By Said Bennani,
HAF Project Manager
Here at the Abdelaziz Ben Driss Center for the Protection of Children, HAF’s team in Fes and the youth living at the center are appreciating all the visits of our partners from other places in Morocco. Not only visitors from Morocco come, but also people travel from far away, outside of the country. They have come to meet the children and see our work together.
The project is about a fruit tree nursery, which we started building May last year. When the kids receive guests they feel happy and more encouraged about their work in the nursery, and to learn more about agriculture.
Mr. Jamal Mimouni who is one of our partners from the Oujda region, is that area’s director ‘’ANDZOA’’ – the National Agency for Oasis Zones Development and Argan. He came by the center one recent Friday afternoon. We visited together all the nursery parts and he expressed how he liked the idea of building a fruit tree nursery with youth.
We talked about how the children engage in the project and learn many skills and receive environmental education. Every day the kids join us in the nursery. He talked with the children. The children were happy to walk together to the nursery and show Mr. Jamal all the trees we planted these past months. They were happy as they are all the time, when people come and visit the great work they are doing in the nursery! Some of them say: “Look at to the seeds and cuttings we planted together, they are now trees, they are growing very fast! We were with you that time, Mr. Said, do you remember that?”
Children from the Fes area and other cities are hosted at this center. Some people come are rural areas, which means they already have an idea about agriculture and work in farming and planting trees. Some of the children are very helpful with naming all the local plants, which grow in the nursery. All the time we hear the children talk to each other about the types of plants and trees, and what they are used for at their hometowns. For those who are having their first experience with an agricultural project, it is hard for them sometimes to understand what is going on in the nursery. But, with more time attending the activities, they learn more about the actions we implement here at the center. This collection of children of all ages and backgrounds allow them to learn from each other, coordinating with the HAF team in Fes and the Center staff.
Furthermore, we mentioned to Mr. Jamal our visitor that we are looking to work in the same way at the Oujda center, which we started to do in recent months, planting argan and carob seeds.
It seems like those activities with youth from different ages and environments can help build leaders for community development. With more training and workshops we organize for the children, will transfer capacities to improve the way they live every day. In other words, this kind of this project is helping to have more active youth in Moroccan society.
HAF sincerely thanks Ecosia of Germany and Morocco’s Ministry of Youth and Sports for making this youth and tree planting project a reality.