People cannot ‘stay home’ if they are homeless.
Rabat – The Wali (governor) of the Marrakech-Safi region examined on April 11 a shelter for homeless people, as part of an ongoing campaign to safeguard the region’s transient community amid the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Ministry of Family, Solidarity, Equality, and Social Development (MFSESD) aid branch Entraide Nationale turned the City Council’s former Communal Hygiene Office (BCH) headquarters into a makeshift shelter with a 65 bed capacity.
President of the Municipal Council Mohamed Larbi Belkaid explained that the shelter’s residents will be granted meals, medicine, and other services.
“Equipping this space … aims to place the facilities and the logistical and human resources at the disposal of the competent authorities to fight this pandemic and its repercussions, ” Mr. Belkaid explained to Maghreb Arab Press (MAP).
The Moulay Rachid indoor hall was a sports facility prior to serving as the BCH headquarters. Now providing a facility to host homeless individuals, the community’s campaign has targeted 200 beneficiaries as of April 13.
The initiative is part of a nationwide solidarity effort. The MFSESD announced on March 22 the launch of a set of initiatives to shelter homeless communities during the coronavirus crisis. The initiative covered several Moroccan cities including Oujda Inezgane, Agadir, Tangier, Casablanca, Rabat, and Kenitra.
Moroccan authorities have urged citizens and residents to respect the country’s state of health emergency, which began on March 20 and is scheduled to continue until April 20.
