The kids at Centre Afaq continue to impress us with their drive and positive attitude.  We’re incredibly proud of all that they accomplish, and this week is no exception:

Since 1999, Morocco has brought together 395 motivated young individuals in a youth parliament, each holding a position for 2 years.  Until this year, participants had been selected solely by academic level – the top students from each region were given places.  This year, to improve representation and equal opportunity, 90 places will be filled by young people who apply through a selection process.

Individuals are invited to put forward their vision for addressing community issues such as poverty, non-scolarisation, and children’s rights, or supporting specific groups within the community such as girls, disabled people and people living with AIDS.

We were delighted to have two young members from Afaq submit an application.  Their idea to support their community was to create a preschool that would allow all of the children from their area attend instead of spending time at home or on the streets before they started school.

We’re excited to announce that one of these applicants was selected to go through to the next round.  She traveled to Tangier for the first ‘Youth Forum’ from Wednesday – Saturday this past week, where she presented her idea to a panel from the congressional committee responsible for observing the rights of the child in Morocco (ONDE).  Of the young people presenting ideas, 90 will be chosen to join the youth parliament for the coming 2 years.

Everyone at Centre Afaq is VERY proud of our two members for the hard work and wonderful ideas they put into their application, and VERY proud of our representative at the ‘Youth Forum’ for her courage and determination!

Check back soon for photos and updates!