Cultural Preservation & Coexistence in Essaouira

Thank you to all of our supporters who enabled us to make such great progress with our Cemetery Preservation initiative! As this project comes to a close, we are happy to report that we achieved our goals for 2013 and are excited to start work on new cultural preservation projects in Essaouira.

On Tuesday 1 October, 2013 the High Atlas Foundation held a closing conference to present the results of its one-year long cemetery preservation and education program in this small port town on Morocco’s Atlantic Coast.

HAF was honored that the US Consul General, Mr. Brian Shukan, visited Essaouira to deliver the keynote speech at the conference. He described the project as "a testament to the cooperation between the United States and Morocco." 

Thanks to our generous donors, this project resulted in:

• The rehabilitation of three cemeteries; the Christian, new Jewish and Muslim Chouhadda cemeteries including clearing, planting, guardian training and restoration activities;
• The integration of over 400 local young people in a program of educational presentations, visits to the cemeteries and participatory educational activities;
• Capacity building of over 120 members of civil society organizations;
• The cataloguing of the epitaphs, gathering of historical knowledge from the cemeteries and the creation of a self-guided brochure for visitors to the cemeteries;
• The creation of sustainable partnerships for the development of further activities in the field of cultural preservation.

As this cemetery preservation project comes to an end, we now turn to new cultural preservation projects in Essaouira. Maintaining our focus on the long history of interreligious and multicultural peace and prosperity in the region, we are working with local partners to identify 3 religious sites, 1 Muslim, 1 Christian, and 1 Jewish for renovation and rehabilitation, as we usher in the next phase of our cultural preservation initiative. 

Links:

• Press Coverage of the Closing Conference
• More information about the conference