By Omaima Khalil Elfanne, Field Coordinator The Jewish cemetery in Tafza, January 2022. Photo: Omaima Khalil El Fanne/HAF During HAF’s annual tree planting day that took place in January, on the occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Day of Service and Tu’Bishvat, I had the opportunity to visit the Jewish cemetery that is located in

By Omaima Khalil El Fanne Dakira Cultural Coordinator Two HAF Cultural Coordinators of the USAID Dakira program held a forum in Tiznit, presenting the objectives of the program and introducing other HAF activities and programs. Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir described HAF’s creation and how he learned that the Jewish and Muslim people had lived in Morocco

By Ikbale Bouziane, Cultural Field Coordinator, Dakira Program Anougal is a douar (village) located in a remote plateau in the heart of the High Atlas Mountains (precisely 16.3 kilometers from the center of Amizmiz) with 750 families whose income relies mainly on olive, walnut, cherry, almond, and apple trees. During a recent field visit, HAF-Dakira

By Amal Mansouri, Dakira Cultural Coordinator Screenshot: Introduction to the Webinar Event, “The Future of Memory: Holocaust Rememrance, History and New Media On February 3, 2022, a virtual event jointly organized by the United Nations Outreach Programme on the Holocaust and the United Nations Civil Society Unit was held under the theme “The Future of

By Amal Mansouri, HAF Field Coordinator, DAKIRA HAF staff explaining the objectives of the tree planting activity to the students  at Abed Rahim Bouaabid-Saiss high school, Fez, 2022. Photo: HAF staff On the third Monday of January 2014, the High Atlas Foundation planted its millionth tree, and with that it reached one of its major

By Ikbale Bouziane The entrance to the Jewish cemetery of Amizmiz. Photo: Ikbale Bouziane/HAF Recently joining the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) as cultural field coordinators, Oumayma and I traveled to visit the historical Jewish sites in Amizmiz of the High Atlas Mountains and its surrounding villages where the local Jewish community once thrived and co-existed

By Soukaina Kherdioui, HAF Field Coordinator Based on the teachings of all Abrahamic religions, humans are entrusted with the safeguarding of mother nature’s multiple components. Trees, in particular, are treated with reverence and are viewed as a sacred element in many cultures. Beside their ecological functions, they provide people with spiritual, symbolic, cultural, religious, and

Jamal Maghiouzi HAF Field Coordinator, Dakira The HAF Team holding a participatory community meeting. Photo by: Fatima Mrini/HAF On Tuesday 4, January 2022, I went with Youssef Tahiri, HAF Project Manager for the Youth Conservation Corps program, to see the khettara, or irrigation system, in Tifrka village, Adar commune. Mr. Hassan Ouakzin and Mr. Mohamed

Arabic version Saplings grow at a community-based fruit tree nursery supported by the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) in Morocco. (Photo: HAF, 2021) It is common that each religion has its own new year celebrations that mark events or simply cherish the divine orders of days and months. These festivities usually mark the end or beginnings

By Bouchra Zine, HAF Field Officer I have always believed that training is an important and interesting way to meet people who you might not normally connect with: people from different age groups, ethnicities, or social groups. It is like some kind of magic that allows you to meet a wide variety of people from

By Catrin Waters What is universal about the human experience? And what does it have to do with planting trees? Let’s start at the beginning. An amorphous concept of where we came from and why seems to be at the center of each religion, philosophical group, and to some extent academic discipline. Why are we

M’Suud And Mohammed: A Tale Of Two Friends, Scoop world. Arabic: Beirut times, 07 January 2022. By Youssef Enouiti | Marrakech, Morocco Overlooking the Green River Valley and village cluster of Oulad Amer, Larbi Soukab makes his daily trek on donkey-back with bamboo cane in hand to check on the growth of his land. Photo:

By Amal Mansouri and Soukaina Kherdioui, REMA Field Coordinators On Wednesday, December 22, 2021, the embassies of the United States and Israel in Morocco celebrated the first anniversary of the renewal of diplomatic ties between Morocco and Israel. The celebration was attended by several high-level profiles, including ambassadors, diplomats, religious leaders, and representatives of the

By Amal Mansouri, HAF Field Coordinator, REMA Pictures from different angles and neighborhoods of the old medina Morocco is renowned for its hospitality, diversity and multiculturalism. Out of all the places where you can sense the existence of these concepts, we find them most easily in the facades, ancient corners and long past laid bricks

Living Together: Religious Coexistence In Morocco, Scoop. Arabic: Sot Aliraq, 11 December 2021.  By Mohamed El Kadiri, HAF Program Coordinator The fascinating site we came across is located in Erfoud, a small tranquil town in the southeast of Morocco, about 70 km from Errachidia. Our visit was initially aimed at monitoring fruit trees distributed to

