Aicha and her projects

To be able to 'get things done' for the village Aisha Aboudmiaa went into politics. She stood for election for the regional council. She got in and is now a representative. Although she works and lives in Agadir where she is a civil servant and works on her phd, she applies herself to make life in the local community better. The dusty football pitch is a visible example. In March 2018 work was on the way to upgrade the pitch to a proper sports field. In the sketch Aisha is talking to the workmen who are setting out a sports oval. Another successful undertaking was the coming of the Medical Caravan. For about a week a number of mobile medical facilities were set up in the village. People were seen to for free. The aim is that in future the Medical Caravan visits the village on a regular basis. Aisha had also asked the women of the village, what they needed most. On top came out: good quality water. The water the diesel pump brings up is barely good enough for irrigation. Because of the opening up of water as a marketable commodity, drinking water is now bottled and sold in shops and has become too expensive for most local families. Through Aicha's efforts a deep well has been sunk that brings up drinkable water for the use of the villagers. Another thing is that for the olive harvest the women have to go miles away. Aisha has planted about a hectare or more on the south side of the village with olive trees. In 2018 they stood about at 1.50 m. However the orchard has suffered from draught and theft. Year round safeguarding and maintenance has proven very expensive.

What happened at the sanctuary of Sidi Bubkr?

After lunch everybody finally went to Iligh. From Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa it is 6km to Iligh and halfway along the way in the middle of nowhere and in a bend of the road is the sanctuary of Sidi Bubkr. The Marabout is surrounded by a walled graveyard. Nobody seems to know who Sidi Bubkr was, but the Marabout marks an important land division and is mentioned in many old documents. It was also the site of a gruesome murder with far-reaching consequences. Thursday 1 December 1814 a man named Mahmud El Warari was stabbed near the Marabout ten times. His stomach was cut open and filled with stones. The assailants were send by Hashem the ruler of the House of Iligh. Like Hashem, Mahmud was a descendant of Sidi Ahmed Ou Mousa. They were related in more ways than one and they were political rivals. Their fiefdoms bordered on each other. But while Mahmud obeyed faithfully his overlord, Hashem also known as 'the Lion of the Tazerwalt'followed an independent course which got him into difficulties many times. It went so far that the fortress of Iligh was destroyed twice between 1810 and 1816 by the overlord. When Mahmud met his death he was crossing the 'border' at Sidi Bubkr while on the way to Iligh for the circumcision ceremony of the son of Hashem and the sister of Mahmud. The case came to court and there is a legal document about the case kept safe in the mosque of Toumanar although it was set afire and torn into pieces. 10 years later in 1825 the son of Mahmud wanted to retaliate a disgrace his wife had suffered when she visited Iligh for a wedding (there are 5 different versions of the same story). He shot Hashem under the famous Argan tree in the souk of Sidi Ahmed Ou Mousa during the yearly Moussem in honor of his ancestor the Sufi saint. The murder was part of both a vendetta and a long drawn out civil war. Paul Pascon gives an exhaustive description of the events in his study "La Maison d'Iligh'.

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'.

After supper in the Tiznit Hotel

In the afternoon of the first day of the 'Reunion des Amis d'Iligh' the group was taken to meet Tiznit's famous resident architect Salima Nagji. I went back to the Tiznit Hotel to take a rest in my room. Although the hotel is situated on the corner of the busiest roundabout in Tiznit I didn't hear the traffic in my room at all. The rooms of the Friends of Iligh were all situated around the landscaped and shaded court with at its centre the swimming pool. A typical three star hotel the Tiznit had an alcohol license and a bar where the local drunks and as far as I could see prostitutes gathered. Right across from the window plus balcony of my room an old gent sat during the day in the shade of a date palm. I soon discovered that he had a great view of what went on in the rooms. I slept till evening and joined the group for supper in the hotel's dining room. Of the experts who met Aisha in Leyde in October only one was in Tiznit: Herman Obdeijn. He was accompanied by his wife Louise (Wies). Poor Harry Stroomer who had wanted to come had had a minor stroke on the day before coming here. Fortunately it wasn't crippling and the prospects for recovery were good. It brought home the fact that it was 5 to 12. Harry's right hand man Mohammed Saadouni was with us. And a good thing it was. During the day there had been a lot of local luminaries that had tagged on to the group, but back at the hotel the group had thinned out considerably. Aisha, Annie and Bert were still staying at Fatima's. After supper the 5 strong delegation of the NIMAR had also gone to the rooms. Left were from left to right Paul Dahan of the Jewish Museum in Brussels, he was accompanied by his Belgian wife and 4 year old son, Herman Obdeijn, retired diplomat and Morocco specialist, Wies Obdeijn, retired medical doctor, Mohammed Saadouni and Abdallah Al Moutassir the history professor with whom Aisha was doing her phd. Paul Dahan, who cherishes his Moroccan passport, was a lively fellow who got a discussion going and who held some outspoken views that he didn't suppress. Around him it was never dull.

