To have or not to have

There is a difference between knowing how rich and good we live in Europe (Germany) and experiencing it through direct exchange.

Strolling through the medina, I pass a small dark entrance to a café. The two-metre-long corridor leads into a larger, dark and very smoky room, which is occupied by a television.

I'm about to go out again when I hear a 'Hey, my friend!
I start talking to Adil, who lives here and also likes to hang out after work. The TV in the corner serves as a cinema for everyone, there is no real cinema in the city anymore, so the small café becomes a social space.
He is a man of song lyrics. Often enough he answers one of my questions with a rhyme from a song. We talk about good films. He was in one when he was a teenager. At the time, Willem Dafoe was in town for a film adaptation of the Bible story. He got a small part and ran into the actor once.
He has met Andy Garcia too, but ignored him at the time and didn't think he was important. Only later did he find out how famous he already was and got annoyed 😄.

Out of a casual acquaintance, we meet several times and he invites me to his house. We have Harira, the Moroccan soup, simple coffee and sweet pastries.
I get another impression of what life is like here. His family used to be wealthy, now he lives with his father and brother in a small house. He has the only income in the household, the father is sick and the brother is unemployed. He buys things at a second-hand market, repairs and cleans them before selling them on.
His brother is trying to join his wife abroad and is just waiting for the documents to be filled out that will allow him to leave the country. In a few weeks, the time will come and Adil will have to take care of his father alone.
All three of them share a mobile phone.
Despite this life of poverty, he gives to me wearing sandals and a traditional Moroccan robe as a farewell gift.
Hospitality comes first in this country.Read more