Ibulliance: Foreign Correspondence
Alice Morrison stands stately in an iridescent caftan as our group arrives for dinner in Marrakech. The Scottish journalist has made Morocco her home for a decade, living in a small village in the Atlas mountains when she’s not out trekking with camels and Berber guides. We are awestruck by her adventurous spirit which brought her to Morocco in 2014 to participate in the Marathon des Sables—a 156 mile trek across the desert in six days. Alice tells us that she fell in love with the country, the culture, and the people that she met during that initial stay, and adopted them as her own.
A correspondent for numerous outlets including the BBC and CNN, as well as an author of several books about her great adventures, Alice regales us with amazing tales of walking across Morocco. Accompanied by three Amazigh Muslim men and their camels, her trek included the discovery of dinosaur footprints and a lost city, however most interesting to our group were the uncommon bonds formed between Alice and her guides as they worked together traversing the challenging and desolate landscape.
We pass around delicious platters of eggplant zaalouk, marinated cucumbers, and phyllo-wrapped savory pies, and ask more questions about living as a white, Christian woman in a Muslim society. She shares photos of the feast of Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan—a communal celebration with her neighbors where she proudly points out her chocolate cake in the midst of more traditional fare. Although not Moroccan by birth, Alice has integrated herself into a rural community and eagerly shares with us the acceptance and fellowship bond that naturally developed.
One of Alice’s most inspiring stories recalls surviving the 2023 earthquake, which shook her neighborhood, and crushed other nearby enclaves. Once daylight crept over the mountains, Alice jumped on her bike and started a precarious descent down the mountain, reporting to media outlets the scene on the ground. Roads were completely obstructed by boulders, and communities along the way reduced to rubble. The military was quickly assembling emergency stations and villagers were searching for missing loved ones in the wreckage.
Finally reaching home after a long ascent in the dark, Alice was welcomed by her neighbors who had created a comfortable sleeping tent for all the women and children, with a berth saved for her. It was one of the most welcomed sites I have ever experienced, says Alice. Having encountered gracious hospitality by so many Moroccans along our Fringe Road journey, our group nodded in appreciation of a magnanimous world where strangers become family.
Shukran,
Lasley Steever
Chief Marketing Officer, Ibu
