By Sawhar Gbaa in Rabat,gbaasay@gmail.com
A humanitarian worker says the Morocco-based Fondation Orient-Occident (FOO) is currently catering to thousands of African migrants at its center in this North African country’s capital, Rabat.
The vast majority of them between 19-27 years old migrated to the North African country over the last three to six years.
“With support from the Government and other relief Agencies, we are hosting them through programs to rebuild their lives”, Fatima Zahar of the intercultural not for profit foundation said on the sidelines of a recent migrant centered media training held in Rabat from September 9-14.
Once registered with the reception center, they are offered education and psychosocial assistance. Beneficiaries of the charity also include refugees from Syria, Sub Saharan Africa and other countries as well.
At 34, Esther, a Nigerian single mother of one says she is not contemplating returning home anytime soon, being among the lucky ones the reception center is caring for, and with a recognized refugee status.
But for Abou Baker Sidik, another youthful migrant of mixed Nigerian-Ivorian parentage, his prime goal for leaving home is to acquire education and will return home once that is accomplished.
Despite the challenges migration poses, the vast majority of those spoken to explained that at this moment, returning home is not an option.
Though conditions for migrants in Morocco may be considered relatively better, the case is quite different in other North African countries such as Libya, where they are subjected to various forms of torture with some resulting to death.
In one instance in that country, a Liberian woman was subdued, her legs pulled apart as someone beat her in the genital.
The wave of migrant torture in Libya at the time was only minimized following an intense international pressure and outcry.
According to a UN report, an average of six migrants died crossing the Mediterranean every day last year.