Retrospective: Three Years On

Exactly three years ago today, I arrived in Morocco at the beginning of my tour as Ambassador.

I was really excited. I remembered the Morocco I had travelled around 20 years before. I remembered how beautiful it was. How varied its geography was. How extraordinary its cities were. How entrancing is landscapes were. I remembered the generosity of warmth and hospitality of its people. And how delicious its food was.

But I had never worked, much less lived here.

I knew what my hopes and dreams were – nothing less than a wholesale transformation of the UK-Moroccan relationship into a genuine strategic partnership. I wanted to ‘normalise’ the UK presence here. To bring British culture sport music academics art to Morocco and to introduce Moroccan Culture in return to the UK. I was very clear about my priority: to improve educational links between our two countries. For me education is the beginning the middle and the end of the developmental path of any country.

But, as I had never been an Ambassador before, I was unsure quite what to expect: was I being too ambitious? Was this ambition realistic? I was acutely conscious of the British expression– ‘most plans fail to survive first contact with reality’.

As I look back on the three amazing years that my family and I have spent in Morocco and forward to the last two months of our tour here, I can honestly say it has exceeded all my hopes and expectations.

We have travelled across the country from Saadia in the North to Tantan in the South, from Merzouga in the East to Essaouira and Agadir in the West. We have climbed the mountains; we have swum in the Mediterranean sea; and we have surfed in the Atlantic ocean.

We have ridden camels in the desert and horses on the plains. We have fed wild monkeys in trees and watched the storks soar in splendid majesty. We have stayed in tents nestled amongst the Sand dunes of Morocco‘s enchanted deserts. And in lost mountain refuges perched high up a precipitous peak.

We have travelled with Princes to the majestic Atlas Mountains and with Ministers by ‘plane to stare in wonder at Noor in the desert and by high speed train to marvel at Tangier Med.

It has been a remarkable full and enjoyable three years.

With the Embassy, we have put Morocco on the UK political map through Royal Visitors, Cabinet Ministers and Senior Officials. We have brought the UK here through the visits of the Royal Household Cavalry, The Welsh National Opera and the London Community Gospel Choir. We have brought sports teams here to compete on land and water. We have brought chefs and bakers. Academics and historians.

This is not how I would have chosen our tour to end. I had so many plans, projects and ideas for our last six months to continue to strengthen our bilateral relationship – there is so much potential here and so much opportunity. But, I know that the sadness I feel as we prepare to leave is the best possible indicator that this Posting has been every bit as agreeably challenging, fulfilling, enriching and rewarding as I hoped when I arrived.

I know that when I leave there will be hundreds of memories. But the ones that will stay longest are of the people. The women we met in the villages in the high Atlas mountains who showed us how to make bread in traditional ovens or milk and cheese in traditional jugs.

The goat-herders we met in the desert of Agafe. The sardine man with whom we grilled sardines in Ras Al Ma’ in the north. The oil Grove merchants with whom we had lunch in Ouazzane. The tea in Beni Milal. The kindly old men who pointed me the way when we were lost at night in Fez. One thousand and one people to whom and with whom I have chatted in the Medinas and souqs around Morocco.

But amongst all of these wonderful memories and the amazing things we have done, the thing of which I am most proud and the people who make me most confident about Morocco’s future is the Embassy’s close association with the smiling and ever-optimistic girls of Education For All. They are the future of Morocco and the future of Morocco is bright.