American in Morocco recalls apartment shaking, community response

Author TaNesha Barnes said last night’s earthquake was like nothing else she had ever felt. The walls of the American’s Marrakech area apartment complex came alive and shook throughout what she described as an achingly long-term temblor.

Afterward neighbors, all physically unharmed, gathered outside, and pretty much stayed there amid frightening aftershocks. Barnes said the community she now calls home has been a rock for those who need help recovering from the temblor. “People are stocking up to help other people,” she said in a Zoom interview last night.

“There’s a sense of love, prayer and sharing,” said Barnes, the CEO of Mwasi Creative Community, which aims to help Black Americans heal from traumatic and often racist and discriminatory experiences through retreats in Morocco.

The city of Marrakech was alighted by entire neighborhoods moving outdoors in the wake of Friday’s quake. The response has only strengthened her resolve that it is the place for her healing community

“We stayed outside,” Barnes said. “All of our Moroccan friends called as if we were family to make sure we were OK.”