Hiya !

I am back from my holidays in Marroco. I took less pictures than usual, because I lost my camera... borrowed my husband one (being less used to it, I messed a lot of pictures), then run out of batteries in a rather desertic environnment...

Well... inch' allah. I put two of myself on commons. I need to label the other ones. One is taken in Agadir medina (a nice reconstitution awarded sustainable tourism), the other in Aglou, 80 km south of Agadir (nothing but big sand beaches, kids playing football, and women covered from head to toe), with at best a face visible, at worse, nothing really. One hotel... closed.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User%3AAnthere

Anyway, my holidays were real nice... I did not look at a computer, and made only one use of phone from a telecabine (amazingly widespread in Marroco).

Two comments related to wikipedia possibly...

First, I met a journalist from l'economist.com over there. A woman. She was actually interviewing my husband :-) So... I hope we can expand our coverage over there in the next few weeks :-)

Second, I was invited to a congress, not directly related to wikipedia, but to my professional background. This meeting is a bit special, since it is the meeting of women geoscientists in Africa. Took place in South africa once, in Uganda the second time, Marocco should be third time. Well, I met two of the organisers, shared oriental danses with them, as well as 4 nice evenings actually... and here it is.

This meeting is in great part a way of reminding that women can also be involved in research, or generally in their countries development. I could join it as my real self (and suggest a couple of good friends working on soil fertility in Africa to join as well)... but I have been thinking that a conference on "sharing knowledge", "giving power to people to educate" and similar issues... might be of interest... especially if we succeed to make a little bit of PR around that. It would be a nice mixing of people and communities... as well as great support of really truely amazing women.

I must say I was very saddened by the condition of women there... in regression compared to what it was 10 years ago... most of them veiled (which is okay), but many also quite visibly "hidden" behind the man and in huge pieces of clothes which left little possibility to move. I actually had a bad experience one evening as I was walking alone in the streets, in spite of being very much covered that day, and trying not to be noticed at all. I managed to go back to the hotel by refusing to talk/answer, keeping eyes low, trying to pretend I was with other groups... and navigating from one policeman to the next.

I must confess I found it delightful to eat only pastries at lunch... but it is unfortunate that I had to stick to pastries due to the fact a woman alone in a restaurant is just NOT an option.

Anyway... there is a lot to do there and I hope we can participate.

Anthere