Moroccan advocate for single mothers receive $1m award

2009-11-19

The Opus Foundation recently honoured grass-roots activist Aicha Ech-Chenna for her work to help Moroccan single mothers achieve dignity and self-sufficiency.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia from Casablanca – 19/11/09

[Imane Belhaj] Aicha Ech-Chenna has long worked to empower single mothers in Morocco.

A Moroccan community leader who has braved death threats for her work on behalf of single mothers has received a million-dollar award from the international Opus Foundation.

Aicha Ech-Chenna, who founded the Association Solidarité Féminine (ASF), was honoured at a Casablanca gathering on Friday (November 13th) to celebrate the award.

"I've suffered a great deal and been pained by hard-liners who want to turn our country into a country of orphans," said Ech-Chenna, who has stuck to her work despite threats to her life from those who claim she promotes casual sex and children born out of wedlock.

ASF works to empower vulnerable women by enrolling 50 of Casablanca's poorest single mothers in rehabilitation programmes, and fully supporting each of their children. The association also tries to keep single mothers from abandoning their children and helps them secure official identity documents for the newborns.

"I can no longer take it when I hear about a father who married his daughter, because he never got to know her since she grew up in a foster family, or a brother who married his sister, which happens every day," Ech-Chenna told those at the Friday event. "I continue to fight so that every mother can keep her child, by offering her the appropriate conditions to raise him or her, unhindered by financial or legal problems."

The Opus Prize is a faith-based humanitarian award given annually to recognise "unsung heroes of any faith tradition" who are working to eliminate persistent social problems anywhere in the world, according to the foundation's website.

The prize "recognises individuals whose work and story can inspire us to tackle the world's most-deeply rooted problems", said the executive director of the Opus Prize Foundation, Amy Sunderland. "They demonstrate what faith, will and vision can do to make our world a better place. They show us change is possible."

Ech-Chenna plans to use the prize money to open a hostel for out-of-town Casablanca students, which will be staffed by women in the ASF programme.

One young Casablanca woman who benefitted from the programme choked back tears when describing how much the association had done for her.

"It offered me so much support when I was going through hard times with my unexpected pregnancy," said Fatma, 21. "The aid I received from the association kept me from falling apart."

Fatma credits ASF with helping her make a new start, hold her head high and lead a normal life with her son.

Ech-Chenna lauded the example provided by single mothers such as Fatma, who she said constantly "rise to the challenge" and hang onto their children, despite the "cruelty" of society. The determination of these women to succeed despite these challenges motivates the association, she added.

ASF also helps families overcome other difficulties by convincing fathers to marry the mother of their child and urging the families of single mothers to reconcile with their daughter.

Ech-Chenna noted that some adversaries have become proponents of the ASF, "especially since we've turned the association into an example that a number of countries hope to follow".

Activist Zainab Zul Faqar, who works on behalf of women in rural areas, came from France to congratulate Ech-Chenna on her prize.

"Every time I meet this woman, she gives me loads of hope and energy to pursue my efforts. I've learned a lot from her," she said.

But Ech-Chenna insists she is no hero. "The most courageous women are those who choose to keep their children, rather than dump them on the street," she said. "The principle of the association is to enable every mother to lead a dignified life, and to help her take responsibility for her child."