{"id":1175,"date":"2013-11-16T13:22:21","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T13:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/?p=1175"},"modified":"2024-04-19T19:24:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:24:14","slug":"migrants-in-the-oujda-forest-gods-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/?p=1175","title":{"rendered":"Migrants in the Oujda forest: God’s Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

A borrowed\/rented truck is loaded with blankets, as is Karen and Kevin’s car, almost past capacity.
\n\"P1000460\"
\nH\u00e9ry and Ruben, two student leaders of Comit\u00e9 d’Entre-aide International (CEI) climb into the truck with the driver and lead us on a meandering path through the city before turning onto a trail leading into the \u201cforest\u201d\u2014a mass planting of small trees.
\n\"P1000463\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This seems like a forest in the optative case, a space hoping to become a forest.\u00a0 \u201cFunny place to hide,\u201d says Zoe.
\n\"P1000468\"
\n\u201cMaybe not so much hiding as finding a place to stay away from other people,\u201d James replies.<\/p>\n

We drive right up to the edge of the encampment, and as we get out the blankets, people gather.\u00a0 Karen has told us that the migrant community is 80% male overall, but there are lots of women here, and lots of children.\u00a0 Karen asks to be introduced to the babies, most of whom seem to be named something like God\u2019s Time or God\u2019s Power.\u00a0 What do you name a baby that comes to you through rape or forced prostitution?\u00a0 But these babies also seem well-loved.\u00a0 Their mothers hold them in their arms or tie them on their backs; one father holds his baby in a warm and soft blanket.
\n\"P1000515<\/a>
\nBaby David smiles for the camera:
\n\"P1000496\"<\/a>
\nOne man comes up on crutches with a broken leg.\u00a0 I ask if I can take a picture of the leg, not his face and he replies, or echoes, \u201cNot the face.\u201d\u00a0 I hear that as permission, but when I take out a camera, he says, \u201cNot so fast.\u201d\u00a0 He needs medicine for the leg: can we give him money for the medicine?\u00a0 There\u2019s an implied quid pro quo: picture for money.\u00a0 \u201cYou will have to ask CEI about the medicine,\u201d James replies, and motions to H\u00e9ry, as Jeremy drags me off to show me a small child tugging at a blanket.<\/p>\n

The CEI team announces that we will give one blanket per person; children who are walking get their own blanket, babes in arms share with their mothers.
\n\"P1000485\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ink will be stamped on each person\u2019s right thumb to prevent multiple blankets going to a single person.\u00a0 James and Jeremy are in charge of the ink pad, which is more complicated than expected: people come up with their thumbs down and press, making it hard or impossible to see whether or not that thumb had already been stamped.
\n\"P1000499\"<\/a>
\nWe hand out blankets until everyone has one (or perhaps two), then H\u00e9ry and Ruben look at the pile and decide that each woman can have another blanket.\u00a0 This time, their 3rd<\/sup> finger is to be stamped.<\/p>\n

Then the clothes are to be distributed, and the chaos begins.\u00a0 James and Karen hold up the articles of clothing one at a time, and people crowd in to grab whatever they can. \u00a0It’s a little overwhelming, trying to keep things reasonably fair.
\n\"IMG_1754\"<\/a>
\nThe West Point boys, James and Brian, try to hold back the tide.
\n\"IMG_1705\"<\/a> \"IMG_1744\"<\/a>
\n\u201cYou have to give them room.\u00a0 They can\u2019t work without more space.\u00a0 Please form a line.\u00a0 They can\u2019t get the clothes out if you don\u2019t give them space.\u201d\u00a0 Jackets seem especially prized: one larger woman gets a small woolen jacket which barely covers her, but she puts in on and pulls it closed and strokes it with pleasure.<\/p>\n

Brian, accompanied by our teenage girls Zoe and Claire, is sent off with a bag of shoes to distribute, but as soon as the bag touches the ground, migrants are ripping it apart and pulling out the shoes that appeal to them.\u00a0 Some of the most prized seem totally inappropriate to me: silver strappy sandals are grabbed up, but wool lined boots are left to the side of the distribution area.
\n\"IMG_1771\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After the distribution, everyone separates, heading off to their individual homes\/tents.
\n\"IMG_1780\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Around the outskirts of the camp, there\u2019s a burnt-out tent, residue of an accident with a fire. \u00a0The fire is recent. \u00a0\u201cWe have to be more careful,\u201d one man remarks to James.\"P1000529\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Karen looks around a little wistfully, hoping for a group prayer but unwilling to push the issue.\u00a0 \u201cShall we pray for the mommas?\u201d she asks, and puts her arms around Joy, with her new baby God\u2019s Time, and around another young woman who must be seven or eight months pregnant.\u00a0 \u201cWe gonna pray for me<\/i>!\u201d says this young woman, looking both embarrassed and thrilled.\u00a0 By the time Karen is done, some of the people who had taken their blankets and clothing home have drifted back.
\n\"IMG_1777\"<\/a>
\nOne man with a bandaged leg and crutches says gruffly, \u201cWe need to pray?”
\n\u201cPastor Success!\u201d Karen greets him with a big smile.\u00a0 \u201cYes, please, let us pray.\u201d\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Success leads our little straggly circle in a few praise songs\u2014\u201cReceive your glory, Lord, Alleluia\u201d\u2014and then leads the group in prayer.\u00a0 The prayer is composed of brief general instructions (\u201cLet us pray for these people so that when they return, they will bring abundant gifts also\u201d), followed by a brief period in which the migrants quietly but audibly produce those prayers, followed by another general directive, and more prayers.\u00a0 I am impressed by the energy these people bring to these prayers, by the faith they maintain in such difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s Time must weigh heavily in the arms of Joy, at least some of the time.
\n\"P1000501<\/a>
\nAnd for many of the children, this life in the forest is all they have ever known.
\n\"P1000523\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A borrowed\/rented truck is loaded with blankets, as is Karen and Kevin’s car, almost past capacity. H\u00e9ry and Ruben, two student leaders of Comit\u00e9 d’Entre-aide International (CEI) climb into the truck with the driver and lead us on a meandering path through the city before turning onto a trail leading into the \u201cforest\u201d\u2014a mass planting … Continue reading Migrants in the Oujda forest: God’s Time<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4JDdJ-iX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1175"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2870,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions\/2870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}