Morocco

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Laila Benkerroum `07 and Yasmina Addidou `07 prepare pastries and dates for a Ramadan Iftar dinner at AMESIP.

Laila Benkerroum `07 and Yasmina Addidou `07 applied for and were awarded a YES Alumni Mini-grant in November. They used their award to organize a traditional Ramadan Iftar breakfast for the Association Marocaine d’aide aux Enfants en Situation Precaure (AMESIP). AMESIP is a Rabat- based nonprofit organization that focuses on vulnerable street children and orphans, providing food, shelter, and educational opportunities. An important component of Ramadan is Zakat (charity) and this requires giving to others either through volunteerism or monetary donations to charity. Prior to the start of the Iftar event, Laila and Yasmine were invited to take a tour of the facilities and learn more about what AMESIP does. Afterwards, they prepared the meal in the AMESIP’s kitchen. The Iftar breakfast included: harira (a Moroccan traditional tomato soup), dates, nuts, Moroccan pancakes, juice, eggs and croissants. Over sixty children between the ages of seven and seventeen attended. During the meal Laila and Yasmina had the opportunity to interact with the children and learn more about their lives along with their hopes and dreams for the future. The event ended with a short speech from the director of AMESIP who applauded the work of Laila and Yasmina and thanked the Department of State and AMIDEAST for funding and implementing the YES program. Laila commented, “The event gave me the opportunity to interact with orphan children, something that does not happen every day. They were very warm and friendly and sang songs welcoming us. I’d like to continue volunteering with AMESIP as I believe we made a difference in the lives of the children.”

Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian Alumni gather in Ouarzazate, Morocco for the North African YES Regional Alumni Conference.

The YES alumni from Tunisia and Algeria joined their Moroccan counterparts for the North Africa (Maghreb) regional alumni conference, which was held in Ouarzazate, Morocco from November 8 – 10th. . Abdellatif Harraida and Rachid Salimany from AMIDEAST Morocco, Taous Chabane from AMIDEAST Algeria and Najla Ben Amor from AMIDEAST Tunisia helped to lead group discussions. Alumni met and discussed a variety of ideas on how to implement new alumni projects. The alumni were also taught leadership skills. They held a brainstorming session on community service work and during the session participants debated the following topics: youth involvement in community service, volunteering, the impact of community service on their communities, community service project preparation and planning and project implementation. “After brainstorming, our group came up with a list of brilliant ideas for activities that we hope to implement soon,” said Zahra Laabid `05 from Morocco. Souha Ouni `07 from Tunisia remarked, “I am inspired and impressed with my fellow alums from Morocco and Algeria and they have given me some great ideas we can implement back home in Tunis.” There was also a team building session: participants were divided into four teams based on their nationality and each team had to design an action plan for a community service project to be implemented back home, which was shared with the entire group. In referring to the need for greater inspiration Soukaina Hairane `07 from Morocco noted, “To keep a lamp burning, you have to put oil in it.”