My introduction to the world of Native American people propitiously began with the traditional tribe of MESKWAKIA and I have to be grateful to them, as I ended up dedicating my medical professional life to the prevention and treatment of Chronic Diseases among the Indigenous peoples of the world.
Among other words of wisdom, "Dr" Brown imparted were: As long as you are a good person, you do not need to try and understand the ill behaviour of other people (I had asked her about someone in Australia). She also said: Do not waste your time looking for people to meet , as the people whom you need to meet will come your way.
It has turned out to be true as recent as the last week when I was sitting in seat 2 A on an Iberia airlines flight to Marrakech after an overnight (good and comfortable) flight, also on Iberia, from Tel Aviv to Madrid.
Somehow we began talking about aviation, our favourite airlines and countries in the Gulf Region they come from. I did not ask him of his profession, neither did he of my occupation. As the plane was descending into Marrakech in Morocco, I had the impulse to give him my card, and introduced ourselves by name. He is from an European country and commuting between his homes as he works from home. As he left the aircraft he said, i will send you a message on your account which I received a couple of hours later as I was settling into my riad in Marrakech near the Djem al Fina square crowded with tourists and moroccan families .
The message read: If you are free tomorrow night, please have dinner at my home. I will send you the address and the time for a repas later.
I had a bottle of Spanish Wine nothing special to write home about, a Familia Torres Verdejo 2021, which had a rating of 3.7/5 on Vivino app, the lower limit of drinkability for most people!
the evening was still warm, remember we were only a few hundred kilometers away from the Sahara, i walked along the Medina and the souks and then on to the broas derb (street) of the Kasbah near the Palace. during the 20 minute walk I was greeted by almost every moroccan with whom I made eye contact, and they all said. WELCOME .. a happy people, a friendly people, mostly Berber so different from their Arab brothers..
It was interesting to note that as we approached the kasbah the roads became much broader, at other centuries, armed vehicles had to be transported through these alleyways?
The entrance to the house gave no clue to what lay beyond. A narrow pathway and another long passage led to the centre of the house. Riad is a general term used for house, even though the original meaning is Garden. this Riad did really have a garden.
nothing but but surprises awaited me as i toured, toured is the word as i had many corners and nooks to discover.
The position of the riad so close to the palace and its sumptuousness indicated that a high ranking courtier may have occupied this house and fallen into neglect as he or his position fell out of the Royal favour. In any case, the lady of the house had spent nearly five years to bring the riad back to its splendour while modernizing it without forgetting its moroccan roots.
I noticed the star of david in the centre of the tray and was informed that many of the jewish memorabilia left behind when the moroccan jews left en masse for Israel and France and Canada, are to be found for sale in the multitudes of antique stores in the alleys of the medina.
The host was gracious, and our conversation continued about lifestyles, existential questions arising out of it, the changing importance of objects and concepts as we progress through our lives.
Nibbles, or as we call them in Australia, savouries, o aperitif began showing up and this called for a drink, obviament/e!
The rating for this wine was 4.3, a feat very seldom achieved by wines. This is also a lesson that the quality of wine depends upon so many factors that if you just go by the price alone, it usually does not have a good correlation with the drinkability of the wine.
I requested a less sweet wine and the host obliged and it was a delectable one.. Both wines were from France, but the palate is my own..
Our conversation flitted from the geography of Europe and the Middle East .. the austrian alps near Klagenfort, the wines of Slovenia, and we dissected the cultural aspects of certain nationalities, with due respect of course.
It was at that time he asked me, what is that I do? I made it brief, I am a Doctor without Borders, trying to do a little bit of Humanitarian medicine within my own capacities.
He explained that he has been in the field of finance and spends half the year in the Middle East and the other half in Europe with more and more arrivals in Marrakech as the Riad has bloomed into an intimate residence.
the night had fallen and the ambiance of the riad lit up to a dream like existence.
The words of "Dr" Brown of the Meskwakia rang in my ears: here i am in Marrakech Morocco and about to have dinner with a person, with whom a fluid conversation about the world flows and there were no points of discontent or conflict in our world views even if we were in two different, very different, worlds of endeavours.
With my close friends M and G W, we have long conversations but we have a long history of personally shared and professional curiosities as well as sharing of a world view of our ancestors.
With him, whom I had just met, a good feeling of friendship formed very quickly and that allowed us to talk very freely not only about our own emotions (for example, my deep feelings for the people of Iran and his admiration for the people among whom he works). Israel Cuba all put in an appearance but one thing about this conversation was that we were celebrating life and the planet rather than complaining about what is happening around the world. Two grateful people, surrounded by the friendliness of the country we were in, Morocco, and about to be served a very healthy and tasty dinner, made with much love and care by the Berber lady in charge of the kitchen and served to us by the Berber man in charge of the affairs of the Riad.
I did not envy his lifestyle nor did he of mine but we both respected each others lifestyle which had afforded us plenty of stories to tell: of men and nationalities, flights and cities and food and wine. I truly wished my dear friends and brothers: MGW and SST/A and EW were here enjoying this air and the soon to come food !
three hours had already passed and it was time for me to look around the house.
