The city was bulldozed following the earthquake rather than patched up, to prevent the spread of typhoid, and the rebuild seems to have been successful in creating a functional yet pleasant town. The impression is of space, with public parks and no tower blocks or tall buildings apart from the minarets. It may be that fear of another earthquake steered the planners away from high-rise, but the end result compares most favourably with the UK concrete slab soul-less new towns of the 50’s and 60’s that are from exactly the same era. The mosque shown here is particularly attractive in its proportions.
But rebuilding Moroccan attitudes can be much tougher! Take begging, for example. It is traditional in Morocco and giving alms is sanctioned by the Moslem religion. However, the current king Mohammed VI decided a few years ago that begging deterred tourists, so he banned it. But hard-core beggars still persist and this is a dilemma for both officialdom and the tourists. We have so much more than the average Moroccan, what harm does it do to give a few dirhams to a beggar?
So here we are at this cafe when an old beggar woman (probably about our age!) hassled us for money. Instantly, a security man appeared and attempted to shoo her off, but she was having none of it, and went for him with her stick. I was sitting between them, in the empty chair nearest the road, and quickly made a dash for safety.
The security man was polite and respectful to her but firm, and actually took the stick off her. She shuffled off shouting, being reunited with her stick when she had reached a safe distance. So what does a tourist do? The answer must be to give money only in return for a service you need, that way people have the self-respect of having earned it. Old ladies excepted, of course!
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