Interview with Sara Saba
Sara Saba in an American intern at Dar Si Hmad working with
the RISE Program and curriculum translation.
Interview conducted on 13 March 2018.
What is your name and how old are you?
My name is Sara Saba and I am 18 years old.
Where are you from?
I am from Tucson, Arizona in the United States.
How long will you be in Agadir?
I’ve been in Agadir for about two and a half weeks, and I will be
here for another four weeks.
Where do you currently go to school?
I am currently a senior [final year] at BASIS Tucson North High
School in Tucson.
What brought you to Agadir/ DSH?
My high school has an opportunity for seniors to pursue an independent
research project or internship during their final trimester of school. Most
students do their projects domestically, but I knew I wanted to do
something abroad if I could find the right opportunity. I knew that I
wouldn’t necessarily have this time again to pursue any type of project/
internship that I wanted, so I had to make the most of it. I heard about
Dar Si Hmad through a family member, and the organization caught my
interest because of its mission and values. The combination of environmental
work and giving back to the community [through programs like RISE and the
Oasis School] was very interesting and inspiring to me. I was drawn to Dar
Si Hmad as a result of its many approaches to provide different types of aid
to this community. Thankfully, it worked out so that I could travel abroad for
my final trimester and intern at a place I’m really interested in.
Describe your role at DSH.
I’ve been helping with the curriculum design and facilitation of the new RISE
program this semester with Georgia, Alex, Natalie, Maisie, Hafida and Ayman.
In addition, I’m going to be helping Soufian and Karima with translation of the
Oasis School curriculum from French into English. I am also pursuing an
independent project to understand the experiences of young people in Morocco
and the issues they face, which directly ties into this semester RISE. I’ll be
creating a video interview series to achieve this, and I hope to involve our
current RISErs.
What is your favorite part about coming to DSH?
Dandara is definitely one of my favorite parts about coming into Dar
Si Hmad. She is so adorable, and I love it when she plays with me or
naps on my backpack while I’m working. It’s also been really exciting
to get to know all of the DSH staff and interns as well as all of the RISE
participants. I’ve really enjoyed all of these new experiences meeting
people who have grown up in a place so different from me and to see
so many similarities in regards to our ideas, passions, challenges and interests.
What are you hoping to achieve during your time here?
I would really like to work on understanding other people’s perspectives,
especially the RISE students’, and to learn more about my own perspectives
as an American. I hope to obtain a better sense of where people’s perspectives,
ideas and thoughts stem from as a result of the environment they’ve grown
up in.
What is one thing you’d like everyone to know about DSH?
Don’t discount organizations based on their size. Even though Dar Si Hmad
is such a small organization, they have made such a large impact with their
work, and they possess so much potential. The people and projects here
are truly impressive and inspiring.
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