Dar Moustaqbel’s response to covid-19
Because of the Covid 19 restrictions, we had to adjust our methods to continue our support to students in lockdown. The virus laid bare the difficult circumstances of our student’s families. Many breadwinners, and others in their inner circle, have lost their jobs as day laborers, and have been struggling to put enough food on the table.
Directly after the strict lockdown started in March 2020, we continued our in-house lessons online. Mostly via WhatsApp as it is the most stable medium considering the weak internet connections in the rural south. In June we secured funding to invest in technological support. With this money we bought and distributed 55 laptops and loads of internet credit, to help our students progress online. And since enough food is crucial, we also created a small fund to distribute the food budget among our students and their families.
We couldn’t wait to continue being a real home to our residents. And after months of lockdown we finally reopened our students home in July 2020. Initially only for a small group of students who were having an extremely hard time. In September we invited all students dividing our residents into two alternating groups, which was a logistical challenge. Luckily since February 2021 all students stay in Dar Moustaqbel permanently. In September 2021 the Moroccan government decided to postpone the start of the academic year to October, which was a big disappointment. As of October, we hope to have arrived back to our normal daily study routine. We hope it lasts.
