Moroccan nomadic herdsmen’s life
This is a very shocking picture of a two Moroccan children. This silent picture synopsizes a lot of difficulties that a marginalized category of Moroccan people is facing. A category that has chosen its lifestyle, for which it suffers a lot. They are nomadic herdsmen who live on travelling, looking for grass for their cattle in Moroccan mountains, hills, and plains, in an endless journey. This category has been neglected comparing with other divisions. It’s a silent category which doesn’t protest in front of parliament or other institutions.
Out of school children:
The biggest losers in the journey of Moroccan nomadic herdsmen are their innocent children. They are the first victims of their parents’ lifestyle. Their continuation movement forces the parents not to list their children in schools. As a consequence, illiteracy and ignorance are spreading between nomadic herdsmen’ s children. These children find themselves with no skills but to carry on their parents’ career. So, they are deprived of learning and playing.
Difficult natural environment:
In the march of looking for grass, this category faces tough natural environment. This march is paralleled to looking for water for the cattle. Herdsmen are usually staying next to an abandoned well or next to holes that keep rain water. In droughts herdsmen are forced to buy or rent water from local villagers, in order to water their cattle.
We know that nomadic herdsmen don’t build houses, due to their everlasting travelling. So, they are tenting next to their cattle. Their tents are very rudimental, which they make themselves. Sometimes, they stay in unsafe caves, which expose them to more risks. Children in particular are exposed to danger of poisonous insects like scorpions and snake. Pregnant women also face delivery risks, because of the absence of near hospitals. So, pregnant women are forced to recourse to inexperienced local midwifes.
Conflicts with local people:
In the journey of looking for grass, nomadic herdsmen often clash with local people. Local people refuse this foreign category to be on their lands. This clash leads sometimes to deadly conflicts between herdsmen and local people. Some of nomadic herdsmen mightily herd their cattle in local people’s plantations. Usually, local authorities interfere for nomadic herdsmen, for many reasons we are explaining later. Nomadic herdsmen are also forced to herd their cattle near national highways thanks to the affluence of grass there. Sometimes, cattle cause dangerous accidents in which both drivers and animals are injured killed and killed. In the national highway that leads to western Moroccan Sahara, we still see dead lost camels.
Nomadic Herdsmen’s great economical rule:
Nomadic Herdsmen play a great rule in activating local souks, where they sale their cattle and buy other things like feed for their cattle in droughts. They play also an important rule in raising the national economy, in providing meat, leather, and fell…without importing it from other countries.
Morocco is an Islamic country, so Moroccans celebrate every year Eid al-adha in which millions of rams are slaughtered. A great part of these immolations are produced by nomadic herdsmen all over Morocco. In neighbor countries like Algeria, immolations are imported from other countries like Sudan.These are some of many reasons why Moroccan authorities are tolerating with them.
Hicham Ibaakiline
