Moroccan family literally living in public toilet, BBC News
While I’m sure nothing in this BBC article was meant to be humorous, did they have to end it with this sentence: “It reflects the huge gap between rich and poor in Morocco: some people live in luxury, others live literally in a toilet?”
The article focuses on a family in the Sale area who have been living in the toilet where the father is attendant. After complaining about the conditions, the toilet was blocked up with concrete, leaving the family homeless.
The gap here between rich and poor is unbelievable. I mean, there are the the wealthy, which I don’t need to describe. Then there’s the middle class, which actually encompasses quite a range - those with nice cars and new apartments, those with old cars and new apartments that they’ll be paying off for the rest of their lives, those with old houses and no car but enough money for new clothes and new gadgets like computers (this would be many of my students) - I find the latter most sensible, honestly.
Anyhow, after that there’s the poor. Not a whole lot of in-between. The poor sometimes live in the medina homes their families have owned for literally hundreds of years, usually without modern plumbing, sometimes iwhtout electricity. Other times they live in shanty towns or slums, with corrugated metal roofs held down by rocks. And then there are the homeless.
Makeshift home over the fence from Chellah, Rabat
This particular story by BBC News contained an interesting quote from the family. The father said “I think I may find a boat in Tangier and take my wife and children away. Maybe we will die in the middle of the sea. Maybe it will take us to a place where it is easier to get something to eat. But we would find it hard to leave Morocco, because we are proud of it.”
To be that poor yet still remain proud of your country must be a difficult thing. That, if for no other reason, is why it’s so important for Morocco to take care of its own. While HRM the King is signing agreements with Saudi Arabia for big projects and Princess Lalla Salma is talking with Queen Rania of Jordan about stopping child labor (read more), it is my hope that this family, ignored for so long, also benefits.
Photo by Jillian York
June 4th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
This is a sad, but all too true and often-seen, situation. In fact, I passed by a “house” like in the photo very recently here in Fez. But, Moroccans are proud of Morocco and somehow separate current economics and/or politics from Morocco itself. With such a long history of ups and downs, everything is transient. And yes, I hope these programs lead to some benefit and not just more ‘chomeurs diplomes’.
June 8th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
that’s was reported 1st on the daily newspaper Almasaa about 3 weeks ago, there was another story with a man having the jail adress as his home address