"A Weekend in Amazigh Atlas Mountains Village, Zawiyat Ahnsal" by Emeline Avignon
After a long bus ride from Rabat, and up and into the mountains, we arrived on a Thursday afternoon in Zawiyat Ahnsal. This excursion was planned by Amideast as part of our program and was in partnership with Atlas Cultural Adventures. We stayed at the sheikh’s –the local leader and mediator of the valley–guest house. The sheikh knows everyone in the valley, and peacefully works out disputes between people, and officiates marriages, divorces, and births. The sheikh reports to the Moroccan government but is a middleman to ensure safety of the people of the valley without having an urban system which is more culturally dissonant to the valley. Outside the walls of the house, stairs descended down onto the paths of the village, looking out onto this view of the valley.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
The first thing we did was walk around the village, exploring this new place, which we would be staying at for the weekend, on our own. Everyone in Zawiyat Ahnsal was so friendly, greeting us as we walked by. Some of the children in the village helped us find a path down to the river to rest and cool off after the long bus ride. The little girls shyly played around us, until eventually we tried to communicate with both of our knowledge between different dialects of Arabic, French, and English. They brought us figs which they were picking from nearby trees.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
The next morning, our guide from Atlas Cultural Adventures, Ishmael, showed us around Zawiyat Ahnsal. He recounted the history of the village– its structures, origins, and people. Zawiyat Ahnsal is an established village where people live, but it is also a way stop for nomadic and semi-nomadic people of the region. Semi-nomadic people pilgrimage to the village and sometimes sell goods.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
A Zawiyat is a center to teach Islam. There are many across Morocco and other Islamic countries. Before being an established village, it was a place for merchants and traders to stop to refuel and learn the way of Islam. Saints started the Zawiyats. This one was started by Saint Ahnsal. To decide where to start a Zawiyat, the role was first passed down from father, then the son was given a donkey and cat and wherever the cat jumped off the donkey’s back was where the Zawiyat would be started.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
The architecture of Zawiyat Ahnsal is a combination of modern Islamic architecture and traditional Amazigh stonework. Pictured here are ruins of the Zawiyat, but it is currently being restored. There are many architectural restoration projects in the village, where people from the village, archeologists, and/or architects from Europe, the UK, and the US work together. During the period of French colonization, women and children would stay inside the walls of the Zawiyat to protect them from the destruction of the French fighting the village men outside of the walls.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
Here is the water system, which threaded through the village and between villages. A river laid low in the area, and especially low due to the years of drought. It rained while we departed though, Hamdoulah (a word often said when good things come and or if you are doing well meaning praise be to God). We met with the local Potable Water Association, which was founded by some people who grew up in the village, left for university, then returned in hopes to better their community. Their volunteer work has led to bringing potable and running water to all the homes in the village. They have set up systems to help finances for families who could not afford it, but there is a monthly payment to encourage less water waste. The association also holds workshops to help other villages in the valley get running, potable water and educate people on environmental awareness. There are other local organizations and initiatives, such as the Women’s Cooperative, which is a woman run organization which trains and employs women in the area as farmers of saffron, thyme, and nursery plants to make essential oils. The cooperative aims to empower women and help them out of poverty.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
Friday afternoon, Ishmael led us on a long walk between Zawiyat Ahnsal to the neighboring village. We hiked along the dirt roads and mounted up to the top of the neighboring village, where we overlooked the valley back into Zawiyat Ahnsal. The mountain range and rock bands were incredible. Afterwards, we walked back through the many gardens of the village, green and flourishing with fruit and olive trees, herbs, and vegetables.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
The pink buildings on the hill are the new middle and high school for Zawiyat Ahnsal and the village which we walked to. Previously, there was no middle and high school, and then when it opened, students from Zawiyat Ahnsal would have to walk 2km and back every morning and night, and for the lunch break. In order to make sure students were putting as much energy as they could into their studies, the villages gathered funding for a van to transport them. The elementary school is in Zawiyat Ahnsal. We spent a Saturday morning there teaching the fifth graders some vocabulary in English. Another girl on the program and I taught them colors and nature vocabulary through drawing a picture of their village. I think I learned more Arabic from them than they learned English from me!
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
Studying and living in Rabat is the first time I have lived in a big city. I have always wanted to live in a big city, so this is a great trial. The mountains and the country, however, always are comforting to me. It was a grounding experience to come to the Atlas Mountains. Learning about and visiting Zawiyat Ahnsal allowed me to see a more holistic picture of the people and traditions of Morocco. As someone from the United States, it is also humbling to see the strength of the local initiatives and community-based way that people live in these villages. I felt very grateful for this experience.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
Zawiyat Ahnsal sits at 1600 meters of elevation. To get there, we drove along Morocco’s highest road at 2200 meters of elevation. Zawiyat has a population of about 250 people, but the valley and all of its villages are so vast, holding a population of 50,000. The valley extends through the Atlas Mountains into the Sahara.
Photo credit: Avignon, 2022.
Emeline is a junior at Trinity College and studying abroad on the Amideast Regional Studies in French Program this fall in Morocco.
