Fog-Harvesting Project : Story Update

Lack of water is a problem that profoundly affects the quotidian of the villages located in the region of Aït Baamrane, and more particularly the lives of women and young women who spend a yearly average of three and a half hours per day fetching water.

La Laguna University in the Gran Canaria and the Derhem Foundation launched a project for the hydric evaluation of fog in this region in June 2006. After four and a half years of observation and measurements, they came up with extremely convincing results.

The results which were the second best on a worldwide level (10.5 Liters/ m2/ Day) made it clear to Dar Si Hmad that setting a fog-collection system ( collecting water from fog)  in the region is indispensable.

The fog-collection project in Sidi Ifni is a unique initiative in the north african region, whose success will inspire other organizations to follow Dar Si Hmad’s lead, and endeavor to provide drinking water in other semi-arid regions.

In 2012, Dar Si Hmad ascertained that the system is being built accordingly, setting up all necessary material (gutters, connections) to cover the 600 m2 nets area, burying around 6 Km of pipeline underground to link the system with the beneficiaries, and constructing more infrastructure associated with water distribution and storage (wells, tank, cistern and a fountain). 

The project is drawing the media’s attention day after day, including national and international TV stations (Morocco: 2M, Germany: Pro7), national radio stations (Aswat, RTM) and made headline news on an international level.

As of April 2013, the system is almost in working order, and the water distribution is set for the summer season of 2013, giving hope for many women and girls, and opening many doors and opportunities for them.

Monthly Speakers Series - April 2013: Autism in Morocco

Dar Si Hmad decided to initiate a monthly speaker’s series, in the frame of its devotion to developing and spreading knowledge among communities. The session can be a presentation, workshop or a conference accompanied with Q&A sessions.

The first presentation took place on Wednesday April 10th at 3:00 PM in our office in Agadir, and we were proud to host Mr. Brendan Hart, a Ph.D candidate from Columbia University in New York.

Brendan presented on his current work on autism in Morocco, and many attendees from different backgrounds (professionals, university students, professors and staff),  were present to benefit from the valuable information Brendan have shared.

The presentation revolved around autism in general, from its discovery till the present. Brendan took us back to the time autism was discovered; how it was perceived and treated back then, and how the concept evolved from there, to include new cases all over the world and be handled differently from people’s original stance on autism.

In Morocco, Autism is becoming the point of convergence for many associations as well as the government, since people started recognizing the phenomenon and acknowledging its characteristics that can be illustrated by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

Morocco accounts for nearly 20 associations assisting families, and helping them find the right people to diagnose and train their autistic children. But still, the families bear all the costs for the recovery process.

The road is still long for Morocco to be ranked among the best nations to raise an autistic person in, as no official studies regarding the disorder have been done yet in the kingdom, and that support for families is still scarce. However, many prospective projects are still being discussed and may be implemented to further assist families and raise awareness towards Autism.