Morocco’s Martil: Families Struggle with Poverty as Pandemic Lockdown Cuts Off Income

According to Hespress, in Martil, several households have been deprived of income, overnight, following the state of emergency imposed by the Ministry of the Interior to curb the coronavirus epidemic.

Subsisting mainly on small free and informal jobs, Moroccan citizens in Martil, under mandatory confinement, have recounted their daily lives in a video, broadcast on YouTube by a community activist in the city.

Fatima, an elderly woman living alone, said she had received no assistance from the authorities, although she was used to begging. Another woman, divorced, is eagerly awaiting external aid, knowing that she has no daily or monthly income.

For his part, Mohamed, a shoe shiner from Casablanca, acknowledges having received the exit permit, without however being able to meet his daily needs.

For Bouchta Krachi, president of the Atenca association, many children in difficult situations are concentrating near shopping centers to ask for alms during the confinement period.

He added that many precarious families had refused to have received aid proposals from the authorities, apart from one case contacted by a benefactor.