Social work and sports benefit hundreds in Morocco

2009-06-25

Thousands of rural area residents in Morocco have benefited from collaborative work between the Classic Rally of Morocco and the Happy Hour Association. The partnership helped many children return to school.

By Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 25/06/09

[Naoufel Cherkaoui] The Classic Rally of Morocco helped raise 700,000 dirhams towards the work of the Happy Hour Association.

The partnership between the Classic Rally of Morocco and the Happy Hour association has benefited thousands of people, notably children, and has helped with the development of rural areas around the country, according to rally and association officials.

Over the last 10 years, the Happy Hour association received about five million dirhams in donations from the "rally of the heart". The money was collected through auctions and and other donors.

"This partnership contributes substantially to development programmes," said President of the association Leila Cherif. "It also helps us develop our work, since we would not be able to organize all these programmes without the funds."

On Friday (June 12th), Happy Hour received nearly 700,000 dirhams from the Classic Rally of Morocco. The funds will be allocated to financing two projects, said Cherif. The first project will renovate two schools in Casablanca, and the second one will build a water tower and drill a well in the region of Azilal.

This will give many girls in remote areas the chance to go to school, as they will not have to spend the time looking for water instead.

What is left of the money will be spent on programmes to train youth and integrate them into society. Some of the money will also go to programmes to raise awareness about various issues, and reduce mortality among children and provide them with food and medication.

The Happy Hour association was established in 1954. Twenty-seven employees and more than 30 volunteers work together to fight exclusion and improve the social and professional integration of disadvantaged individuals in Casablanca and its neighbouring regions, according to the association.

So far, over 5,000 people benefited from the illiteracy-elimination classes offered, which in turn helped them gain access to professional training and eventually get jobs. The Association also distributes school bags to children in remote villages annually.

Annually, the association trains 30 girls to work as household help, and raises the awareness of this workforce on the potential conditions of this field.

Kamil Al Khalti, a social work coordinator at the Classic Rally of Morocco, said that the partnership with Happy Hour came as a result of Moroccan and foreign participants in the rally asking for ways to thank the residents of the areas they passed through during the rally.

According to Al Khalti, 70% of the funds given to Happy Hour go to developing rural areas, including encouraging schooling, restoring of schools, providing villages with potable water, as well as launching income-generating projects. The remaining 30% is used to finance urban development projects, such as reproductive health care and assistance to youth in critical situations.

Classic Rally of Morocco was kicked off in 1993.

"Sports have many ways of engaging in social work, whether through laying down conditions for poorer children to access a certain game, or launching some initiative, the returns of which to finance special projects," Al Khalti noted.