Sponsor Empowerment for a Teen Girl in Morocco

Hi Friends,

Thank You for your continued support of sponsoring teen girls in Morocco. Your support has been crucial to ensuring empowerment for Soar Girls!

It is estimated that 5.6% of girls in rural Morocco drop out of school. This phenomenon can be explained by various cultural factors and poverty.  Poor access to sanitary facilities at school limiting girls from attending classes during their period and a long and dangerous commute are two of the main reasons.

Project Soar works with teengirls and provides them with sustainable and reusable menstrual kits that allow them to manage their periods in a hygienic and shame-free manner, to help them take care of themselves and stay in school!

However, some Soar Girls live far away from their schools, making the commute long and uncomfortable, sometimes up to 2 hours walking distance. 

Thanks to our donor Dan, founder of 88bikes, Project Soar was able to provide bikes to about 30 Soar Girls to make their school-home commute safer and quicker!

On the 1st of May, the Bike distribution event took place at our HQ in Douar Laadam where both Soar Girls and their parents attended, transforming it into a very heartfelt and bonding occasion. After receiving their bikes and learning about 88bikes' mission and actions from the founder Dan and his team, Soar Girls and their parents displayed a sense of joy and pride in their newfound mobility. Asmae’s dad expressed his gratitude towards Projet Soar’s efforts and the support given to his daughter so that she could smoothly make the trip to school and Project Soar’s headquarters.

At the end of the day the girls also attended a workshop on road safety conducted by Pikala, and are now ready to whizz around on their new bikes in complete safety!

Thank you for your commitment to Project Soar and supporting teen girls and their needs. Going to school is everyone's right and should never be questioned! We are so grateful to you. 

Stay tuned for many more exciting stories and updates about our program. 

With Love, Project Soar’s team. 

Hi Friends,

Thank you for your continued support of sponsoring teen girls in Morocco. Your support has been crucial to ensuring empowerment for Soar Girls!

Throughout the world, millions of girls are impacted by the prevalent issue of child marriage. They are frequently forced to drop out of school as a result of this harmful practice, which also puts them at danger of physical and psychological abuse. Over 14% of Moroccan girls get married before turning 18 years old, making child marriage a persistent problem in the country. It is crucial to ensure that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to prevent child marriage because many of them are at risk of doing so. Through education, community building, and leadership development, Project Soar works to empower girls in Morocco to avoid marrying young. The program allows them to make informed decisions about their life and resist pressure to be married at an early age by giving them the knowledge, abilities, and confidence they need. 

18-year-old Soar Girl Soumia, has personally seen the negative effects of child marriage. Several of her peers have left school for marriage, explaining that most of them have experienced divorces soon after. One of Soumia's classmates opted not to continue her studies in order to be married. The marriage broke up after two months, and she was left with a lot of emotional pain. She made the decision to return to school to finish her studies and to seek therapy after that.

“I demand that the government intervene immediately to change the laws that permit child marriage. I see classmates wasting their futures, forced to get married and often soon divorced” - Soar Girl Soumia 

A teen girl's empowerment can contribute to her success and assist her in achieving her goals. For instance, Soumia now recognizes the issues her classmates face and has decided against marrying underage since she is aware of the harm it causes. She speaks out against these practices and advocates for her community, allowing her to finish her education and guide her peers to make the best choice. She is currently pursuing higher education, recently enrolling as a law student, and hopes to become a social worker in the future. The success of the Project Soar program is evident in the fact that less than 1% of Soar girls get married underage after enrolling in our empowerment program. This is a significant achievement, given that child marriage is still a widespread issue in Morocco. Soumia is a shining example of a Soar Girl who is aware of her right to continue her education. Through the stories of girls like Soumia, we can see the impact that Project Soar is having on the lives of girls in Morocco, and how the potential for sponsoring a Soar Girl can create a positive change worldwide.

Dear Project Soar Friend,

We hope you continue to be well, as we send our gratitude to you, our supporter.

Your generous help and sponsorship is helping us to provide our teen leadership workshops all over Morocco. The 2022/2023 program has just started, and our amazing empowerment facilitators has yet to deliver the first workshop, but we can see from the high number of new girls registering that we are off to a great start. 

As we look back at last year’s success, we can’t but think about Oumaima, a 17-year-old from the south of Morocco, precisely from a town called Guelmim, who has not been a Soar Girl for long but has greatly benefitted from the program since she joined early last year. Oumaima used to be a very shy, reason why her philosophy teacher at school encouraged her to look into us to overcome it, as she saw great potential in her and did not want her to miss any opportunity that could come her way. She could not have been more right. Oumaima has blessed us with so much energy and spirit of resourcefulness since she joined: as soon as the possibility of being part of the BIGGER Movement to advocate against child marriage in Morocco came up, she seized the moment. She has recently returned from a trip to the capital Rabat where, together with a delegation of other 9 teen girls like her, she visited the Parliament and met with both the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity, as well as other feminist decision-makers who listened to the delegation’s request to abolish such a harmful procedure still happening in the country as per today. 

We can’t but continue to be proud of Oumaima as she recently passed her BAC2 exam with one of the highest grades among her peers, 17 out of 20, and is now up to her first month of university, where she studies agronomy and veterinary medicine. 

“Month after month I have learned how to make my voice heard and fight for my rights”.  

