Potential Lab in Marrakech, Morocco

Kids on Computers was contacted recently about helping with a computer lab at a boarding house for girls in Morocco.  Last month, while traveling through Spain and Morocco, my wife and I stopped by to see about it. We visited the Dar Taliba (house for girls) in Marrakech, which provides housing for girls ages 12 to 18 that otherwise would not have the ability to attend a secondary school in their area.

Because secondary schools are mostly located in larger cities throughout Morocco, many girls from remote villages are unable to attend due to the travel time. Often the girls are married off, or sent to work unskilled jobs for low pay. The purpose of the Dar Taliba program throughout Morocco is to provide housing in larger cities for these girls so that they can attend school and gain more education. In Marrakech, the Internat Soroptimist pour la scolarisation de la juene fille rurale (www.internat-soroptimist-marrakech.org) was founded by Ms. Touria Bine Bine. Ms. Bine Bine was kind enough to give us a tour and show us around.

The boarding house can accommodate up to 192 girls in dormitory-style housing, with on-site kitchen, dining hall, and study area. Once selected to the Dar Taliba program, there is no cost to the girls or their families. The boarding house is run from donations.

Currently the school has about 10-15 older, but “working”, computers in a small lab.  They also have several older, non-functional computers in storage. Kids on Computers is working to identify how we can help update and/or expand the lab. Some possibilities include:  more memory for existing computers, printer toner, new desktops, and possibly some laptops.

If you would like to help, please consider donating a few dollars to help with memory upgrades.  Or, see if your company or school would be able to donate used laptops next time the IT department upgrades everyone to a new machine.  If you can help, please contact us at donations@kidsoncomputers.org.  Thanks!