The preparation for the 'Reunion'

In February Bert went to Morocco for a symposium on Moroccan-Jewish history at the Jewish Museum in Casablanca. She hoped to meet Jossy Chitry from Haifa and Taroudant there a specialist in Moroccan Jewish manuscripts. She also wanted to meet Zhor Rehilhil the director of the museum again. Zhor was one of the experts interested in attending the 'Reunion' that would be held in Iligh from March 22 to 24. After the symposium she went to Agadir to meet up with Aisha. As neither Bert nor the Aboudmiaa family had any funds,the plan was to have everybody stay in Iligh. However when Bert went on to check the situation in Iligh she was in for a shock. Unexpected changes had taken place there that put in doubt if the 'Reunion' could take place at all. However she couldn't sort out the situation as she had to meet a group in Tangiers. In the drawing Bert is writing her diary in Iligh. The diary that would make up a large part of the Graphic Story.

Chapter 6 Top Guns for Iligh

The only thing that is left to reveal the secrets of Iligh and turn the tide of the deterioration of the historical archives is to get international recognition. In Chapter 6 Bert the writer of the Graphic Story and Aicha Aboudmiaa set out to mobilize the experts in the field of documents, linguistics, history, anthropology and Jewish/Moroccan relations. The family Aboudmiaa starts a society of 'Friends of Iligh'. There is plenty of interest, but everybody demands to be shown examples from the archive that is important to their particular field of interest. Moulay Imam Aboudmiaa lets be known through his daughter that he can and will deliver. This results in a 'Reunion de Amis d'Iligh' on March 22, 23 and 24 2018 in Iligh. What will happen when everybody knocks on the gate of Iligh? Will Moulay Imam Aboudmiaa open up the coffers of the archive and if he does, will it reveal what everybody hopes and even expects it to deliver? And what will the reaction of the experts be? Will they be sufficiently impressed by what they see and by the attitude of the family to offer means and money to safeguard everything for future generations? How will the story end? The drawing shows Bert Hoogervorst and Moulay Imam Aboudmiaa. Do they really understand each other or is it a Biblical confusion of tongues as the Hebrew Thora text reads in the Museum of Iligh?

Chapter 5 the gates of Iligh are opened

In Chapter 5 the gates are finally opened for writer Bert and artist Peti. On September 26 2017 they have an appointment with the father of Aisha, Moulay Imam Aboudmiaa. But from the beginning things don't really go according to plan. Although the two Dutchwomen are warmly welcomed into the bosom of the family, and have a whale of a time with Fatima and Imam, they get the 'tourist' treatment with regards to the secrets of Iligh. They return to Holland with more questions than answers. Is there written letters or texts in Arabic that tell about the visits made and deals struck with Michiel de Ruyter? Are there as many texts in Hebrew as suggested? Imam is supposed to know, but if he does, he did not communicate it with the visitors. But one thing is certain whatever the secret archives are hiding, it is in a deplorable state. Time, changing temperatures and creepy crawlies have caused havoc with the written texts and manuscripts. Will the heritage of this very special little stronghold with its rich, colorful and unique past crumble to dust and disappear into the earth and into oblivion or can the family get what they insist they want: expert help from abroad?

