Women Cooperative and Preschool Project

Hello folks!

My name is Hiba and I'm a volunteer in a small village in the High Atlas mountains in Morocco. I've been living in the village since November and will be there for a year. I'm currently working on two developmental projects for the area- a preschool facility and a rug cooperative for the women of the village.

Due to the lack of preschools in the village and since most of the parents are uneducated, children are not provided with any educational base -so they enter primary school absolutely clueless about the very basic elements like alphabet, numbers, colors, etc. And learn in a language that is not their mother tongue. The community agreed that early childhood education will provide the children with a stronger academic foundation that will lead to healthy mental and emotional development, allowing the children to better grasp the material and succeed in higher grades. This is particularly important since only roughly 10% of the students who graduate from the 6th grade are prepared enough to continue on to secondary school. 

The women of the village, very eager to begin a project that will allow them to generate their own income and become financially independent, have suggested starting their own cooperative to make rugs- a skill that they have mastered over numerous decades. This activity will break their everyday rigorous routine and allow for a social activity that will bring the women together through social entrepreneurship and empower them. This activity will also allow young girls who dropped out of school to exercise their talent, become exposed to the world outside their village and fill their days with a useful and meaningful pursuit.

Please contribute if you can :) If anyone wants further details/photos/or wants to know where their buck will go exactly, feel free to message me!

Thank you!