Morocco Houses 3,000 Homeless in COVID-19 Response, Providing Shelter and Meals

"Here, we are treated like kings. Great chefs send us good little dishes. I have never seen so much generosity." Hakim’s joy overflows. This old homeless man, who sold handkerchiefs on the main boulevards of Casablanca, now sleeps on a mattress, takes a daily shower and eats up to four times a day in a public school, reports Le Monde.

The Moroccan authorities, supported by associations and social workers, have managed to locate and confine at least 3,000 homeless people. "To accommodate these populations, we are temporarily using gymnasiums or school establishments that are disinfected daily," says Hind Laidi, founder of the association Jood ("generosity" in Arabic), which has been helping the homeless since 2015.

This association created an interactive map on Google Maps in March to locate the homeless and allow citizens living nearby to come to their aid, by bringing them meals and other items. With the donations collected, the homeless have received thousands of masks and bottles of disinfectant gel.

Civil society is also playing its part. Volunteers have created a Facebook group, LyedFlyed ("hand in hand"), which has more than 30,000 members. They collect donations, identify underprivileged families, and then pass this information on to associations. Meanwhile, Internet users are calling on several chefs to cook daily meals for the shelters. "The Moroccan is generous by nature. Before the crisis, people had less confidence because of embezzlement. Now that the need is vital, everyone is pitching in," admits the president of Jood.