“I grew up in a village where they grew dates. I have five kids, the oldest boy is 15 and the other four girls. I took them to the city so they could learn languages and have a better education. There is no Internet in the village. They live in a house with their mother. I am a self-made man and didn’t have these opportunities when I was a boy. I sold dates by the road. Two Americans stopped and took pictures and we started talking. The next time they came back, I helped show them Morocco.They kept coming back and they started their own tour company and made me their connection in Morocco. Meeting them and this job changed my life and the opportunities for my kids. Thanks be to God. I practice my religion and I feel at peace. It is a big problem when other people don’t know their own religion and what it believes. Reading newspapers and watching TV isn’t enough. We should get to know each other. When you share with people, you understand. I didn’t like outsiders or tourists before because I didn’t understand them.”

“I want to go on pilgrimage one day and I want an agriculture business. Right now I have land and I plant the fields and I am at peace when I farm and talk to the plants. My father was a farmer and passed down his land and I bought some of my own. I can’t stay in the city, when I wake up each morning I drive to my farm. I like to work with women instead of men because women work hard. They use their opportunities and are serious and active.”

“My daughters like sports and they are very educated. I won’t push my kids to be what I was because the world has changed and my kids have to be a part of that world.”