“Mercy Box”, Moroccan Girls Grant Their Hearts to The Poor

Morocco World News

Rabat, August 6, 2012

Those who think that Moroccan girls are incompetent are certainly mistaken. Those who think that Moroccan girls’ sole place is in TV or in the home are completely wrong. They need to reconsider their views about Moroccan girls because the latter are doing marvels nearly in all domains. This is not subjectivism or exaggeration but an ablaze truth we shall explore as our article unfolds.

Aside from the great leadership Mr. Kamal Oudrhiri is displaying at NASA to find life in the space, there comes recently a good initiative introduced by some Moroccan girls living in the Netherlands. These girls under scrutiny pondered about what to do for their Moroccan compatriots living in abject poverty during this blessed month of Ramadan. They all agreed to give a hand to the poor.

The initiative named “Barm Hart Box”, which can be translated into “Mercy Box”, is the idea of a couple of Moroccan girls who met on Facebook. They are neither a non-for-profit organization nor an official institution, but a group of girls sharing and love care for their country.

The members of this active group are coming from different Dutch cities and they share one objective: to bring the smile again to the faces of the impoverished in Ramadan.

The call the group launched in Facebook and Twitter in no more than two weeks has yielded positive results. Many Moroccan immigrants hurried to provide them with all sort of help and support they were looking for.

The voluntary group emphasized that they were not asking for money; rather, they were looking for food supplies, school equipments, and other medical provisions. As such, Mounia Shkout and her friends summarize the aim of their project. “We receive people’s help and we amass that in a big store which one merchant put at our disposal in The Hague.

Though still young, this initiative has attracted the Dutch media. Politicians and other officials from all religious and political affiliations have been interested in their superb idea. Some of the members of the group have been honored by the parliament and the current minister of finance belonging to the Christian Democratic Party. They have also been received by the ex-minister of education Mr. Plas Stirk (from labor party) and the outstanding figure in the socialist party Harry Fan Bomal.

The initiative captured the attention of some Moroccan celebrities like Mohammed al-Jam and Nasr Dine Dashar, who encouraged his fans in Twitter to fully support this female initiative.

The group called on the Moroccan customs to be more collaborative and, therefore, facilitate the process of delivery since most of these girls are still inexperienced in terms of voluntary and charity work.

The collection of all donations will continue until August 11. Afterwards, they will be transported to Morocco. Al Hoceima, 536 km (333 miles) North West of Casablanca, will be the first city to benefit and then the aid will be extended to other cities.