El Baraka Angels - Making a Difference

Moroccans are renowned for their generosity of spirit and nothing exemplifies it more than an organisation called El Baraka Angels

Since its creation in 2003 El Baraka Angels has provided assistance to more than 8000 families with seven food distribution caravans, two medical caravans , school renovations, circumcision campaigns, summer camps and programmes of cultural and artistic activities.

This year is the third consecutive year, El Baraka Angels have organise special winter caravans to support rural populations living in isolated mountain areas. This year they have broadened its reach to include the Province of Azilal following an early and unseasonal plunge in temperatures.

This week twenty-five members El Baraka Angels began their eighth food distribution caravan in the mountainous villages of the Province of Azilal, with a load of almost 40 tons of gifts and winter necessities.

The inhabitants of the rural town of Zaouiat Ahensal,  one of the poorest areas and most isolated of the province, will welcome this caravan which will allow 750 families to receive packages to tide them over the extreme cold period until the milder weather returns.

The packages include 42 kg of basic food and non-perishables, blankets and warm clothing for adults and children.

"In towns in the rural areas, the mobilisation of civil society in times of extreme cold is essential. For us, besides being an important support for these families, these caravans allow us to study the field and identify new enclaves for our projects supporting education, school renovation, medical caravans and very soon also income generation, projects" - Selwa Zine, President of the El Baraka Angels Association.

In 2016 the association is preparing for a renovation project that will improve fifteen schools in mountainous rural areas. It has already completed six school renovations and another is underway in the rural commune of Dayet Aoua.

After completing the first trip this week, members and volunteers of El Baraka Angels will take a second caravan in less than a fortnight, this time towards the Ifrane Province for the benefit of another 750 other families located there that they have been assisting for the past three years. The association intends to conduct sustainable and lasting support actions for the populations in the hundreds of mountain villages that make up the province.

The High Atlas and Middle Atlas regions have been the scene of tragedies in the past caused by the extreme cold.  In 2006 reports described the death of over thirty people including eight children.  At the time the deaths angered local inhabitants who began a march to raise awareness of  the living conditions in these villages.  The following year there were reports of the deaths of thirty people including four women and twenty-six babies.

A child in Anfgou

In December 2012, social networks, national and international media focused on the death of an infant in Anfgou, a landlocked village in the Middle Atlas, where temperatures dropped to -16 Celsius.

Following the death in Anfgou there was a national reaction with in-kind donations valued at more than more 600 000 Dirhams (60,000 USD) collected and then sent to the region.

To support the actions of the El Baraka Association you can make a donation by cheque or bank transfer:
Account name: El Baraka Angels
Account Number: 007 810 24 0001055000000210
Swift Code International BCMAMAMC
Agency Attijari Wafabank, Avenu de France, Rabat

"Death will always have to keep you company, ease your suffering by collecting the souls exhausted by time and winds of winter..." -  Hassan Oumada

SHARE THIS!

High Atlas Autumn - Photo Essay

Spectacular scenery is enhanced by the warm hues of autumn in Morocco's High Atlas mountain region. The View From Fez stayed at the Douar Samra guesthouse in the tiny Amazigh (Berber) village of Tamertert. As well as warm fires and hearty and delicious meals, the views from the terrace were extraordinary. It's an ideal base to explore Toubkal National Park by vehicle, by mule or on foot 

View from Douar Samra guesthouse in Tamertert

Autumn colours fill the valley near Imlil 

A shepherdess tends her small flock

Access to many villages is limited to 4 x 4 vehicle, mule or walkers

Morocco's highest peak, Mt Toubkal

Douar Samra guesthouse in Tamertert offers local hospitality

The main house at Douar Samra is lit only by candles

One of the garden rooms at Douar Samra

Rachida is the house manager and cook Douar Samra guesthouse

To see more information about Dour Samra guesthouse, please CLICK HERE. 

Photographs: Suzanna Clarke

SHARE THIS!

High Atlas Rescue Mission

Moroccans have rallied to support villagers in the High Atlas Mountains. Several tons of food and hundreds of mattresses and blankets were distributed this weekend to villagers in remote mountain villages

Calls were launched in recent weeks via social networks from people moved by the situation of these people and information referring to the death of a number of infants.

