Today I did something that I have wanted to do for a long time, and not just in Morocco. I visited a homeless shelter for children. Today I visited Atfalouna in Marrakech.
Atfalouna literally means 'Our children' in Arabic. This centre is rightly named. Atfalouna caters to about 240 children in the Marrakech area. It is a small not for profit organisation that relies on people to feed, educate, vaccinate and bath children of all shapes and sizes.
There are two 'houses' in Marrakech. They sleep eight and twelve children respectively. The 'boys' house sleeps eight and the 'girls' house sleeps twelve, for now. The rest of the children that make up the 240 are still at home but often come to the facility to receive food, some sort of education and basic human necessities. During the day the boys and girls are free to come and go as they please between the two centres but when it comes time to turn out the lights they are separated.
Today, myself and two colleagues met with two workers at the centre. It was obvious that they needed money to keep the centre up and running or donations of food to keep stomachs partially full.
Upon taking a tour of the centre we found that they had an intervention room for children and their families as the ultimate aim of the centre is to re integrate them with their families when possible. They use 'educators' to facilitate this process but when they are not available they do it themselves.
They have a storage room for food and rely on donations from supermarkets such as Marjane to help fill their basic shelves. When asked what they needed most, both of them replied simultaniously meat, chicken and fresh fruit and vegetables. The children do not eat meat everyday here, and meat is one of the staple foods in any Moroccan household.
The centre of the house has a few tables and chairs which the children can sit around and socialise. At either side of the room are bunk beds to accomodate those kids that do not have a home to go to when the sun has set, their belly's are full and it is time to sleep. The house is cold especially at this time of year in Marrakech and they are provided with one blanket, a pillow and a sheet.
On our tour we met Lalla Aisha, a round woman with a cheerful face. We were told that she is the mother of the children and by the looks of her probably a pretty good cook also. The children enjoy cous cous every Friday and we were invited to come in and share a meal with the children whenever we wanted.
They have a small room with four computers that were donated by a spanish association and an even smaller classroom that seats up to 8 children. I took one look at the facilities in that room and had an instant appreciation for my whiteboard, even if it isn't magnetic. Rickety tables and chairs with a few tattered books piled in the corner and an ancient chalkboard that left me wondering if it had ever worked before.
There is a small library there too and the books look pretty much untouched. The centre is hoping to get more CD ROMS to use with their for computers.
We journeyed up to the terrace, where once again there were tables set out. Today, there was a British organisation that visits the shelter every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. There was an explosion of colour with everything from fluro pipe cleaners to an array of Crayola colouring pencils. The kids were enjoying the sunshine and chatting between themselves without an apparent care in the world. If only that were true.
Atfalouna have a vision. It is to identify the children that need them, orientate them with the centre and show them that they do have an option away from the streets of Marrakech. They focus on educating the children and assisting the children to develop skills that may see them gaining employment. The other vision is that they work with the children and try to integrate them back into their family environment. However, if needed the door is always open to them, even if it is a place to come and spend a few hours of the day.
Before I visited the shelter I read an article about what causes a child to find themselves on the street in Morocco in the first place. There could be a variety of reasons, for example, bad relationships, abuse and so on. I read one boys story that struck me and saddened me in the few paragraphs this article had dedicated to him and his story.
This young teenager left home because he did not want to burden his mother any longer. He saw her trying to fill the mouths of five siblings and decided to sacrifice his 'seat at the table' for the rest of his family. He left home and now lives on the street. He has a job with a fruit and veg seller that makes him a little money. He visits his family once a week but does not stay. He stays enough time to give his mother what he has made that week. After that he returns to the street.
There are so many stories like that and not enough shelters to house these children. That is when you find they turn to cheap drugs and bad habits, sniffing glue probably being the most prominent in Morocco.
Hamdullah, Atfalouna is taking the time to try and help these children and their families out.
