association.takdift.taznakht

ارتسامات السيدة عالية كات حول الجمعية
زيارة روض الاطفال
Taznakht Day 4: A Trip to the Talouste Schools
In addition to meeting the Mohamed’s family, I was able to spend some time in Talouste, On onr of our excursions I headed down to the road to where Mohamed’s sister, Karima was teaching a kindergarten class in a one-room schoolhouse. Being in front of the kids in this rural village in Morocco reminded me of being in front of my second and fifth grade classes in the Oberlin public schools as a Spanish teacher in the SITES program. I reminded myself that kids everywhere are the same. Unfortunately for these kids, though, access to resources is not quite the same. Although these kids had various books teaching the Amazigh alphabet, Tifinagh, it was apparent that the school was missing obvious material and infrastructural support. For one, there were far too many kids than there were desks or seats. There was not enough blackboard space for Karima to teach her lesson. The kids did not have any slates or notebooks with which to write down the lesson or jot notes. There were bathrooms but somehow they had no plumbing or sewage system connected to them, so they lay dormant, never having been used. While the class was surprisingly even in terms of numbers of boys and girls, it was clear that the schools needed serious support in order to retain the same students past elementary school. In rural areas there are high drop-out rates for students after elementary school, especially for young girls.
a computer
more textbooks for each student
more chairs
more desks
adult chairs (not just mini chairs for students)
another blackboard
more chalk
proper plumbing for the restrooms
One of my goals with Kantara Crafts, my fair trade rug-importing business, is to reinvest a portion of my proceeds into local education initiatives. After speaking with Karima and Mohamed at length, I was able to compile a rudimentary list of their needs in terms of supporting local kindergarten and adult literacy classes. It seems that they need:None of these items are all too expensive, and with any luck as I sell their Tilaouh rugs, I will be able to reinvest in the schools through Kantara’s Education Fund.