Natural human tendency is to create security in our lives by trying to keep things the same, but we need to keep in mind that we will face challenges in our lives, and we can learn from them even if it is difficult for us in the beginning. We need to adapt to the challenges that we face: life is a moving river, and we must, in our own way, learn to flow with it.

COVID-19 is a major health phenomenon that has attacked humanity. It has resulted in many deaths and has created stress due to problems without planning for this change. We need to flow with this change–and to have a powerful and strong personality to support ourselves and others that need us.

Due to the negative impacts of COVID-19 in rural Moroccan communities, especially in the mountains and for nomadic communities in the Sahara, in July 2020, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and the High Atlas Foundation collaborated and distributed essential nutrients and hygiene materials for 500 families, as well as 881 shoes,1,000 pens, and 500 notebooks for children in 4 provinces in Morocco (Azilal, Taroudant, Chichaoua, and Boujdour).

The goal of this social project is to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and help families in need at this difficult time.

The project includes also distributing 5,000 organic fruits trees for the farmers in those provinces in December 2020 and January 2021. The communities are very happy about receiving this symbolic donation because most of the families are widowed and divorced women (287 women). I witnessed firsthand the happiness in the eyes of the families and childrens.

I managed this social project from the beginning. I coordinated with local associations, and I heard the needs of these communities, but when I spent the night in the Tinfidin village of Azilal Province on July 22 for the social operation, I found they did not ask for much. They needed just the essential items to live. The community lives without water in their homes, so the women wake up early to bring it from its source, walking the unpaved road. I saw a few walnut, fig, and carob trees in great condition and few parcels of land. However, youth typically leave the village and migrate to the cities due to lack of work and activities.

In my view, the communities of this village and in other villages need to give the first priority to education and to create sustainable projects by using the natural resources that they have and through the support of civil society and all the sectors related to creating socioeconomic projects.

On behalf of they High Atlas Foundation, we would like to thank Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy for supporting this project as well as the project that we implemented together in Boujdour in 2018 concerning cleaning drinking water for nomadic communities  and an environmental campaign for the schools and beach of Awziouat in Boujdour. We would like also to thank all the local associations and authorities that supported us to implement this very important social project.