I never dreamed that Africa would be my future.
When I was growing up in the Deep South, a region of the U.S. that is typically conservative and even a bit cloistered, I read stories in books and watched shows on TV about this distant and exotic land. But the idea of actually traveling to another continent was as out of reach for me as a rocket ship to the moon.
Yet here I sit, decades later, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, listening to the surf crash against the shoreline just south of Casablanca, feeling as at home on this side of the world as I felt in America. I’m surrounded by beauty, framed on one side by verdant landscape, an ancient medina that still bears influence from the Portuguese occupation on the other, with the sea in front of me and a river flowing from the Atlas Mountains behind.
In the midst of so much loveliness, though, it’s hard not to notice the blights of ugly. They stand out in sharp contrast. To me, there is nothing uglier than seeing the innocent suffer. Especially innocent animals--and more gut-wrenching still--innocent baby animals. We live in a world where vaccines for common cat and dog diseases are a dime a dozen in developed countries, available (albeit for considerably more than a dime) from any local veterinarian and some agricultural supply stores. Here in Morocco, a single vaccine costs the equivalent of a day’s wage for some people. That’s roughly twenty U.S. dollars, an extravagance that few here can afford and as unattainable for most pet owners as a trip to Africa was for me in my childhood.
The Problem
TRIGGER WARNING: The following section will include graphic photos of sick and suffering cats. Be prepared.
I recently witnessed the deaths of more than a hundred tiny kittens, all dumped by cat owners in an Azemmour spring tradition that involves separating mothers and offspring only a few weeks after birth--sometimes less than a month--and abandoning the tiny babies to die. One common location for this is the dump site near the local souk. The ground there is saturated with disease, everything from bacterial infections to feline herpes to calicivirus to panleukopenia. It’s the panleuk that ultimately gets them, some within days, while others linger and suffer for a week or more. Those who survive are challenged by other infections like rhinotracheitis, and many lose eyes and sometimes even their faces.
Over a period of weeks, I brought a total of fifty-six of these kittens, in different groups at different times, to my home in Azemmour and tried to save them. I monitored others in place at the dump site. Of the ones I brought home, three survived. Of the control group left at the dump site, only half could be accounted for a week later, and now that several weeks have gone by, I can’t locate any of the ones we were watching. I’ll publish a full report on these informal studies soon. They’re far from scientific. But they are revealing. And heartbreaking.
Feline panleukopenia is ruthless and relentless. Regardless of any heroic measures, the survival rate for kittens under eight weeks is almost zero. Parvovirus has taken its toll on puppies this year as well. The viruses are from the same family and one is a species jump from the other. Both are brutal and almost one hundred percent lethal for very young animals.
The only brush that can paint any beauty back over this ugly aspect of Azemmour is a strenuous vaccination and sterilization program modeled after successful TNR (trap/neuter/release) efforts in other countries. I know how to do this. This is a problem I know how to fix. I can make a difference here, but I can’t do it by myself.
The Solution
There has to be a way to leverage all aspects of this situation, from the beauty around us to my experience dealing with compromised animals in abandonment situations, to my skills as a writer and the eagerness of native Moroccans to help. @norrman is one great example of the latter. He is the face and spirit of today’s Morocco--educated, articulate, talented, and determined to leave an enduring legacy for all generations that come after him. There are others as well, shining lights of promise with good families and good values and a keen understanding of what it will take to make their community even stronger.
Norman, @michelios, and I have spent countless hours in discussion about options and strategies and steps to “treat the whole patient,” not just the symptoms of trouble in Azemmour like kittens abandoned to die. It’s not that Azemmour is less progressive or more imperiled than other Moroccan regions. Not at all. It’s that we see great promise here, tremendous potential for the kind of change all of Morocco seems to verge on. In our immediate environment, we can find a clear way to accomplish it.
We have a very good reason for combining a tourism and hospitality service with animal rescue and a very good business plan. First of all, we don’t have to exaggerate Azemmour’s appeal. One of the earliest settlements in Morocco, Azemmour boasts the country’s oldest “living” medina, one that dates back to the days of Magellan with the original cannons from the Portuguese occupation still bolted securely into its ramparts.
Secondly, the climate is divine. This is no arid desert. Azemmour is an agricultural district, with fresh fruits and vegetables aplenty, grown on the banks of the Oum Rabia in a fertile plain that is visible from the Azemmour riverfront. Swimming, surfing, jet-skiing, hiking, and football are only some of the local activities that people engage in year-round. An Islamic mosque and Jewish shrine sit side by side on the square, proclaiming to all that Azemmour is a place of great acceptance and understanding.
Westerners are acknowledged and accepted here, never made to feel unwelcome or persecuted because of cultural disparity. Yet in the midst of all this is everyday Morocco, untouched by tourism, unspoiled by commercial influence. In the souk, the medina, and busy town streets, daily life carries on without so much as a nod to corporate greed.