Oumaima states the module she mostly benefitted from are “Voice” and “Rights”, after which she started being more aware of her potential and personal strengths. 

Testimonies like Oumaima’s shows that the 5-modules Soar in a Box program actually helps so many girls all across Morocco to exploit their potential to the full once they realise their value; it’s also because of you, donor, that we can keep giving this opportunity to so many teen girls coming from underserved areas.

Thank you for your commitment to Project Soar and supporting teen girls such as Oumaima to discover their true potential in a supportive community. We are so grateful to you. 

Stay tuned for many more exciting stories and updates about our program. 

With Love, 

Project Soar’s team. 

Dear Friends,

We know that you believe in the mission of Project Soar: to empower teen girls to be the leaders of today and tomorrow, but how do we do that? Some say it takes a village – we say, it takes a squad. 

Your gifts in this campaign allow us to pay local women facilitators to create “girl squads” or safe spaces to run 25 weekly empowerment workshops in their communities for new teen girls every school year. Girls Not Brides reports that having a “safe regular meeting place allows girls to meet with peers and share experiences which can reduce their sense of isolation and vulnerability.” Thanks to your support, this is happening across Morocco every week – here is one Soar Story:

15-year-old Soar Girl Yasmine was having trouble integrating in school with her peers and teachers. Before she joined Project Soar in November 2021 in Ouarzazate, a city in southern Morocco known as the gateway to the Sahara desert, her facilitators Oumaima and Kaltouma reported that Yasmine was getting low grades and was close to dropping out of school. After attending 7 Soar empowerment workshops, Yasmine started to believe that she should stay in school, but her facilitators knew that she would need followup and ongoing support. 

In January, during Module 4 (Rights): Workshop 2: I have the right to pursue an education, facilitators Oumaima and Kaltouma added an additional activity to the workshop that day. They asked the Soar Girls in their squad to write positive and encouraging letters to Yasmine.

Since January, Oumaima and Kaltouma continue to observe how Yasmine values her education so much more, and how she is persevering through the challenging time of adolescence. She is insistent on staying in school and pursuing her education. We are happy to report that Yasmine is still in school today thanks to her role model facilitators, the girls in her squad, and the safe space that this program creates for girls who need this critical support!

Thanks to your support of the Sponsor Empowerment for a Teen Girl project and others like it, Project Soar is fostering safe spaces and girl squads across Morocco every year. 

Stay tuned for more news from Project Soar and never doubt you are making a difference!

Best Wishes,
The Project Soar Team

Dear Friends, 

We are sending you so much gratitude for the support you give Project Soar! 

In honor of International Women's Day, we sat with one of the most crucial and longstanding members of the Project Soar staff, Touria. Touria is a woman of many talents, however her main role at Project Soar is to ensure the Project Soar facilities are clean and tidy so that Empowerment Facilitators can deliver Empowerment Workshops without distraction and Girls have a safe, clean space to learn and grow. She also ensures that the Project Soar staff receives one well rounded meal a day, fueling much needed brain power so that programs flourish and the 700+ current Soar Girls across Morocco remain well supported. What's more is that Touria is the mother of 14 year old Soar Girl Najoua, who is a member of one of the three Douar Laadam Soar squads hosted at Project Soar Headquarters.

Given how important this amazing woman is to the success of the Project Soar programs, we wanted to share with you, our supporters, a little more about Touria's life as a Moroccan woman and Project Soar team member...

Touria was born in 1979 in a small village close to Kelaa des Sraghna, about 2 hours Northeast of Marrakech. When she was 10, she moved to a village close to Marrakech, where she stayed until she got married at age 26. It was at this time that she moved with her husband to Douar Laadam, where she has lived ever since. She has four children, three girls and one boy, including her eldest daughter and current Soar Girl Najoua. When asked what Touria likes most about her daughter being a Soar Girl, she says "I like that the facilitators and girls collaborate to help each girl learn how to speak up for themselves, develop their personalities, determine their path, and that [Soar] Girls end up stronger and more empowered than before." Though Touria's other daughters have a few years before they are old enough to be Soar Girls, Touria says that "god willing," they will be some day. 

Touria has worked at Project Soar almost since it's inception and has been like a mother to all that have entered the Project Soar doors over the past 5 years. This is reflected in the way she talks about her job: “I love that the Soar Coordinators and all Project Soar employees respect me and value me and also that I respect and value each of them. I care about them like they are family. I truly believe that Project Soar is doing a great job for the community.”

In line with International Women's Day and this year's theme of "Break the Bias", we asked Touria what makes her proud to be a Moroccan woman. "Our culture is so beautiful - I am proud to be born a Moroccan woman! I love everything about it..." She went on to talk about what makes her unique: "I am proud of myself specifically because I am the bread winner in my family. Because of my job [at Project Soar], I have the ability to support my children without anyone’s help." As it is not very common for women to act as the main income generator in rural Morocco, Touria really is a walking example of someone breaking the bias in her country, showing her daughters as well as all Soar Girls they can improve their agency no matter their background. 

Thanks to your support of the Sponsor Empowerment for a Teen Girl project and others like it, Project Soar funds wonderful staff like Touria as well Soar Girls like her daughter Najoua. 

Stay tuned for more news from Project Soar and never doubt you are making a difference!

Best Wishes,

The Project Soar Team