Morocco Time

In an update to the story posted by Morocco Report:

Associated Press - June 14, 2007 5:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - After two years of inaction, US immigration authorities have approved a request for the 3-year-old son of a US citizen to emigrate from Morocco and join his family in Virginia.

yada yada yada….

The decision to approve the application came a day after the Associated Press and other media detailed the Boujrads’ plight.

Interesting article just out :

“Morocco adopts draft bill on transfer of citizenship (19/01/2007)

The Moroccan government adopted the new citizenship draft bill Thursday (January 18th), which stipulates that Moroccan children will acquire citizenship from their mothers regardless of the father’s nationality. Communication Minister Nabil Benabdallah says the bill is an important step towards the emancipation of the Moroccan woman, after the reform in the family code (mudawana). Thus, the child will acquire Moroccan citizenship even if the father is a foreigner, but only if he is a Muslim and married according to the rules of the mudawana. (MAP, Yabiladi)”

For a Western man to marry a Moroccan woman, I was almost sure that he had to convert anyway - have the laws changed? As for the reverse situation, I know several Western women who refused to marry their Moroccan partners - specifically because of the rights they’d give up to child custody if they did so.

UPDATE : Mindy just found a very interesting story on Maghrebia.com - Morocco’s Nationality Code Amended

Hamou and I have spent quite a bit of time discussing the happy topic of children, and one of the main points of contention is where we’ll have them. I vote for the States, for the quality of pre-natal care. He leans toward Morocco, I think because he imagines that he’ll be able to set me up in a private clinic in Casa, slip the doctor some ja’aba, and generally be in control of the situation - which he wouldn’t be here.

However, there is a unique facet of mommydom that makes me more inclined to choose Morocco, and that’s the tendency of mothers to spew their vile opinions to anyone, at any time, and God Help You if you disagree with them. There are several topics that are a sign to run immediately in the opposite direction:

- breastfeeding vs. bottlefeeding
- circumcision
- immunizations
- baby sleep therapy
- the labor itself

So why Morocco? Simple - when I don’t want to listen, I conveniently forget every bit of Arabic and Berber that I know. All of the fduli (nosiness) rolls off me like water off a rain slicker. It would be a little bit harder here, as in the case of a exchange about circumcision on one of those horrendous mommy boards:

“MoonJelly” - Should I bring up the topic to an expecting couple over dinner at a restaurant? I may not have a whole lot of face time with these people (my cousin and her husband) and they are expecting a boy. I will see them on Friday and then on Christmas. Their baby is due in March. Can anyone help me get it started? DH will be there too and really wants to help. I also don’t want to “ruin” dinner. Not that it would ruin it for me, but I have no idea how they will take it or where they stand. I would like to start a convo now so that I can follow up with them when we see them again in two weeks.”

“ND_Deadhead” - I think I’d bring it up at dinner. Chances are the pregnancy and baby are going to be topics of conversation anyway. Ask if they have picked out a name; obviously they had an ultrasound (to determine gender), so you can mention how relieved they must have been to see for themselves that the baby was normal, healthy, had all his required parts in the right places. Talk about nursing, back sleeping, etc, and how things have sure changed since our mothers were having babies! In many hospitals, they used to just circumcise all the baby boys, without even asking!

That will provide the opportunity to see how they feel about it, without confrontation. If they express a desire to circumcise, you can say “You know, the circumcision rate is really dropping, now that doctors are realizing that there are no medical benefits. Not only is it comestic surgery, it is dangerous. A baby bled to death in Canada recently after his circumcision, and babies die every year from hemmorage, infection, and other complications.”

First of all, don’t ever try to have a “convo” with me, “mmmkay?” It will end badly for you. Secondly, if anyone tries to ask me a series of disingenuous questions, then blindsides me with stories about babies bleeding to death, per your own agenda - well, you won’t be invited to dinner again, and you’ll be lucky if I don’t stab you in the throat with a fork.

Thanks to Sally over at Meine Welt (see sidebar), I found “Madame Zaritska’s” hilarious “labor and birth experience predictor.” For her, obviously, it was wrong, but this is what I got :

“The day you deliver, outside will be blustery. Your baby will arrive in wee hours of the morning.

After a labor lasting approximately 8 hours, your child, a boy, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and will be 19 inches long. This child will have dark brown eyes and a lot of hair.”

(more…)

Every single day in this country, I see or hear something that makes me:

A: stop breathing

B: want to throw up

C: cry

D: all of the above

Read this BBC article about an orphan boy who lives in a rubbish heap outside of Rabat, and you’ll know what I mean.