Improve Rural Moroccan Schools: Sami's Project

The High Atlas Foundation held a tree planting day in AL – Salaam School, where the nursery is located in Ifrane. Abdelilah, the nursery caretaker, led the process. There were 64 participants. Sixty were elementary school children aged between 10 and 12 (30 children were in the fifth grade, and 30 were in the sixth). Four teachers also participated.

If they would leave the trees without covering for a day or two, they would die because of the severe cold. So, they covered them with plastic as it shows in the picture above. The plastic keeps the cold from reaching the plants and in the same time it gives the trees the heat they need to grow.

Abdelilah together with the participants planted 54 trees in total, 2 fig trees and 52 almond trees. Before the planting, Abdelilah explained everything about trees and plants to the children; what do trees need to survive, how do we benefit from trees, and he also stressed the importance of planting trees to preserve the environment and make it greener.

After watching Abdelilah’s instructions, all the children and the participants learned how to plant a tree in a proper way. So everyone started planting their tree. The kids were very happy during this activity; they never participated in a process like that before! It was a new experience for everyone. Doing something new, something different is always exciting for children.

After the children planted all the trees, they started watering them and cleaned their surroundings. The plants always need constant caring and attention especially with water. Abdelilah also showed the children several ways of watering the trees. He said that too much water can also harm the trees so the watering process should be limited to a certain number in one week.

Drip irrigation is a valid solution. The two advantages of drip irrigation are that the water will be preserved, and the trees won’t be harmed from overwatering.

The children of the school had an amazing day. They enjoyed planting the trees and liked the new information they gained from the activity. We are all grateful for the High Atlas Foundation’s efforts, for including the children in the planting of trees and helping them understand how trees should be planted properly as well as how to preserve them. 

Annually, on the third Monday of January, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) holds a high-profile day of national tree planting across Morocco.  On this day—the 21^st of January this year—Fatima Zahra Laaribi, HAF’s financial Manager, and Abderrahim Baddah, HAF’s nursery caretaker, headed toward Amizmiz, a small mountain town located 60 kilometers southwest of Marrakech, to celebrate a memorable day of planting.

On that morning, in the girls’ dormitory, Ms. Laaribi started her talk with a saying by the Prophet Mohammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "If the Final Hour comes while you have a palm-cutting in your hands and it is possible to plant it before the Hour comes, you should plant it" (as reported by Anas ibn Malik, a companion of the prophet). Then, administrative staff spoke about Quranic passages related to fig and olive trees and their benefits.  For instance, trees help people to become connected to the growing process while also providing a nutritious food source and food security. Planting fruit trees also has many helpful environmental benefits, from cleaner air to reduced energy costs. Together, we tried to raise awareness of the importance of planting trees in schools and sharing our insights about why we think that planting trees is important. For high school students studying life sciences and land, the trees will help them in their studies, as they can use the green space in their schools as a learning laboratory.

HAF provided 20 grape plants, 20 pomegranate saplings, and 20 fig saplings and involved a nursery caretaker who ensured that the saplings were planted in properly.

The president of the parent’s association and the administrative staff were eager and energetic as we pulled up to deliver the trees. They were so happy to be a part of the planting event and participated actively in the planting process as they showed their full engagement.

All of us took the initiative and planted in an organized way to ensure that all the saplings were planted on the ground and that we took their GPS points to track their growth in the future.

We were invited by the directors of the schools to make a short visit to the schoolyards to show us the potentials of the schools. We want to plant more trees with them in the coming year. We were very impressed by the environmental club that they created in their schools and how quickly growing beautifully even though it was established in last October. All the tiny saplings that the students planted this year had grown beautifully. Such an initiative in schools encourages us to work with them in the future. Moreover, the growth of these trees assured us that students, teachers, and headmasters will give great care to these trees. While visiting the schoolyard, many questions were raised such as, is there a nearby and dependable water source if we plant in the future?

If we plan to establish a nursery in this large spare space in the school is this will be this accepted by the delegation of education under the school plan?

We learned a lot about their environmental and ecological needs in terms of training of planting techniques. For Moroccan schools, it is important to be open to their partners and to involve all of them, specifically the civil society. Today Moroccan school is in dire need of openness to its surroundings if it wants to invest the highest potential available. But this will be achieved only if the educational administration changed its approach, which is - and unfortunately - away from activating the educational system. For the school to be open, the administration must firmly believe in this openness, its positive, and the important of the schools’ partners.

Administrative staff and the president of the parent’s association showed their appreciation, joy, and happiness. They were so excited to participate and assured us that their teachers and headmasters will take care of these trees and will water them.

The day ended with hope and excitement for the future, as directors and the president of the parent’s association and its members, expressed their gratitude and their desire to work closely with HAF.