But there’s more. Within just a few kilometers is a golf course, construction for what will become the world’s largest eco-city (Mazagan,) a major horse racing establishment, and several universities. Azemmour has a hospital, a first response infrastructure, and lightning fast high-speed internet service. Not to mention a world-class veterinarian, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
One thing that struck me as soon as I first visited Azemmour is the loving attitude of its people toward the street animals who live among them. Last year, Morocco passed legislation forbidding the slaughter of street animals by any municipality, and while some jurisdictions still engage in the practice, one prominent veterinarian here reports no official killing spree against street dogs or cats since the law went into effect. He works diligently, on his own time, to monitor and help care for the various colonies of feral animals in Azemmour and on the edges of town. At this time, one does not see the massive numbers of stray animals that other regions of Morocco are known for having.
In other words, now is the time to put a TNR system in place for both cats and dogs and link it directly with tourism, so that not only will Azemmour get international recognition for the efforts of its people on behalf of the animals, but animal-lovers from all over the world will choose this town as a holiday destination because of its reputation as a humane and morally robust--yet authentic--Moroccan community.
The Details
In order to make this happen, Michel and I will need to acquire property. We have already looked at real estate in the medina that is well-suited for our hospitality goals--a house that can be used as both a private residence and a bed and breakfast, simultaneously. It’s located directly on the riverfront with a view of the ocean, the Oum Rabia, and the agricultural fields, and it’s priced in a way that puts it within negotiation range. We are not as motivated to buy property with the sole purpose of having a place to live. For Michel and me both, the only logical reason to own property is if there is a way to monetize it. A home is never an asset, according to business mogul and bestselling author Robert Kiyosaki. It is always a liability... unless one finds a way to make it earn money rather than siphon it.
We will also need a boat and a motorhome. Extravagant? If these items were just for us, yes. But if we offer hospitality travel packages for Azemmour vacations the way we plan, we will need a way to pick guests up at the airport and a means of offering beach and river tours, as well as day trips to popular locations like Agadir, Essaouria, and Marrakeh. While a passenger van might be better suited to transporting guests, we will also need to make several trips a year into France with a load of animals, much the way I sent dogs on transport within the U.S. Great homes for pets exist in Morocco, but not in an equal ratio with the number of puppies born on the streets. They will need to go somewhere, and as long as we’re working with rescue partners in Europe and the U.K., we will have to take them. To meet all of these needs, a motorhome is the only thing that makes sense.
These are business purchases we can make that have a relatively good ROI (return on investment) if they are put to appropriate use. Sterilizing and vaccinating street animals has zero ROI and needs to be managed through a nonprofit. However, based on my experiences with nonprofits in the past, the real estate, motorhome, boat, and anything else related to the hospitality business should be purchased first, before formation of the nonprofit, or rumors will abound that we’re using donated funds to finance a lifestyle. This could be easily disproven with an audit, but why invite that headache? So Michel and I will focus on our regular business and means of income first, and once that is established, form a nonprofit for the animals.The nonprofit will resurrect the acronym “TARC”, as in @tarc, except now those letters will stand for “Transatlantic Animal Relief Coalition.”
So how does that help the animals right now? Well, through Patreon and other social media, we intend to raise money for case by case efforts, one furry little face at a time, so we have stories to tell about each one as we go. Every dime raised will go to the animal it was meant for, and if more is raised than needed, it will--with the sponsor’s express consent--go toward the next furry-faced project. If the sponsor doesn’t give their consent, their money will be gratefully refunded. While we are not operating as an official nonprofit, there is no reason to accumulate funds. Money needs to be spent for the reason it was donated.
The people donating these funds also need accountability from us and full transparency. Therefore, through Patreon, we will provide up-to-date information about every animal and the progress we’re making with its care. A breakdown of how we intend to manage this is available on Patreon under “Goals.” We have a plan for monthly income of $200, for monthly income of $500, for monthly income of $1,000… if we bring in more than that through donations, we need to form a nonprofit, and doing so will change the goal structure a bit. We will cross that proverbial bridge when we come to it.
Other Possibilities
“Abroad World” will also absorb the writing and publishing enterprise formerly known as “Steemhouse Publishing.” We are undecided about a name at this time, but we have no intention of abandoning that venture. We will let the incorporation of Steemhouse expire and dissolve the LLC. However, it will return with new branding and a slightly different strategy that takes into account all the changes that have come to blockchain communities after Justin Sun and to the world in general after coronavirus. Therefore letting some time pass before wading back into those murky waters seems to be our best option.
With that in mind, the property we are considering in Azemmour would serve as a magnificent writer’s retreat and we will market it as such. Azemmour would also make a wonderful, inexpensive destination for writing conferences and other events we could organize once we are established. This would be fantastic for the local economy while going easy on the wallets of people who wish to attend. And while cryptocurrency use is prohibited in Morocco for now, owning it is not a crime, so there is no reason we could not host a Hive meetup or two as well. There’s really no limit to the opportunities we could create here, all the while providing jobs for a few locals, relief for stray and owned animals in distress, and a small boost for tourism in a country projected to lose the equivalent of more than thirty-four million dollars in revenue this year* because of the pandemic.
Please consider supporting our TNR efforts through direct PayPal donations at abroadworld.press@gmail.com or by Patreon sponsorship. We will keep our team of contributors very well apprised of our outreach efforts with animals so there will never be a doubt where the money goes. As plans for the hospitality service develop, we will share them as well. It is our hope to someday entertain you in Azemmour, so stay safe, stay in touch, and stay with us for more updates!