The auction house and a group of charities are hoping that the funds raised with the raffle will help their initiative to provide drinking water to several African countries.
Rabat – Auction house Aide Les Autres, or Help the Others, is planning to sell thousands of raffle tickets for a Picasso painting worth $1.1 million.
The tickets sold at $100 gives one lucky auction goers the chance to win the “Nature Morte” masterpiece.
The auction house aims to sell 200,000 tickets to help Care International achieve its ultimate goal to supply three African countries with clean water.
According to a statement published by 1 Picasso For 100 Euros, the fund will be used to “build and rehabilitate wells, washing facilities and toilets in villages and schools” in Morocco, Madagascar, and Cameroun.
Care, a global organization, wants to improve the lives of “200,000” people in Africa and to guarantee access to “clean drinking water in hundreds of villages and schools.”
“Worldwide, women and girls spend 200 million hours every day collecting water. Besides the colossal waste of time, they are at risk as they walk alone along remote paths and tracks,” the statement added.
The organization warned that “girls are also more likely to miss school because of lack of hygiene, especially during their menstruation. By providing clean water, we will increase girls attendance by many thousands.”
Initially, the auction was scheduled for January 6, but the organizers have postponed in order to collect more funds.
The auction will now take place in March.
Fox Business reported that the artwork was on display at the Picasso Museum in Paris.
The project, according to the 1 Picasso 100 Euros, spans five years.
On July 17, 2019 the French Development Agency (AFD) lent Morocco’s National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) MAD 536 million to improve access to safe drinking water in the northern provinces of Al Hoceima, Driouch, Nador, and Taounate.
The government also vowed to spend MAD 393 billion on the 2020-250 National Water Plan to improve the supply of drinking water in Morocco.
In addition to government vows, several NGOs and activists have launched initiatives to help villages and people in faraway places to access safe drinking water.
In September, American citizen Shelley Clevedon shared with Morocco World News her ambitions to help people in Morocco’s rural areas to access drinking water.
Clevedon initiated a project she labeled the “Giving Pool” to help girls and people in the Atlas Mountains.
The woman brings water filter bottles and larger family-sized water filters to Morocco to distribute them to families in need.
