It was sometime in 2024 when I began to have talks with Sallie and Dianne about them retiring and ITTOG taking over the running of People and Places. They had spoken to the heads of ITTOG about it and they suggested that I take over the directorship from the UK which is basically taking on Sallie’s role. I was excited about the opportunity as I have been a part of People and Places since the early days of its inception….
I am delighted to be writing this article while in Morocco – my first visit to see the people we work with from Education For All (EFA) since last September’s devastating earthquake. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to catch up with our local partners, the house-mothers and girls in person rather than on the Zoom screen! There is still much evidence of the devastation caused by the earthquake in the town of Asni. Many people are still living…
The Education for All boarding houses (where many of our volunteers work) are not just about enabling girls to go to school and get their qualifications. They are also about preparing the girls for life and for work, giving them the skills and confidence to become independent women. Here is a great initiative from the travel industry to support them in this aim. From the Education for All newsletter: Hays Travel Internships start this Summer We are so excited to…
This from recent volunteer Wendy On Monday, we had a meeting with all the wonderful House Mothers at Dar Asni 1. Latifa, lead House Mother and in charge of Dar Asni 1, took us on a helpful orientation tour in order to locate Dar Asni 2 and 3, the bank, post office, pharmacy, good food shop and souk. In the afternoon, Khadija, House Mother of Dar Asni 3, introduced me to all her staff: Deputy House Mother, Khaoula; Housekeeper, Khadija;…
‘We want to give girls the chance of a college education in Morocco because we believe that if you educate a girl you educate the next generation as well’. This is the motivation for Education for All who, by building boarding houses for girls from the High Atlas Mountains, have enabled more than 300 girls to access education beyond primary school level. In October two ‘people and places’ volunteers, Tina and Linda, went to Morocco to volunteer alongside the house-mothers…
On February 24th the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited two of the Education For All boarding houses in Morocco. This was a day of great excitement for the girls, the house mothers and everyone else associated with Education For All. Dressed in traditional Berber clothes some of the girls sang to welcome Harry and Meghan, they were offered delicious Moroccan cakes and pastries, and one girl was chosen to paint a henna tattoo on Meghan’s hand, a traditional practice…
A few weeks ago I went to Morocco to visit the project we support there, the Education For All boarding houses for girls, the project recently visited by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as described in an earlier article in this newsletter. I had not been there since 2011 and wow! – what amazing progress has been made in the intervening 8 years! I thought I had kept up to date with developments there through reading their newsletter, but…
Very few girls from the rural communities of the High Atlas Mountains get the opportunity of continuing their education beyond primary school. Secondary schools, mostly several kilometres away in larger towns, are not accessible to them because: Their parents can’t afford to pay for lodgings or transport near secondary schools Their parents don’t have the confidence in existing facilities to entrust their daughters to be away from home. One of the programmes we work with is Education for All in…