Newsletter 1  

Marokko 

Two weeks in Morocco At the beginning of November 2023, Eluna and I left for Morocco to provide aid to the victims of the earthquake that had occurred two months earlier. We had joined HAF, the High Atlas Foundation. They provided practical assistance in the affected area and we could help with that.

We stayed in Marrakech and during the first few days we had to get used to the chaos and noise of that city: the crazy busy traffic, the heat and the exhaust fumes/smog in the streets: terrible!  But you get used to everything :)
The practical work we did, first with Haf and later as independent volunteers, consisted of shopping in the supermarket and putting together food parcels. These consisted of flour, oil, rice, lentils, beans, sugar, tea, pasta, soap and things like that. We took this to villages and distributed it there, in consultation with and only after approval from a kind of mayor. He knew where poverty was greatest. Some villages were far away in the mountains, a 4-hour drive from Marrakech and they had not received any help yet!
The sight of the collapsed houses was intense. Just like the people who regularly showed us with tears in their eyes their broken rooms and the tents where everyone now lived; old people as well as babies and entire families. At times like these we remembered exactly why we had come here and were happy that we had been able to buy so many packages, with the help of donations.

The work here was fundamentally different from all the refugee work we had done so far. This had a number of causes:
* People still live in their own familiar territory. They have not had to flee and the close-knit communities in which they live are still intact. So no uprooting and still caring for each other.
* There is no war and no common enemy. People were quite frightened by the earthquake. In the night they were attacked, their walls were torn, their ceilings came down; there was certainly suffering but no deep trauma. No one had been killed in the villages where we were, but people had been injured.
* These people have deep faith and trust in Allah; everything happens for a reason and actually everything is a blessing.

This made the encounters with these people particularly intense and joyful. We were welcomed with open arms. Both because of the packages we brought and also because of the fact that two blonde Dutch women had come all the way to them for support.

In addition, the nature of the people is extremely warm and hospitable. They like to share what little they have. Eluna was once even presented with a live chicken as a thank you. Later we heard that that is almost the greatest gift you can receive. Fortunately, they accepted our friendly but firm refusal :).

But we often drank tea with people and food was offered to us almost everywhere. It was an honor for them if you visited their house/tent and for us a unique opportunity to get to know their way of life.

I also really enjoyed how these people looked: often deeply lined dark faces, with sparkling eyes that radiated spirit; brightly dressed women and their incredible strength; their friendliness towards children and animals and their cheerfulness! The Arabic language is inimitable and incomprehensible, but the language of the heart is universal and with hands and feet we could understand each other. 

The earthquake made many houses uninhabitable. The walls are unstable and there is a risk of collapse. Many people now live in tents distributed by aid organizations. They make the best of it, but there were often harrowing scenes. The government wants to do the reconstruction itself, which will probably mean that people will have to live in a tent for months, perhaps even years. They are not allowed to renovate their own house and to my surprise everyone obeys the king’s ban. With winter approaching, many people are in for a tough time!

For some communities, the earthquake has been a blessing. Areas of poverty now received attention, aid and food; something they would otherwise never have received.
A wonderful phenomenon that accompanied the earthquake is that more water sources have emerged. There is more water available, so people do not have to go deep into the valley with large barrels to fetch water. That is also experienced as a blessing.

Looking back, we are extremely satisfied and grateful that we were able to do this work. Many people sponsored us and thus helped pay for 194 food parcels (this meant, among other things, more than 1100 kilos of flour!). Besides the fact that it allowed us to distribute more, the experience of togetherness and connection is wonderful! There are already tentative plans to go back in the spring…..Inshallah!