Badr Allouche

B.A. – University of Ibn Tofail, Kenitra, Morocco: English Literature, Feminism and Mainstream Media
Business Degree – Applicable Technologies Institute of Khemisset, Morocco

Badr was Born in Sale, the city across the river from the capital of Morocco. He was raised all over the country due to the nature of his father’s job as a military man. Before joining Where There Be Dragons, Badr was a Language and Cross-Cultural Facilitator for Peace Corps Morocco. He worked with Peace Corps for five years, enhancing his knowledge about Americans and American culture; this is also where he met his wife Elizabeth in 2014. Badr is a leader and a volunteer in his community, working to help break the cycle of poverty through empowering youth and women in collaboration with local associations and partners.

Living in Morocco and working with people from different backgrounds opened Badr’s eyes about his own culture, and it encouraged him to be an advocate for tolerance and positive dialogue between his community and foreigners who came to be part of the diversity that makes Morocco a welcoming place. His curiosity leads him to search into his own culture and look for the attributes and idiosyncrasies that form the Moroccan spoken language and separate it from Modern Standard Arabic. His passion project has been working on a textbook for Moroccan Arabic. He seeks to inspire more people to learn about his culture through the book because he believes that language is the key to understanding a country’s people.

Badr is also a teacher, life skills trainer, and an American football coach. He enjoys physical activities and being outdoors. His hobbies include cooking, drawing, teaching himself the guitar, tinkering with broken electronics, and traveling with his wife. For Badr, working with Dragons is the perfect opportunity to build a bridge between local communities and American students who come to learn about them. He believes that through open dialogue and cultural exchange, we can create a capacity for understanding and tolerance to build a better tomorrow.