{"id":918,"date":"2018-10-22T18:05:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T16:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/didouqen.com\/?p=918"},"modified":"2020-09-11T13:08:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T13:08:20","slug":"presenting-tororde-a-village-of-challenges-and-possibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/presenting-tororde-a-village-of-challenges-and-possibilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Presenting Tororde, a village of challenges and possibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan Thibaut<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

HAF Intern, graduate student<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another pretty productive and successful day today. In the early afternoon I had a meeting with the teachers I had met yesterday at the school in the Village of Tororde in the Azzaden Valley. One of the teachers, Zahara, was kind enough to set up a meeting with people from the neighbouring\u00a0Association Koutoubia pour le d\u00e9veloppement rural et la protection de l\u2019environnement<\/em>. Before I knew it I had another semi-structured group discussion going on with the two female teachers (aged 25 \u2013 35), the president of the association (Farid, aged 32), and five male locals (aged 35 \u2013 45).<\/p>\n

The teachers didn\u2019t have much to say on the situation in the village, as they were outsiders themselves, but did teach me a lot about the Educational system in rural Morocco. Apparently new teachers are completely at the state\u2019s disposal as far as their deployment goes, including spending the entire school year living at the school in which they\u2019re teaching. Zahara, for example, was originally from the far South of the kingdom but had spent the previous seven years stationed in the Vall\u00e9e d\u2019Azzaden. They told me this system was supposed to link the needs for teachers on a national level to the availability thereof, but both of them convincingly said it made the life of a teacher a lot harder. Based on a system of grades, marital status, seniority and others, teachers could later on in their careers have a bigger influence on their deployment, but in the beginning everyone must pay their dues. They also told me that the state provides an absolute minimum for the schoolchildren, but that often the teachers had to invest their own money in materials or ask the parents for some.<\/p>\n

Farid Ait Said, the president of the\u00a0Association Koutoubia<\/em>, turned out to be really interested and motivated to start collaboration with the High Atlas Foundation. I explained him about our project in Tassa Ouirgane, the participatory meetings that led up to its implementation – building gabeons and terraces along the river and planted fruit trees and nurseries, in partnership with the UNDP.\u00a0 I spoke of the commitment of the community members to supply labour and run the nursery, and the fact that this project will serve to the benefit of the entire valley. He then explained to me some more about his organisation and the work they\u2019ve been doing. Comprised out of 13 members and three years in existence, the association worked to alleviate a variety of problems. Some of the activities he named included the provision of drinking water, maintenance of the roads, collecting money to pay for electricity of the mosque, and reparations of the bridge. When I asked him if these responsibilities weren\u2019t up to the state or a local form of government, he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cEn th\u00e9orie, oui, mais c\u2019est mieux de l\u2019organiser nous-m\u00eames et effectivement r\u00e9ussir des projets, qu\u2019attendre le gouvernement qui fait rien. Concernant le pont, \u00e7a fait des mois que j\u2019ai envoy\u00e9 des courriers \u00e0 la province mais ils ne vont rien, ils ne viennent pas \u00e0 voir, ils ne me r\u00e9pondent m\u00eame pas.\u00a0\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n

“In theory, yes, but it’s better to organize it ourselves and actually have projects that succeed, than wait for the government that does nothing. Concerning the bridge, I have sent letters to the province for months but they do not go, they do not come to see, they do not even reply. “<\/em><\/p>\n

Farid quickly turned into a key source of information about the village, being an accepted organising force in the community. He took me for a transect walk of the area, pointing out a lot of problems they are facing in the community, but also the human capital and potential in Tororde.<\/p>\n