Centenarian’s Saga: Tilburg Debunks Myth of 100-Year-Old Moroccan Woman Living on Streets

The information that a vulnerable 100-year-old Moroccan woman lived alone on the streets of Tilburg (Netherlands) for three years is false.
According to the Amsterdam-based foundation Assadaaka, a vulnerable 100-year-old woman would have wandered the streets of Tilburg for three years after the death of her husband. She would have been neglected, undernourished and isolated. This foundation would have intervened to help the centenarian find housing. This story touched all of Tilburg. But it is implausible. "This lady has never lived a single day on the street," said a spokesperson for the municipality of Tilburg, without going into details. According to several sources, the old lady left for Morocco in 2022 and has been residing with family there since then. After her departure, she was excluded from the municipality of Tilburg, as they had lost track of her.
Back in the Netherlands due to a complex need for care, the old woman was again residing with family. Tilburg was not obliged to take care of her, as she no longer lived in the municipality. Nevertheless, the municipality, with the support of the Kloek foundation and other institutions, was able to find her housing and assist her in this regard. In addition, a working group from the Moroccan community was closely involved in her departure to Morocco and her return to the Netherlands. Tilburg PvdA municipal councillor Aziza Aboulkacem, who is in contact with this working group, confirmed that the woman has never lived on the street.
"What touches me is the idea that the lady was abandoned to her fate and that the institutions concerned would have failed in Tilburg. This is false. On the contrary: a lot of time, attention and effort have been devoted to helping the lady. If the lady had really lived on the street, I would have even taken her in at my home," wrote social worker Fatima Elabbassi, also involved in the case, on LinkedIn.