By Amal Mansouri, Cultural Field Coordinator IMAGINE workshop in El Menzel, 2021. Photo: Zineb Mallouki/HAF The answer to the questions who you are, or what you identify as is more complicated than it seems to be. So many people would respond to this question in a different way referring to different characteristics, such as: gender,

by Noah C. Kohlmayer – HAF Volunteer On Tuesday, December 7, my two fellow Austrian volunteers and I had the opportunity to join Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir for the last class he taught for the University of Virginia at the Jewish cemetery in the Mellah of Marrakech. Now, what is a Mellah?  In Marrakech, the Mellah

Arabic Version – Moroccan Cemeteries Waiting to be Visited and Remembered, San Diego Jewish World. By Yossef Ben-Meir Marrakech In early July, I set out with colleagues of the High Atlas Foundation—a U.S. and Moroccan non-for-profit organization—to meet with agricultural cooperatives in Morocco to understand their needs and goals and create action plans toward lasting

By Soukaina Kherdioui On Thursday, December 16, I had the chance to attend a Conference-debate organized by Al Mowafaqa Institute during which Dr. Amina Mesgguid, doctoral researcher in Social Anthropology at the Center for Global Studies (CGS), provided interesting insights on contemporary Sufism and its evolution in Morocco. Her research focuses on “Contemporary expressions of

By Soukaina Kherdioui On November 30, 2021, the American Sephardi Federation’s (ASF) Institute of Jewish Experience launched their campaign “Reclaiming Identity” by hosting a webinar during which the Jewish people of Arab lands and Iran shared their stories of identity, struggle, and redemption. The webinar specifically acknowledged the rich Jewish heritage that was lost across

By: Noah C. Kohlmayer, HAF Volunteer. U.S. Consul General Lawrence M. Randolph and President/Co-Founder Yossef Ben-Meir at the first High Atlas Foundation (HAF) House of Life interfaith nursery in Akrich, Morocco. November 2021. Photo: Noah C. Kohlmayer/HAF Akrich, an Amazigh village in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains, is where the first of HAF’s

By Jamal Maghiouzi, Cultural Field Coordinator On Tuesday, November 24, I had the chance to attend the first day of the conference which was held under the theme Jewish Onomastics in Morocco: Political, Economic, and Territorial Implication at Universiapolis University in Agadir. The event gathered the participation of various scholars from different parts of the

By Julian Stoiber, HAF Volunteer View from first High Atlas Foundation (HAF) House of Life interfaith fruit tree nursery in the village of Akrich. November 2021. Photo: Julian Stoiber/HAF The Akrich tree nursery, about half an hour outside of Marrakech, was the first among many nurseries that the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) brought into being.

By Amal Mansouri, HAF Field Coordinator, REMA Being and feeling rich in my beautiful small city, Er-rich, is not a challenge. In fact, it’s incredibly easy. You just have to live there and you’ll understand. With that being said, a lot of people would be wondering how this is even possible. Is it easy to

By Soukaina Kherdioui, HAF Field Coordinator, REMA Program Tilouine, a small village in southeastern Morocco, is known for their sweet Fagous dates and olive groves. Photo taken in 2015 by REMA Field Coordinator Soukaina Kherdioui. Tilouine is my mother’s hometown. It’s a small village located on the outskirts of Errachidia. I still recall the time

Agricultural Development in Morocco Flourishes, Borgen Magazine. WESTBURY, New York — The High Atlas Foundation is helping Morocco’s local communities determine how they choose to develop their land and grow out of poverty sustainably. Like those in the northern Atlas Mountains, Morocco’s most vulnerable communities have long suffered from water scarcity, shaky access to land and unregulated

By Jamal Maghiouzi, Cultural Field Coordinator I left my village of Ait Kassi Ouali at 6:30 in the morning to travel the 90 kilometers to Ouarzazate in a grand taxi before taking another for about five hours to the outskirts of Taroudant. I traveled from Taroudant to Ait Iazza, and then finally from Ait Iaazza

By: Jennan Al-Hamdouni, Director of Engagement and Advocacy, REMA U.S. Consul General Lawrence Randolph and President of the Jewish Community in the Marrakech-Safi region Jacky Kadoch at the first High Atlas Foundation (HAF) House of Life interfaith nursery in Akrich. November 2021. Photo: HAF What brings people together in celebration of heritage, cultural identity, and

By Fatima Zahra Laaribi Program Manager, Women’s Empowerment HAF and Association Bayti meet with 13 local CSOs who are preserving local heritage in Essaouira. Many treasures are hidden within the coastal Mogador city, today known as Essaouira, which is characterized by its rich, multidimensional culture. This small city is a melting pot of Amazighen, Arab,

By Yossef Ben-Meir, Ph.D. President, High Atlas Foundation I had the opportunity, for which I am grateful, to visit together with Mr. David Greene, the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, the Jewish and Christian cemeteries in the incredible city of Essaouira. The day prior, we had launched with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) its new