From poor girl to power girl - invest in education

If we have learned anything from these difficult and peculiar times, it is that education is a life saver. From the moment the virus set in, science has been working hard to save lives. 

Whether you look at the doctors and nurses who were first confronted with the disease, the virologists who tried to decipher it, governments who had to lead and manage the consequences, and the maintenance staff that had to clean it  from the surface of the earth - science  had a role to play. 

In the beginning of the pandemic, even though schools and universities were forced to close their doors, respect for education seemed to grow stronger. What else than science was going to get us out of this mess? We needed a vaccin, and science was going to get it for us. 

For the Moustaqbel Foundation it has always been clear that education is the solution to a lot of  the problems we face. Our foundation strives to create opportunities for quality education among girls that often don't stand a chance. 

Our student Hafida ait Eddib, featured on the photo above, studies chemistry and is specialising in mining. We asked her what she learned from the covid-crisis. "It was a huge slap in all our faces, I think. But as a student, I learned how to work independently. I had to, as my connection wasn't always good enough to follow my online lectures. During the process I found it very interesting to see what I could do with the 24 hours in every day. I learned not to squander them, but to use my time fully without the help of professors, university timetables or the house rules at Dar Moustaqbel."

The crisis has underlined the importance of educating oneself, says Hafida.  "Not only for myself and my family, but also for my country and the world. It would be great if one day my education will give me the opportunity to help people."

At the moment, students are having a particularly difficult time, says Hafida. "Many students I know can no longer count on their families to help them out in case they need money. They struggle to study as they don't have the means to rent a room, nor the money to travel or get online. It's sad to see how many students are forced to stop studying." 

"We - the students of Dar Moustaqbel - are very lucky. From the beginning of the crisis until today I feel Dar Moustaqbel cares for us like a family does. We continued our lessons online, each of us got their own laptop, our travel expenses are reimbursed, when I need internet credit to follow lessons or take exams, Dar Moustaqbel helps me out. Now that I'm back in our student home I enjoy the facilities enormously, but it was really great to see how Dar Moustaqbel stepped in from the first week of the lockdown. I want to thank everyone involved for giving us this gift."

Links:

• Dar Moustaqbel