By Aicha Galef | Program Manager
The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) and Sami's Project celebrated the planting of HAF's the one millionth tree on January 16, 2014. HAF was honored to have Dr. Rachid El Kouhen, the impetus of Sami's Project, present for this joyous occasion that celebrated the too-short life of Dr. El Kouhen's son, Sami, and a greener future for Moroccans. Sami's project honors Sami El Kouhen, who illustrated a love of the outdoors before succumming to cancer at the young age of three. Sami's memory is evoked by the planting of trees by elementary school-aged children to bring sustainable and transformational benefits to Morocco.
On January 16th, Dr. El Kouhen represented Sami's family to share in the celebration of the 1 Million Tree Campaign and Sami's Project. With HAF Program Director Malika Kassi, Dr. El Kouhen planted trees with students of five schools and explained to the students the importance of protecting their trees. School children at 43 locations around Morocco planted trees and took part in lessons about environmental preservation. Dr. El Kouhen also visited a local association women's association to learn from the women about the issues they are faced with and the goals of the association.
Looking to the future, Dr. El Kouhen imagines the young participants of Sami's Project growing up alongside the trees they planted, which was made possible by the kindness of donors all over the world. He hopes that they will be proud of their hard work and of the impact upon their community and Morocco as a whole. The gift of trees to the youth of rural Morocco provides an important development tool to encourage responsible stewardship for coming generations. The planting of HAF's one-millionth tree was an important and joyous day for HAF and the El Kouhen family, but Sami's father considers every tree planted as a pinnacle of the project.
HAF and the El Kouhen family are thankful to the support of so many contributions that have helped this project thrive and grow. Now that HAF has planted one million trees, we look to planting one billion trees so that thousands of young people may benefit from Sami's project and his legacy.
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