her, and went on my merry and smooth-skinned way. I don't know if I will ever be this clean again!