Submitted by Gwen Dellar, AIWC/Casablanca Communications, AIWA/Marrakech President
Some forty delegates attended the FAWCO regional meeting at the Churchill Club in Casablanca on Saturday January 18. This included our FAWCO president, Emily van Eerten (AWC The Hague) and 2nd VP Member Clubs, Rozanne Van Rie (AWC Antwerp). A sizeable group came from the Rabat club and two members from AIWA Marrakesh. And we were delighted to have one of our Counselors, Stella Fizazi, with us
The morning’s proceedings were devoted to presentations by three speakers on the theme of “medical caravans”, which Cynthia Smith-Ayed, Regional Coordinator for Region 7, chose as a reflection of the new FAWCO Target P.roject focusing on health, “Promoting Well-Being and Healthy Lives for Women and Girls.” Our very own Dr. Dalale Bou Ayed started the morning, telling us about the medical caravans organized by Association Al Bassam to operate on people with cataracts. Cataracts are the main cause of reversible blindness in Morocco affecting 110,000 persons each year. Only half receive treatment. 50 volunteers have provided treatment to 4000 people across Morocco.
Next up was Dr. Noureddine Bennani who has been a radiologist for 30 years, working in both the public and private sectors. The association eventually created by Dr Bennani started out purely as a hiking group, but then the doctors among them realized that there were great medical needs in remote country areas, so they started combining medical care with their hiking activities. In 2000, Association Rangs d’Honneur (a pun on the word “hikers” in French) was formed. The association now goes once a month to rural Morocco with hundreds of volunteers to provide medical care and surgery to those in need. It also aims to save and enhance the cultural heritage of these regions.
Our third speaker was Ms. Fauzia Jbara Mamoudi, Co-founder & VP of Operations for Smile Morocco. Operation Smile was established 20 years ago and to date 200 dedicated volunteers have treated 11,800 children for cleft palate/cleft lip surgery. After-care is particularly important, since if the healing wounds are not properly cleaned afterwards, fistulas can develop which means that the children must be operated on again. The whole audience was moved by the children’s radiant smiles after their operations and the chance they were given to lead normal lives.
AIWC Casablanca: Co-President Soumia Allali, Cynthia Smith-Ayed (Rep, RC7), Co-President Leila Hamaddine
In the afternoon our two guests and AWICC FAWCO Rep Cynthia Smith-Ayed gave presentations on FAWCO and The FAWCO Foundation. They emphasized the advantages of FAWCO membership for clubs. One of the points emphasized was that there is lots of “free money” on offer to charities supported by clubs and to clubs’ members, their children and grandchildren. However, unless clubs apply for the various grants they have no chance of getting them. As Rozanne said “If you don’t play, you can’t win!”
The three projects short-listed for the Target Project were announced. They are all in Africa: rural Kenya, Tanzania and the Nairobi slums. The results of the votes by clubs will be announced at the interim meeting in Luxembourg.
The FAWCO Foundation has disbursed more than $2,220,000 to support women and girls worldwide. Of this, Region 7 has received $54,500
There was a lot of fruitful discussion during the sessions and breaks and a great deal of networking, which is perhaps one of the greatest benefits of regional conferences. Of course, it wasn’t just the meeting itself we enjoyed, but all the wonderful meals, hosted by members and the Churchill Club and in local restaurants. FAWCO meetings are inspirational and uplifting for the mind, but perhaps not so good for the waistline……..
Hope to see you all next year for the Region 7 meeting in Rabat.