The response has been positive and "six truckloads of mattresses, blankets and food" have been distributed since Friday "to 2,000 families living in 10 villages, including that of Anfgou" said Elmahdi Benabdeljalil spokesman for a group composed of sixty concerned Moroccan citizens.

Children in impoverished conditions in the Atlas Mountains

At 1600 meters, Anfgou (400 km south of Rabat) is located in one of the coldest regions of Morocco. In December, a month and a half old baby perished, a victim of the cold and lack of infrastructure. The death brought to five the number of young children who died in similar circumstances, according to local media.

"More than 20 tons of food and hundreds of blankets were distributed to the inhabitants of different villages," said Mr. Benabdeljalil. "With the help of simple people and some families, we were able to collect more than 350,000 dirhams (32,000 euros). One person gave 100,000 dirhams (9,000 euros). I can say that the operation was successful. "

He said he was pleasantly surprised by the cooperation of local authorities who provided all the logistical support for the success of this operation.

The High Atlas region suffers from isolation and a lack of infrastructure and many roads are impassable in winter. Residents complain about having to transport essential goods on donkeys and icy roads.

On Friday, Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch, acknowledged that "there is still a gap between urban and mountainous areas. It is in this sense that the Directorate for Rural Development and mountainous areas was created to coordinate and develop projects for the development of rural and mountainous regions," he pointed out.

SHARE THIS!

A Day Without Cars in Marrakech

It may be difficult to imagine Marrakech becoming as famous a bike city as Copenhagen or Amsterdam, but that’s the aim of Mike McHugo, one of the organisers of ‘A Day Without Cars’, a ten kilometre bike ride around the Red City, which will be held on April 1^st – and he insists it’s not an April Fool’s joke!

It may be difficult to imagine Marrakech becoming as famous a bike city as Copenhagen or Amsterdam, but that’s the aim of Mike McHugo, one of the organisers of ‘A Day Without Cars’, a ten kilometre bike ride around the Red City, which will be held on April 1st – and he insists it’s not an April Fool’s joke!

“Marrakech is completely flat and we’ve got wonderful weather; what more could a cyclist want?’ he said, and while he admitted with a smile that some bike owners are nervous about the hectic driving in the city, on this occasion they will have police escorts for complete safety.

“It would be great to think that people would come here for holidays and see it as a cycling destination, but this particular day is mainly to get people who live in Marrakech out on their bikes for a bit of fun and exercise, although it would be fantastic for people visiting the city to join in and see a side of it they wouldn’t normally see.”

Any old bike will do, but Argan Xtreme Sports, a specialist bike hire and sales shop that opened recently in Marrakech, will be lending sixty of their bikes to riders who have no bike of their own. As well as cycling being great exercise, Saif Kovach, owner of Argan Extreme Sports also sees the Day Without Cars as a way of publicising pollution problems in the city.

“We can’t ignore the fact that pollution from cars is a major problem worldwide, and the more we can get people using bikes on a regular basis the better it will be for everyone. A couple of hundred people making a ten kilometre bike ride may not seem much, but it’s a beginning, and the more people see others on bikes the more they use bikes themselves, which over times raises awareness with local authorities, who begin to provide services for cyclists. It’s slow going, but it’s a start.”

McHugo in one of the organisers of the Education For All annual fundraising bike ride, which starts on the last day of March each year, and this year his group of riders will be seen in their cycle kit in the colours of the Moroccan flag on the Day Without Cars bike ride, before they set off for the tough tracks of the High Atlas Mountains.

“We’re going to bring a group of girls into the city from one of the boarding houses so they can join us on the ride. It will be a wonderful day out for them, and help us publicise the work of Education For All.”


The Day Without Cars bike ride takes place 09.30 on Sunday 1 April, beginning at Place 16 Novebre, Guéliz, Marrakech. More information HERE. Contact Argan ExtremeSports to enquire about borrowing a bike for the event.
To find out more about Education For All and the fundraising bike ride in the High Atlas Mountains that begins on 29th March, visit the EFA website.