Mother of Four Lives in A Tent for Seven Years

By Ahlam Ben Saga

Rabat – Akhbar Al Yaoum press recently conducted an interview with Fatiha Al Moukhtari, a shepherdess and mother of four children who has been living in a tent for more than seven years.

Al Moukhtari brought the camera into her portable home, a tent that has sheltered her family for more than seven years, and began to describe the circumstances that led her to her harsh nomadic lifestyle.

Before shepherding brought them to Zayo in the Nador province, Al Moukhtari lived in the suburbs of the Taourirt region with her husband and children. However, before long, their living expenses proved unbearable. With little money left for a proper education, Al Moukhtari was two of her daughters with different families to raise them as they took up a new life as sheepherders

Though, Al Moukhtari was able to keep her youngest daughter and son with her, she hasn’t seen the other two daughters in four months, she said.

Through fatigued eyes, Al Moukhtari looked at the camera and recounted how each season of the year brings difficulties, especially in the winter when rainy and cold conditions intensify.

She shared that fear lives with her and her family constantly; even though they have a place to stay, a tent does not protect from the nighttime assaults that sometimes occur nearby.

“We spend our nights awake […] we fear for our lives and fear ails us,” Al Moukhtari said.

Her husband urges her to leave for a better life. For now,  she has nowhere to go,no way out of her rough lifestyle unless someone extends a helping hand to her family, she told Akhbar Al Yaoum.