MoorishGirl discusses her meeting with Karim Tazi, who runs a number of charities in Casablanca, including one that helps people in the Casablanca bidoville (slum) where the Casablanca bombers lived:
I wish people who spend their time talking about bringing democracy to the Arab world and who accuse Arabs of not doing enough would come see for themselves. Maybe then, instead of bombing these people into democracy, they'd roll up their sleeves and help.
My first thought is to wonder whether Mr. Tazi is any relation to the Mme Tazi who sponsored La Creche Lalla Hasna when I volunteered there in the late 90's. The Creche provided enriched day care to orphans between the ages of 8 months and 3 years who lived at the adjoining state run orphanage. The children faced a hard future — illegitimate or born of prostitutes, they were unlikely to be adopted by Moroccans. At the same time, state policy discouraged adoption by non-Muslims, so they were likely to remain wards of the state for a long time. The state run orphanage simply did not have adequate resources to give the children the care and attention they needed.