Chapter 4 another Dutch-Iligh connection

In Chapter 4 of 'The Tears of Iligh' Aicha introduces another connection with Holland. Aisha tells about the secret documents both in Arabic and Hebrew and both on paper and parchment and how in 1982 a Moroccan scientist Paul Pascon was allowed to look into some of the documents. He had won the trust of the family. He wrote a study about the economical history of the small realm of Iligh. To him it was special for several reasons and he wanted to come back and write more and even start digging in the ruins that surround the Casbahs. Unfortunately Paul Pascon had died in a road accident in 1985. Some people thought it suspicious how he had died. Aisha then remembered there had been Dutch among the students who had done research with Paul Pascon in Iligh. She couldn't remember their names however. Back in Amsterdam Bert was on the internet again. She found the study: La Maison d'Iligh. It was out of print. One of the names listed on the cover was Herman van der Wüsten. That sounded Dutch. He was a retired professor and so was the other Dutchman Paolo de Mas. In contrast to Van der Wüsten, Paolo de Mas had kept up an interest in Morocco. Het had been director of the Dutch Institute in Morocco and had written a book about its history with another Dutchman. In 2011 he had been back to Iligh with a TV crew. Paolo de Mas proved helpful and a source of information even though it was given in fits and bounds. It had been 25 years since any outsider had had access to the archives of the family. At last meeting Aisha again now in the company of Peti Buchel the artist of graphic stories in Agadir, she promised that her father would not only receive them, but also give them access to the archives of Iligh. There was one catch, the two had to promise to bring Iligh again under the attention of the academics. The sketch is made after a photo depicting Paolo de Mas in 1984 in the company of a then young scion of the Aboudmiaa family, Hamdi.

Chapter 3 The founder of the House of Iligh

Chapter 3 takes the reader through the first meeting of Bert Hogervorst with Aisha Aboudmiaa in Agadir. Aisha is the eldest daughter of the current 'Sant' of Iligh. She told Bert about her ancestor the Sufi saint Sidi Ahmed ou Moussa (1460-1563), her heritage and the stash of secret documents and books kept in the family's coffers. Once again back in Amsterdam Bert searches the internet for Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa. She discovers that Sidi Ahmed was a real lout in his youth. With other urchins he terrorized the neighborhood. One fateful day he met an old man struggling under the weight of a bag of figs. He feels sorry for the old man and takes over his load. The act gave such satisfaction that he decided that helping people was much more fun than pestering people. After this epiphany he took his life and religious studies seriously. From then on wondrous stories abound about his piety, courage, patriotism, travels and magical powers. Some of his travels seem copies of those of Odysseus. He also worked miracles from a distance. That way he once changed the course of history. By magic he forced the Ottoman army on its way to invade Morocco to withdraw. The result was that Morocco stayed independent and never became a tax province of the Sultan in Istanbul. After his death his scant possessions were divided among his sons. They managed to transform the symbolic-religious capital into silver. Within three generations develops the House of Iligh into an economic and political power that challenges that of the Moroccan rulers. Now that Bert and Aisha have met will the gates of Iligh finally open? The sketch is of the keeper of the sanctuary and mausoleum of Sidi Ahmed Ou Mousa.

'Friends of Iligh'

In the winter of 2017/2018 Bert Hogervorst and Aicha Aboudmiaa started to organize a 'Reunion des Amis d'Iligh' (a reunion of the friends of Iligh) that had to take place in Iligh in March 2018. The aim was to bring the experts to the 'Museum' of Aicha's father Imam Aboudmiaa. There the 'coffres' (travel boxes)with the old and secret documents of the family would open and the content be revealed. Or at least that was the intention. The experts could then assess the state the documents were in, the level of deterioration, the language in which they were written and the identity of the writers. Or at least they would get a general idea to be able to judge the next steps. Aicha and Bert worked very hard to get an impressive list of participants together. But they ran into a couple of problems. The most important being: where to put up the guests? A stay in Iligh was not an option and the organizers had no funds to spent on accommodation. Aicha decided to make it political: the importance of Amazigh heritage as a tool to battle Islamist radicalism. Bert and Aicha set out to make the 'Reunion d'Amis d'Iligh' the responsibility of the Governor of the Province of Tiznit.

