Projects

Projects

“Beyondlimit” in Morocco

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The very first time my mother and I visited relatives in Morocco (2015), it became clear to me that Morocco is in desperate need of educational support, greater ecological awareness, and measures promoting the education and integration of children into Moroccan society. Numerous initiatives undertaken by the royal family have improved Morocco’s situation dramatically over the last ten years. In order to guarantee successful, sustainable development, the royal family frequently and gladly cooperates with international aid organisations that are able to promote the country’s growth.

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By participating in “Aïcha des Gazelles”, Beyondlimit laid the foundations for its social activities in Morocco. As already explained in our motivation for taking part in the rally, the situation of women in Morocco is particularly close to the hearts of everyone in my organisation. Women are the key to sustainable change when dealing with social problems, as women’s fate is closely associated with that of their children – who in turn are the future of every country.

After the rally, I spent months looking for a suitable project which our organisation could support. Certain aspects were particularly important to me during the search: the project had to focus on providing support for Moroccan women in keeping with the principle “helping people help themselves” – meaning that these women could better themselves by getting an education and, in the long term, would be able to manage without direct aid from any institution. I also wanted the institution or project to be already established in Morocco and to have been initiated or supported/funded by the royal family, meaning that it would already be recognised by the authorities. This is particularly important, as cooperation with an established organisation ensures that help can be provided more quickly and effectively than when working with a new organisation which has to start from scratch.

DSC_9024After a lengthy preparation phase, Stefanie Hopfner, the DSC_9097secretary of Beyondlimit, and I continued the search by embarking on a journey to Agadir and Taroundant to assess the situation in the light of all these thoughts and considerations.
With the help of a local organisation, we spent one week visiting families in difficult circumstances in and around Taroundant, observed the daily (Monday to Sunday) childcare provided for children whose mothers were currently undergoing training, and were consequently able to gain an extremely detailed impression of where help is needed and how it could be provided. We had the opportunity to talk to the women and children directly and hear their stories. Many of their narratives were very sad and affected us profoundly, encouraging us even further in our endeavours to help.

We are currently in the process of deciding which organisation we shall support, bearing in mind that it must be in keeping with our ideal of helping the women and children in Morocco help themselves.

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