Improve Rural Moroccan Schools: Sami's Project

This morning I had the privilege of attending a very special event, hosted by the Beyond Trees Network’s Dr. Tamberly, a trained and licensed nature therapist who has spent the last several years training more and more nature therapists and spreading this practice across the world. Although the pandemic is nearly over, the need for social distancing, as well as the long distances between many of the participants around the globe, from India to South America, has brought on the need for using Zoom to safely and universally share the experience. Many of the activities are normally done in a closely-knit group where the natural scenes are taken in together, but because of these circumstances, we all had to experience our own bit of nature behind our screens.

So, what exactly is nature therapy? I’ll admit that going into this session, I was very skeptical. I thought I would just be meditating and maybe even doing some yoga, but I soon realized that the process is much more experiential and sensory than I thought. We began by finding a comfortable and peaceful position outside in nature. I sat in my backyard in the grass with the computer on my lap. The grass tickled my legs and the sun flickered through the leaves above my head as my session leader, Toby Bloom, began speaking gently. She asked that we close our eyes and slow our breathing, feel the natural elements around us and be conscious of them but keep our minds quiet. She implored us to think about our skin and how it felt against the cool breeze, how the hairs on our arms danced as it flowed across. She asked us to listen closely to the sounds around us, the leaves rattling, the chirping of the birds, a plane flying swiftly overhead. She asked us to breathe deeply through our noses and bring in the smells around us, all the while keeping our eyes closed and our bodies still.

After several minutes of meditating and taking in nature, she asked us to spin around and slowly open our eyes as if the image we were about to see would be for the first time. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself facing the woods behind my house. They were brightly lit and splotched with patches of shadow. It was really quite beautiful and to see it after focusing all of my senses was really something special.

Throughout the rest of the session, we explored the texture of natural things around us like grass, leaves, and rocks, and at the end, Toby performed a small tea ceremony that is commonplace in these sessions. Unfortunately, I did not have any tea made for the session so I simply had to watch behind my screen. When the session was over, I closed my computer and sat outside for just a few more minutes. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and tranquility. My whole body felt relaxed and I felt an Earthly connection from my head to my feet. Wholistically, it made me feel very good.

Dr. Conway explained that these forms of therapy started to become popular in the late 80s and have spread across the globe, helping with depression, stress, and anxiety. The calming vibe of the therapy takes little to no effort to reach and can effectively center and relax a person in under an hour. Dr. Conway’s organization aims to improve forest welfare globally, hoping to bring economic, social, and emotional support to the public, with the aim of improving the public welfare.

If you have a moment in your day where you have just a few minutes to yourself, I would highly recommend taking the time to step outside, close your eyes, and open your senses to the natural world around you. Nature’s healing powers are nothing short of pure magic.

The closing ceremony of the OES small grants program took place on Zoom on June 2, 2021. It was an opportunity for the CSO subgrantees and the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) representatives to convene and share the results achieved during the two-year program.

The program, which is funded by OES in partnership with the High Atlas Foundation, seeks to increase civil society engagement in environmental protection and promote public participation in environmental decision-making. It enabled four select CSOs, two in Jordan and two in Morocco, to launch projects in order to benefit local communities socially, economically, and environmentally. All four of the associations, including Methods for Irrigation and Agriculture (MIRRA), Dar Si Hmad Association, the AFCD Association, and Al-Fath Association, presented the objectives, results, and impact of their projects.

The Al-Fath Association for culture and development, for example, is a Moroccan CSO operating in the villages of Bouchane and Ait Taleb in the Rhamna province, north of Marrakech. Thanks to OES funding, Al-Fath was able to implement a project entitled “The Environmental Challenge” in order to contribute to the alleviation of pollution in the region and establish a culture of environmental preservation. According to Mr. Mustapha, President of Al-Fath, 70% of the objectives were successfully met. However, 30% were difficult to achieve due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its residual impact. Goals met include:

• the implementation of a nursery and 2 greenhouses;
• the provision of 12 agricultural farms with natural organic fertilizers;
• the planting of 113,760 fruit trees; and
• the provision of 3 wells with solar pumps.

Similarly in Jordan, the MIRRA Association was able to implement a project entitled “Realizing Sustainable Agriculture in Azraq” in order to overcome the problem of water pumping overuse while stimulating agricultural activities as well as economic and social growth in the area. The project implementation according to Ms. Ahlam, representative of MIRRA, ensured:

• the achievement of sustainable, decentralized farm models in the area;
• the reduction of the electricity bills for farmers;
• the increase of the annual food production to meet local needs without depending on imports;
• capacity building for farmers and students through the implementation of training and workshops; and
• the writing of two booklets which gathered the knowledge on the application of sustainable rural agriculture in Azraq.

The impact of the projects both in Morocco and Jordan has had a remarkable positive effect on the local communities. Dr. Yossef mentioned that the support of OES in implementing these projects has built a firm basis for the growth of all participating associations while creating partnerships between the different CSOs. It was, in fact, a  meeting that marked both the closing of the program and the beginning of sustainable commitment to carry on this initiative and move it forward in order to achieve the visions of various communities on a national and an international level.