The Anouar Association for Development and Solidarity has launched its campaign that aims to feed the residents of 92 villages located in secluded and remote areas in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
In line with its mission to help marginalized communities, Anouar Association has launched the White Hands Campaign during Ramadan, which primarily utilizes its resources and volunteers to distribute food to break the fast of the fasting community in the Atlas Mountains. There are approximately 92 villages in the Atlas Mountains and most of these villages are hard to access because of their distance and topography. With these limitations, it is difficult for the residents to get the food that they need during Iftar.
- 4200 families from the Atlas Mountains benefited
- 85 volunteers from the association’s affiliates
- 55 voluntary days for the success of the campaign
- 92 beneficiary villages
Atlas Mountain ranges are the high peak mountain ranges in North Africa, separating the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastline from the Sahara desert. It has fertile valleys having networks of hiking tracks and the Berber villages. Most of the time, the peaks are covered with snow which attracts tourists from all over the globe. The villages lack paved roads and the facilities like electricity and gas. People living in the region till now depend upon horses and for transportation. Most of the people cultivate the land to feed themselves. Many of them do not even get two meals a day. Organizations are working for the welfare of the people living in this remote areas.
Anouar Association :
This association is a not not-for-profit organization for the welfare of poor people, i.e., children, elders, and widows etc. These go out in search of deserving people and collect their data. The organization organizes seminars in which they educate people about the importance of food and the needs of poor people. Wealthy people make donations, and the gifts are then transferred to needy people. The organization aims to not only work in Ait Faska but to establish beaches across the whole Morocco.
The workers :
The workers in the organization do not get any pay or reward from the organization but work for the organization as volunteers. They work hard day and night for the organization and the welfare of the poor people. They have to move here and there in the hot summer, but all they get are the smiles of the hungry people when they get something to eat at the organization’s hands. So, they distributed the food to the needy families in the holy month of Ramadan.
People of Atlas Mountains :
Deep inside Morocco in the Atlas mountains in the harsh weather, there live Berber people opposing the severe weather while lacking basic facilities like electricity, paved roads, and food. People live in a state where they only have to cultivate the land and get the food out. Some of them sell those crops, but most only use that food to feed their families. Many of them can still not feed their families as they lack the proper resources to do so.
Families benefited from the Atlas Mountains by Anouar Association :
Once during the survey in the village, a volunteer saw a poor kid sitting right next to the garbage box searching for something, the volunteer passing by noticed him and watched him for a while, wondering what he was doing? After a few mins collecting something from the garbage and keeping it in his hands, he headed towards the next garbage spot. Surprisingly he did the same. This time the curiosity was at its peak. The volunteer approached him. The kid was afraid and was not saying anything to him as he thought the person was accusing him of stealing. The volunteer tried to gain his trust, but unfortunately, the communication barrier caused some known problems. At that time, he left the kid alone.
After the kid had forgotten the whole scenario, he carried on with his work, but the Anouar association’s volunteer followed him silently. After repeating the same thing on two more spots, he headed towards somewhere where he was being followed. This was nearly the time of Maghrib prayer, and the kid took all the things he took from there to his home and sat down with his two brothers and a little sister, and an old mom; the real surprise started when he opened that bag of his which he was holding, in that bag, there was some leftover food which was thrown in the garbage. The kid was collecting it all for his family to eat because they had not eaten anything from the past two days.
After watching this real-life emotional scene, the volunteer began to cry. In tears, he approached that family and gave them something he had to eat. As the language barrier was there, he could not understand what they were saying, so he left them alone for that time.
The volunteer came back to the camp where his other fellows were already present; he told them all that happened back there. They took some food and some blankets and some other helpful stuff, but the time was too late, so they waited for the morning. Meanwhile, the volunteer could not sleep and eat anything because he felt the pain of that family continuously. So on the following day, all of the team gathered around while carrying many of the helping things like food and something to drink.
When they reached that place where that family lived .As there was a translator in that team who can understand Arabic and Berber language. When he started a conversation with the family, they all begun to cry as they told them that there is no one to take care of them because their father passed away a few years back and her mother is blind; hence she was unable to do anything for her family. There is nothing in that house that they can eat, so they can pick up the waste food from the garbage and eat it for survival. The association provided them food and drinks that they can use for a few days, and they appealed to the donors for the support of this family. The association organized teachers for that family to educate them so that they can do something for themselves later on.
Conclusion :
This is the story of only one family, but many other families have not yet been discovered that live their lives by picking up the garbage and then eating that food and surviving. The association is still working hard to find out the families like this and accelerate their awareness activities about the importance of food not to waste. Still, it distributes in such a way that everyone can get a piece of it at least.