My husband, Sam, and I met Najia through a random email in September 2016 announcing a need for housing for a “female Fulbright graduate student from Morocco”. We were brand new ‘empty nesters’ at the time with two children in college and were intrigued by the opportunity to fill our nest and offer housing and a home to a student from a culture so different than our own.
Upon meeting Najia, we quickly began to share and learn from one another. She had never been to the United States or traveled outside of Northern Africa. Being from a family of 9 children raised by her mother, aunt and uncle in the Islamic tradition, and having many siblings already married with children, it was clear that Najia’s heart and mind were centered on her family and faith. With that in mind, upon arrival in our home, the first thing we did was to find the East so that Najia could orient her prayer mat towards Mecca. During the six months Najia lived with us, we had many in-depth conversations about Islamic traditions (often as compared with Moroccan cultural tradition), the Quran (and what exactly she prayed about 5–6 times per day), about how she feels as a Muslim women traveling in America, and about Islamic holidays and weddings. She also taught us a great deal about Morocco. She is a wonderful cook and made splendid feasts of tajine and couscous almost on a weekly basis.
At the same time, we were able to share American culture with her. We took Najia on adventures to central Illinois (University of Illinois), to Chicago, and to my extended family’s holiday celebration. We enjoyed our traditional Thanksgiving feast and all of our birthdays together. Najia got familiar with our two children and began to formalize our family feeling calling us her ‘American family’. Not only was she open to all of these experiences, she embraced our family’s culture of winter sport. Incredibly, Najia learned to ice skate after only a couple falls and bruises and she ran a 5k Turkey Trot race on Thanksgiving! She even tried cross-country skiing and made it a usual practice to go to the university gym for Zumba. I remember spending several evenings laughing with Najia about how she goes all in with her workouts — sore muscles and all.
Beyond our relationship, Najia made a huge impact on our neighborhood community. We are fortunate to have a very supportive and close community surrounding our local, across-the-street café where we share Sunday morning coffee and monthly dinners. Najia was completely embraced by this group of families. After many gatherings, participating in the ‘Women’s March on Madison’, dressing up for Halloween, and participating in our annual Solstice party, Najia became more than a visitor but a member of the community. Najia began spending time with some of these families and their children on her own. I know how much our community loved having Najia here as evidenced by their outpouring of support and kindness at her going away party in March 2016.
The Fulbright program provided a truly life changing opportunity and experience for Najia, for myself and my family, and our entire community. Najia expanded our understanding and perspective on Morocco, the Amazigh (also known as Berbers), Arab and Muslim culture in Morocco, and about life, family, and religion in the small village Najia is from. Najia experienced an immersion in American life including food, friends, holidays, and shopping (!) She made good progress on her dissertation research, generated an academic network as well as a network of friends and her ‘American family’. We are very grateful for this rich exchange.
Janet lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where she hosted Najia, a Moroccan Fulbright joint supervision student working on her graduate dissertation.