Aicha on the move

Aicha was still in Amsterdam when I left for Ireland. But before I left she cooked up a storm in Bert's kitchen. She made a wonderful Tagine. She did her mother Fatima proud. After ten days in Amsterdam Aicha left for Paris to visit her sisters. By that time her luggage had grown to such proportions that Bert decided to rent a car and drive her to Paris. In the meantime they had made contact with Paul Dahan of the Jewish Museum in Brussels and he wanted to meet them. Paul Dahan is a Jewish Moroccan living in Belgium and specialized in documents in Hebrew and documents related to Jewish history. On the way to Paris they made a stop at the Jewish Museum to meet him. For the occasion Paul Dahan also made a Skype contact with another expert on Moroccan Jewish history a retired professor of Haifa university who was born in Taroudant. All things considered Aicha's visit to Amsterdam and Brussels proved very useful. In Paris Bert received a very warm welcome from Aicha's sisters.

Aicha meeting the Polranny Pirates

In Amsterdam Aicha was kindly taken in by Polranny Pirate Coby Prins and her husband Tom who live on a romantic canal called 'De Teertuinen' (The Tarring Yards). Riny Meyer, president of the Polranny Pirates also wanted to meet and greet Aicha. That happened in 'Broodje Mokum'(Mokum is the Jiddisch word for Amsterdam and 'Broodje' means bun) on the Rozengracht as seen in the sketch. Riny has occasionally privately sponsored Bert's and mine Iligh adventures and Graphic Novel aspirations. I don't know how Aicha liked Amsterdam. It must have been a change from Agadir where she usually lives as it rained most of the time. She did a lot of traveling by tram between Coby's home and Bert's home and there was a lot of walking to do as she also visited the Ten Kate street market, the Jewish Museum and the Prince Claus Foundation. But I think the most important thing for her in Amsterdam was the 'Primark', the cheap clothes and home accessories store on the Damrak. She had to buy extra suitcases to accommodate all the stuff she bought for herself, her mother, brother's family and her sisters.

Aicha meeting the Dutch experts

Aicha Aboudmiaa met the experts on Iligh, the history of Morocco, the Tashelhyt language and the former students of Paul Pascon in Leyden University. She gave a talk on the history and heritage of Iligh, the family's documents and the need to have them preserved. Her presentation was very well received. The gentlemen, most of whom were retired from active work reacted positive to her invitation to come for a reunion to Iligh. Paolo de Mas and Herman van der Wüsten were with Paul Pascon in Iligh in the early eighties. Herman who became Professor Social Geography at UvA, Amsterdam University admitted that after his adventure in Iligh never did research on Morocco since. Paolo de Mas on the other hand became director of the Dutch Institute in Rabat and had visited Iligh with a TV crew as recent as 2011. He also wrote a book about the history of Morocco with Herman Obdeyn. Herman Obdeyn a retired diplomat still publishes about Morocco. He also was friends with the Moroccan scientist who died in the car crash with Paul Pascon in 1985. Recently he wrote a history book about 400 years relationships between the Netherlands and Morocco together with Morocco Dutch publicist Abdelkader Benali. Harry Stromer also retired is an expert on the Tashelhyt language that is spoke in the region of Iligh and has published and impressive library full of literature in the language and in translation. His life's work is a dictionary and grammar of Tashelhyt. He took us after the meeting to his home to view his work. On the way back to Amsterdam we were very conscious of the pressure of time as people with knowledge are getting very old and the state the documents are in is deteriorating.

