“When you have a child, it’s not just your child. It’s the child of the community. From birth onward the mother is not the only one who can look after that child. Anybody else can feed and nurture the child.”

Sobunfu Some

By Imane Belhaj, Maghrebia from Casablanca- 13/03/08

Othmane left his home and school at the age of 14 to live on the street. He no longer wanted to see his mother fight the daily battle to get bread for his five little siblings, struggle to lease a shantytown house and pay for his school expenses. "The street is not more merciful," Othmane says "This is a lie; but at least she will not have to think about my daily living. In the meantime, I may be able to help her." Othmane carries bags of vegetables and other purchases for customers at a nearby market. In this way, he earns a few dirhams a day, enough to bring a little money back home when he visits once a week and still be able to buy the cheap narcotics which help him endure his suffering.  Read the rest of this entry

By Zakia Abdennebi, Reuters 20/06/2007

Five years ago Khadija's mother sent her 8-year old daughter to work as a housemaid in the city, where her first employer beat her.

"In the capital my daughter will dress well and eat well," said Manana of her decision. She is paid 500 Moroccan Dirhams ($60.56) monthly for Khadija's work. "No person likes to see their children suffering. I sent her to work for her own well-being," Manana said on condition their family name was not used. "Me and my husband cannot look after her and the other 4 children."

Now 13, Khadija is one of tens of thousands of girls working as domestics in Morocco, who according to a 2006 Human Rights Watch report face physical and psychological abuse as well as economic exploitation.  Read the rest of this entry

By Kaoutar Tbatou, Morocco Times 13/06/2006

There are in Morocco one million and a half to two million children either deprived of education, obliged to work or live in the streets. Alarming figures? Reality is even more alarming when these children’s social situations, work conditions, and the effect of exploitation on them are considered. Faced with poverty, displacement due to rural exodus, and family instability, children find themselves unprotected and, in many cases, have either to work or go on the street.  Read the rest of this entry

By Ahmed El Amraoui, Mdiq northern Morocco 09/11/2007

If questioned, the children invariably say they prefer life on the streets to the one they left behind. What they do not say is that the constant search for a safe place and the bonding that develops from such a precarious existence become, over time, a source of peer pressure and exploitation. Many of them end up suffering permanent physical and psychological harm.  Read the rest of this entry

By D Maarouf 01/06/2008

Have you ever thought why they stand there with a cloth covered in shoe polish stuck to their nose? Many of these children are chronic inhalant abusers of lethal in-toxins that apart from the long term damage it does to them, both mentally and physically, there is more worryingly ‘Sudden Death Syndrome’. A shock to their system, whilst on these inhalants can cause their heart to skip out of rhythm, causing them to cardiac arrest and die instantly.  Read the rest of this entry