A report on the trip to Dakhla and Guerguerat

Otmane BOUTGLIMT

My name is Otmane BOUTGLIMT, a second-year baccalaureate student at Gustave Eiffel school in Meknes, Morocco. During the last one-week holiday, I had the chance to be one of the participants in a trip organized 
by my school on the occasion of the Green March and the Independence Day. Along with celebrating these special events on a dear land of ours, the aim was also to discover our Moroccan Sahara, specifically the region of Dakhla and Guerguerat on the Mauritania borders. The trip was efficiently supervised by Mrs. Naima Benfaida, the founder of the school, Mrs. Loubna Bouanani, the school director, and Mrs. Lalla Meryem Alaoui, one of our distinguished teachers.

Our memorable journey started from Meknes to Casablanca, from which we flew towards our beloved destination. During this five-day stay, we settled in a very comfortable hotel in Dakhla. We visited certain landmarks such as "La Dune Blanche" (the white dune), one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. Besides, we have done many fun activities, getting rid of the burden and stress of classes and studies as we spent a pleasant and joyful time together. However, the most touching moment in our trip was when our feet stepped on Guerguerat on the Mauritanian borders carrying the Moroccan flags and proudly singing our national anthem. There, we seized the opportunity to sincerely thank His Majesty King Mohamed VI and the Moroccan army for liberating this area. As we were walking there, our sense of belonging kept spontaneously
blossoming. The pride and patriotism of the moment were beyond to compare.

The benefits of the trip were too many to count. Along with the academic, cultural and citizenship gains, we learned many "life lessons", as Mrs. Lalla Meryem called them, especially while staying together in the hotel. We learned from some mistakes we made. This will surely help us improve ourselves, our personalities and our way of thinking. We learned how to take things more seriously as we had to be responsible, doing our best to be up to the task and the event.