Aicha Aboudmiaa comes to Amsterdam

In the last week of September and the first week of October 2017 Bert Hogervorst and me were in Iligh on reconnaissance. There we met with Moulay Imam Aboudmiaa and his wife Fatima and got to get to know their daughter Aicha better. I came back to Amsterdam before Bert after having spent another week in Tangiers and started immediately on the graphic novel about Iligh. Bert had kept a diary while in Iligh and I used this diary as scenario. Bert in the meantime contacted everybody who in the past had had something to do with Iligh. And although she stayed in Morocco till the end of October and almost immediately moved to the Orkney Islands afterwards, she did manage to get positive responses from everyone. Especially Paolo de Mas who had been to Iligh in company of Paul Pascon proved to be of great help. Aicha Aboudmiaa was coming to Europe to visit her sisters in Paris. Bert convinced her to come to Amsterdam too to meet the men who had an interest in her heritage. She landed on November 22th. Bert had set up a meeting in the library/hall of the University in Leyden on the 24th. Aicha wanted to give a presentation. That had to be prepared beforehand on Bertje's Apple laptop that Aicha also had to learn to use. It were a hectic and intense few days of preparation.

Plan B

On the plane from Amsterdam to Agadir we discussed Plan B although the day before our departure Bert had had contact with Aicha. Her message was: my Dad is looking forward seeing you and be waiting for you on the 27th. Still Bert had stood at a closed door too often to be absolutely sure. If things didn't pan out at least we would have ten days to spent in Southern Morocco. We had a rented car and could go anywhere. We could laze on the beach. We could go further south to TanTan. Drive along the south side of the Anti Atlas. See the western part of the Draa Valley. Discover areas we both hadn't visited before. We could 'do' the surrounding country of Iligh. I could draw everything but the inside of the stronghold. Plan B almost looked better than Plan A. Because what was Plan A? Aicha wanted two things: the preservation of the old manuscripts and making Iligh known to the world. Bert was curious. Bert wanted to know what was in there. Was it really what Aicha had suggested it was? And in how bad a state was it in? That was her main motive. Me, on the other hand, I wanted to make sketches that I could turn into a graphic novel. The first I would make in 25 years. The plane circled over the agricultural lands of the plain of the Souss river. We had arrived! When we stepped outside onto the tarmac we were overwhelmed by that deliciously heady smell of warm, slightly damp air, Ozon and exhaust fumes. It reminded me in a good way of Ahwaz, Iran where I had lived and worked. It felt like a good omen. Everything would be wonderful. Whatever!

Doubt is creeping in

In the two months between booking the plane tickets and hiring a car for our trip to Iligh and actually traveling doubt started to creep in. At least with me. Bert and I rarely spoke. I was busy in Polranny, Ireland and she was busy in Amsterdam. I knew she tried a couple of times without success to get Aicha on the phone or by Messenger. We knew already that she had been ill for quite a while in the winter. But what was ailing her we didn't know. What were we going to find when we stood at the door in Iligh? It was all one big uncertainty. Letterlijk & Figuurlijk the book by Joost Pollmann about the different forms a graphic story could take had had a profound influence on me. Did it still make sense to draw a straightforward historical story set into the traditional framework? I had visions of me researching endlessly the original props surrounding Michiel De Ruyter on his trips to Iligh. And how about the detailing of the court of Aboudmiaa? It would take years for the graphic story to get finished. On top of that I always had said myself that a 'historical' movie said more about the time it was made in than the time it was supposed to be in. Wouldn't it be the same for a graphic history? And what about making an entire graphic novel on the computer instead of on paper? Was Photoshop really the right software for it or did I have to resort to Illustrator or Indesign? Did I have to take a subscription out for the software and do a course in how to use it? Did I really want to spend time and money on those things? When Bert and I got together again three weeks before the departure we didn't know anything anymore. Wasn't the whole rigmarole surrounding our involvement with Iligh a story in itself?

