Projects

Our aim is to be as sustainable as possible and help, not dictate to local people. We are too small to be a registered charity but we do a lot of project work in the villages of Tighza. The village contribute labour and food for the workers, while funding comes from local tourism. We work alongside the Tighza village association, Baraka Community Partnerships (a registered charity) and Exodus (through the Friends of Conservation charity).

In addition money earned by the Homestays helps the families to pay for finishing their houses, making alterations or repairs, medical expenses as well as every day living costs.

Disposal of plastic, batteries, metal, broken glass and crockery is a big problem in Morocco as there are few recycling facilities for these types of waste. The Homestay houses, including those outside of Tighza are encouraged to dispose of their waste safely and appropriately and not to have litter within the vicinity of their homes.

By coming on a Homestay holiday you can aid the local community to support themselves.

• We shop locally and use local village produce when available
• Generate income locally for villagers
• Use local services i.e. mules, village minibus and taxis
• We filter water. If we buy water we get 5 litre bottles which are reused to collect drinking water. This reduces plastic waste
• Vegetable waste is fed to the livestock
• Waste material from the animals is taken out onto the small fields and used as fertiliser
• Meat waste is given to cats and dogs in the village
• Bread is left to harden and distributed to local shepherds to feed their dogs
• Educating the villagers about responsible disposal of waste, discouraging littering
• Recycling projects are in their infancy here but 2 local shops are now collecting metal including tins, plastic shoes and bottles, the children gain money for every kilo they collect

For clients who want to actively participate or get more involved:

We need cash to pay for operations and medical expenses for poor people. We make their first appointment and actively support them through the whole process. Few Berbers have enough money to pay for treatment even in the Ministry of health hospitals and even fewer have health insurance.

• Plant a tree and improve the local environment
• Donate a food parcel of basic supplies to a poor family
• Bring out and distribute clothes and shoes to local poor families
• Sponsor a family for a year. Funding provides school materials, clothes and medication for the children. We provide you with updates on their progress
• Drink tea or eat a meal at a local home and the money goes direct to them
• Don your decorating clothes and help a local family who lack the resources or skills repair or decorate a room in their home (roofs often need repair following heavy rain)
• Help build a compost loo
• Muck in on a community project like building a water tower
• Bring out and help distribute energy saving light bulbs
• Contribute to dental or medical expenses (we come across people regularly who have not sought help as they cannot afford it) and have a small pot of money to assist them.

Through Exodus the London based Trekking and Walking tour operator Mohamed manages the Tighza Project. This was initially set up to provide piped drinking water for the villages of Tighza and to build a toilet block for the school which was previously without toilets. Since then the village has built a wall around the school and in partnership with Exodus now has school gates and a computer. Exodus has run 3 successful volunteer trips to Tighza to revamp the schools in Tighza and Tafarout providing new doors, repairing and painting walls, repairing and recycling windows, providing a better learning environment for the children. Volunteers have also repaired and painted homes of elderly villagers and very poor families.

Exodus clients have made operations possible for 2 villagers; one 12 year old girl who was almost blind from birth due to cataracts now attend school and studies like the other children. A single mum who had a 2 kilo lump on her face which was increasing at an alarming rate has had an operation to remove the lump. Medication is needed for the next 5 years at the cost of £30 a month. A church organisation also helped with the cost of the operation.

Exodus has sourced and provided reading glasses for the village for men and women over the age of 45.

Exodus has provided £1000 to assist in building a new water tower.

Exodus have provided Energy saving light bulbs to each house to reduce glass waste and save energy, this is an ongoing project. Exodus provided the school toilet block, which needs regular repair and maintenance. The school needs roof repairs, windows replaced and new doors and has no heating in winter.

The village association house (a previously semi derelict building ) was completed in 2009 and two carpet making looms were bought by Exodus for local women to make carpets. Due to the lack of electricity to the building there is no lighting or heating so in winter it is more difficult for women to work there but hope that during the warmer months visitors will go to the association house and support the local economy by buying carpets directly. This benefits the women themselves and the village association.

We ask visitors to bring hard plastic and wooden toys (easy to clean) that are no longer used, so that once every 2 weeks the women and younger children of the villages can get together and have playtime at a playgroup in the association house (Most homes do not have toys and there is no early education for children under 7 years old). We will then only need funding for plastic storage boxes and cleaning materials. This meeting bi weekly will also assist in educating the women in health issues relating to them and their children.

Targets for 2010 We desperately need medical services available locally. With irregular transport, the unmade piste road and 17km trip to Telouet babies are often born at home without the basic equipment or hygiene standards. This has led to a number of deaths both during and after birth of mothers and babies. Miscarriages are also commonplace. Exodus contributed money and labour towards building and decorating the Doctor's house and surgery in 2007, 2008 and 2009. We now need funding for surgery equipment and furniture. The surgery needs windows and equipment. It will provide medical services for 6 villages in our valley. We are still chasing up the local caid (Mayor) and the ministry of health to approve a Doctor. Qualified midwife or nurse for us (an ongoing and frustratingly slow process). In the meantime both buildings are rented out to teachers of the school as houses to put funds back into the village association (there are currently no emergency funds for repairs to broken water pipes supplying the villages etc).

The current provision for first aid and over the counter medications is that people come to us. This is for minor ailments, cuts, burns, sprains, headaches, colds and coughs etc. Medicines are provided by clients of Exodus and Homestays.

In the long term plan the village chiefs would like to have funding for an ambulance for emergency transfers to Ouarzazate or Marrakech and to build a tourist standard hammam. This will provide local employment and eventually become self funding with cash paid back to the partnership once the hammam is in operation. Villagers will pay a small sum and tourists will pay a little more with a charge for massage etc. Hammams are expensive to build so this too needs initial funding. The aim in particular is to improve the health of the women and children.

To find out more about the Tighza Project visit the Exodus website or contact Andy Mckee at andymckee2007@yahoo.co.uk or visit the Baraka Community Partnerships website.