Omar

His family was struggling financially, so as the oldest boy, it became his responsibility to help contribute. He dropped out of school at age 14 to begin working in tourism, but can speak German, French, Arabic, Spanish, English and Berber. When asked where he learned so much, he just says, "the school of life." Not having considered renting a vehicle, I left my driver's license at home, so we hired Omar to drive us on a 4-day adventure through southern Morocco. We bonded quickly and deeply. I was surprised to find myself very emotional when I said goodbye to him.

He's an adventurous guy with a really kind heart and a deep love for dance and music. The 400 km drives seemed minuscule thanks to Omar's sweet collection of music and contagious dance moves. We were passing through some of the most remote areas of the country and were thus exposed to some of the most extreme poverty. When Omar stopped at a small grocery to buy a large bag of penny candy, I thought he needed some munchies to stay awake. But, as we drove through these mountain villages where kids play with rocks and discarded tires, he began distributing the goodies freely. The children's faces held looks of fear, then surprise, then complete joy, all for a small lump of colored sugar.

The children assume we're French and repeat "bonjour" over and over and over as it's obviously the only word they know. It seems to function much like the "F" word does in some persons' English vocabularies; they use it as every part of speech. It quickly became an inside joke for us and throughout the trip we could be found having whole conversations only using "bonjour."

Omar is also an African drummer in various bands. Every night we spent together was full of energetic drum sessions before bed. He also made the trip much less painful on the pocketbook as he has an incredible ability to haggle prices on everything from hotels to souvenirs to food at grocery stores.

Omar's planning a year-long walk through the African continent sometime within the next 5 years. I'm seriously considering joining him. I know it would be completely bonjour.