Support girls education in rural Morocco

Looking back… and moving forward

One year on, we reflect on the devastating earthquake that adversely affected the lives of thousands of people in the Al Haouz region of Morocco. One of the consequences was the brutal disruption to the academic year that followed. But now a new school year is here, and we have started it full of hope and excitement. 

The AEFA boarding houses are once again filled with bright, ambitious girls eager to learn and grow. After everything they’ve been through, seeing their energy and smiles is truly inspiring. It’s been a challenging year since the earthquake, which destroyed all but one of our boarding houses. But thanks to the incredible support of our community and beyond, we’ve made real progress. We now have five rental properties and our renovated house in Ouirgane, offering boarding facilities for 198 girls. In parallel to this, we are in the process of buying some land in Asni and will start building there soon. The housemothers, who are at the very heart of the boarding houses, have been participating in the planning of the new house designs, contributing their extensive knowledge and experience of boarding house life to the project. 

There’s still a lot to recover and rebuild, but with your generous support, the strength of our teams, the Amazigh people and everyone involved, we’re moving forward together.

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New boarding house in Tahanaout

Following a decision made by local authorities, baccalaureate students from Asni will now attend school in Tahanaout. Our team at AEFA acted swiftly and managed to find and secure a rental property last Monday. This lovely house will be home to 30 girls, and we wish them all luck with their studies in their new surroundings. In addition to rehoming our own girls, AEFA also stepped in to support girls that had previously been housed by other projects/organisations similarly affected by the earthquake. 

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Australian ambassador visit

The Australian Ambassador HE Michael Cutts and his team visited one of the Association’s houses in Ouirgane. He was inspired by his visit, and had many meaningful conversations with the girls, the housemothers, some alumni and members of our leadership team. The Australian Embassy in Morocco had facilitated a generous grant from the Direct Aid Program that allowed us to purchase some furniture, which is now being used in the Ouirgane house to replace items damaged in the earthquake. We are grateful to Mr Cutts and his team for their support in helping us break down barriers to education for the girls that need it so much. 

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