MOROCCO

OCTOBER 2023

The earthquake in Morocco happened while we were in Hawaii, so another team went to Morocco initially, and then after we left Hawaii we followed onto Morocco and took over for the team that started that project.

We established two kitchens in cities called Asni and Oulad Berhil. Mainly I was in Asni. The kitchen was in a produce distribution warehouse, it was tucked into the mountains about two hours south of Marrakesh. The hardest part of this operation was distribution of the food. The small, windy, decrepit mountain roads made it difficult to get food out. In some instances we needed to use donkeys to move the food because motorized vehicles simply couldn't take the food deep enough.

Oulad Berhil was an amazing town. It was not in the mountains, but I remember arriving when the sun was going down and it lit up the dusty main road like an old western strip. The town was enchanting, it remains one of the most amazing places I've visited, it felt like I was in a fairy tale. I also celebrated my 30th birthday here with the team. We bought meat the at the butcher, vegetables on the road, and then took them to the guy that has a grill, and he grilled it up for us.

Back in Asni at the end of the project we played soccer with our local team. My supply chain team beat the distribution team. This was nice. Then we went to dinner and my team adorned us (myself and the international folks I brought in to be on our team) with traditional jellabas. This was also quite nice.

When the project was over myself and my international team drove our four food trucks back to Madrid by way of Marrakesh, Casablanca, Tangier, across the Straight of Gibralter on a ferry to Spain, Malaga, and then to Madrid. This was a fun adventure as well.

Two of my photographs from Morocco were nominated for the Fine Art Photography Awards in the UK, these are the first two pictured.