Adgals and adventures on foot

Ait M'hamed day 4

The river near the old colonial fort

Finally got to meet Abdellatif my Ait M'hamed translator!! He’s is so kind and very keen to learn more about the project and research the background of the area and the my study- he also read the information Pomme and I sent to him so this should work out well.

After reviewing questions at the house and showing him the work and activities I did in Amslane, we set out to find people at the main road in Ait M’hamed to ask about who used the agdal. As it turned out nobody seems to use it except the people with a lot of animals so this is a bit troubling since I am stationed here and the agdal may not be open until June or end of May when I shall be at the end of my fieldwork. At the advice of some women by the river we hiked over several hills (which gave us an amazing view of the snowy peaks (have to ask Abdellatif the names again since they are the second largest mountains after Mt. Toubkal). Met several people shepherding and were directed to a house of a man with many sheep who supposedly uses the agdal of Igourdan. Unfortunately we didn’t go far enough and the house we did find we were greeted by two fearsome dogs (there to guard the sheep). The mother and two girls who were home welcomed us and told us to stay for tea. They made a lovely spread of food including a plate of a popular Ramadan dish that was ground nuts with flour (maybe sugar but not too sweet?). We also conducted an interview survey but modified since farming and canals in Ait M’hamed are very different. The older girl is in Baccalaureate or high school and used to board at the school hostel, but now walks and her sister rides the donkey to school. It’s nice to see girls with the opportunity to continue education and desire to go further after finishing in the local school system.

After another beautiful hike to look at plants in the grazing lands and survey the landscape, we arrived back and had a lovely lunch with Malika. She made cucumber orange smoothie, tomato salad, and a tajine with olives, followed by melon slices. Was having stomach pains again and am really having a hard time with the frequent meals, but definitely one of the nicest meals I’ve had here so far. We then conducted an interview with her, trying to understand the work of the GDF in Ait M’hamed and get more information about significant time periods or developments. May have to change the scope or approach significantly for this second site since it is so far from Igourdan and so much bigger in population than Amslane.