Bert's first visit to Iligh

At the end of 2014 Bert is in Amsterdam planning the itinerary for the next group she'll be taking to Morocco. She writes: 'I'm looking for interesting places to visit between Tafroute and Agadir. The name Tazerwalt pops up and on a photo on the internet I see for the first time the thrilling architecture of the stronghold of Iligh. There are also references of more Jews that move from Ifrane this time to Iligh. Surprise, surprise: in connection with Iligh the name of a seventeenth century Dutch admiral of the fleet Michiel De Ruyter is mentioned in a book about Morocco in Dutch I've just bought written by De Mas and Obdeijn. According to them Iligh is in that same century destroyed with the loss of everything. Obviously a new Iligh has arisen because when I visit Iligh in March 2015 the stronghold is there. Nobody home. It is Friday afternoon. Everything seems asleep. A village woman whom I speak to mentioned a name in connection with the stronghold: Aboudmiaa. Apparently he is not here but in Tiznit. In the Summer of 2015 I discover articles about the region Iligh is in: Tazerwalt or Tazeroualt. A second name pops up Paul Pascon a Moroccon researcher. He has written a book called 'Maison D'Iligh'. But I can't find the book anywhere. But 'Maison d'Iligh' does have a Facebook page. I contact the name attached: Aicha Aboudmiaa. We set a date to meet during my next trip with a group. But when we arrive the door stays closed. Eventually I meet Aicha in the Oases Tulip Hotel in Agadir.'

Meeting Aicha Aboudamiaa in Agadir

On the last day of October 2016 Bert Hogervorst and I met up with Aicha Aboudamiaa in the Ibis Hotel in Agadir where we were staying prior to our flight back to Amsterdam. Bert and Aicha welcomed each other as old friends. It was the first time I met Aicha. Still Bert didn't know much about her. She is a daughter of Imam Aboudamiaa the descendant of the first ruler of Iligh: Ali Aboudamiaa. Bert had told me that the name in Arabic meant literally 'Father of Tears'. One could only speculate what it stood for. Aisha didn't have the answer there on that day in Agadir. Aisha told us that her father wanted to get international interest in Iligh and its history. Aisha was supposed to do that, but she has a full-time job in Agadir and not the time nor the connection. Could we help? I thought: I don't think so! Bert told her about our visit to the Jewish museum in Casablanca and our talk with Zhor Rehilhil director of the museum. Bert told Aicha that she should get in touch with Zhor. The museum is very well endowed and Iligh obviously isn't. But Zhor wants proof of the many documents in Hebrew that are supposedly in Iligh. Aisha tells us that her father doesn't want any of the documents to leave Iligh not even for preservation and documentation purposes. He has been in contact with the government minister in charge with the national heritage. He is afraid that once the historical papers are in Rabat, he will never get them back. Her father wants to get the international focus on Iligh in the hope that that way enough money will be generated to get the documents saved without interference from up high. After excuses that nobody had been in Iligh to open the door for us when we were there, I showed Aicha the drawings I had made there. The one of the Zaouia and the two in the part of the stronghold that is open to the public. She likes them very much and asked point blank if I want to come back a.s.a.p. and make more drawings.

Discoverings about Iligh

The Graphic Story about 'Maison d'Iligh' and its history got as provisonal title: The Tears of Iligh. Bert started on the research more or less right away. Earlier she had discovered that two names kept popping up: the Dutch 17th century admiral Michiel Adriaanzoon De Ruyter and the French Moroccan social-geologist Paul Pascon. Paul Pascon had written extensively about Maison d'Iligh. But the book wasn't in print nor was it second hand available. Aicha Aboudmiaa told Bert in Agadir that among the participants of the research project of Paul Pascon was a Dutchman, but she had forgotten his name. Then Bert finds in a footnote somewhere on the Internet that the co-writer of Pascon's book on Iligh H. Van der Wüsten was. With a name like that he must be the Dutchman. She contacts him. He is pleasantly surprised and send her immediately a copy of 'La Maison d'Iligh'. For a learned non-fiction book it was riveting reading. Herman van der Wüsten also gives Bert the name of another Dutchman who was part of the group that helped Paul Pascon: Paolo De Mas. De Mas was also co-author of a history book about Morocco. Bert also contacted him, but he didn't seem to have reacted to her email. In July 2017 Bert and I contacted Aicha. Yes, her father would be glad to see us. We booked our next trip to Iligh for September 26 to October 6.