71 Paolo de Mas

Paolo de Mas was one of the Dutch experts who didn’t come to the Reunion Des Amis d’Iligh. He had prior engagements. However he was one of the Dutch connections with Iligh. All through the preparations for the Iligh project he also had been extremely helpful. Chapter 5 of the Graphic Story that had to deal with Paul Pascon had him as the protagonist. We had boldly made that choice although we didn’t have a clue what he had really done during Pascon’s stay in Iligh. He wasn’t on the cover of the book. Herman van der Wüsten was as was Daniel Schroeter and Mohammed Tozy. Bert set up a meeting with him in the ‘1ste Klasse Wachtkamer’ at the Amsterdam Central Station for May 8. Before we went we read up on him. There was an in depth interview with him and his brother on the Internet. He was the son of Italian immigrants who came to Alkmaar in the Thirties and started an ice-cream parlour there. Paolo and his brother were second-generation immigrants. When he went to school in the fifties and sixties other waves of immigrants came to the Netherlands: Italians, Spanish, Yugoslavians and from the early sixties onwards Turks and Moroccans. According to the interview on the Internet Paolo keeps close ties with the village of his parent’s birth in the Dolomites. He visits it at least once a year and takes part in the community. He also cherishes his diploma Professional Ice Cream Maker. From childhood on he was fascinated by maps and geography. When he went to study at the University of Amsterdam he chose Social Geography. His professor there was Willem Heinemeijer and that man had a great influence on Paolo’s life.

The meeting in Sidi Ahmed Ou Mousa

Next the Friends of Iligh repaired to the municipal building for a meeting during which different presentations would be given. As the 'Reunion' was financed by the Governate of Tiznit Aisha and Bert had to comply with certain demands from high up. One of them was that the Alderman for culture of Tiznit Ahmed Boumzegou would also give a presentation. Apparently he had done his phd on 'Iligh'. Boumzegou had not been particularly helpful when Aisha and Bert had ran up and down the stairs in the Governor's palace in search of support. They both had taken a dislike to him. However in the morning before we set off for Sidi Ahmed Ou Mousa word came that Boumzegou suddenly had to go to Rabat. In his stead came a man in a baseball cap. This man insisted that he gave the first presentation right after the introduction by Bert and by the Mayor. His talk was about documents from the archive of Iligh that had proven beyond doubt that Morocco's claim on Western Sahara the former Spanish colony was legit. The claim was never recognized by the international community. The take-over was engineered by General Franco just before his death and king Hassan II. The story goes that one day a helicopter landed in Iligh with people a.o. a minister who demanded of Houcine Aboudmiaa the then ruler of Iligh to hand over the relevant documents. It is unclear to me when this took place and how the authorities in Rabat knew the documents existed. Did Houcine tell them or did they know from El Soussy the historian who died in the mid sixties and who wrote extensively about 'Iligh' in Arabic (never translated). One thing is certain: the documents never came back.I didn't know all this when I made this sketch otherwise the usurper would have been prominent in the drawing. From left to right: Paul Dahan, Manoubi Abdelmjid the Mayor, Bert, Aisha in Hajib and on the phone, Abdullah El Mountassir, and the two Sufi dignitaries from the Zaouia: Moulay El Mahfoud and Moulay Houcine El Ourari.In the background a very large poster of king Mohammed VI.

The girls of Sidi Ahmed Ou Mousa

After the visit to the Zaouia the Friends of Iligh were taken to a square that lies beyond the Soek. It has the municipal building and an extremely old Argan tree. Apparently it was already there when the Saint chose this spot to settle in. Or maybe it was because of this tree that he settled here. Who knows. Argan trees are everywhere in this region, but strangely enough not in this valley. The Argan fruit was ripening. The fruit looks like an olive, but when ripening it also has the same color. But at this stage it looks more like a mother's tit. Anyway along side the tree stood a large trailer. It was a driving school classroom. With the Medical Caravan it is one of the amenities Aisha has established in her role as political representative. The school was for girls and women to teach them the 3Rs and simple handicrafts. In front of the caravan was a market stall where the village women sold what they had made. A lot of the traditional handicrafts that women used to carry out have either disappeared or have been commercialized. And this is a way to give them something outside the duties at home and farm. The Friends of Iligh bought a lot of trinkets. At that moment lessons were finished in the trailer. Out came a group of teen girls. It quickly became evident what they had been taught: cutting and styling hair. At least three of them had sat model too and they didn't hide it. The next day I saw them again, but they still had not hidden their stylish 'coup'.