Children in Marrakesh

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Since I arrived, I was able to participate within more volunteering projects. We were at a girls orphanage with the intention of holding an arts and craft session. We arrived at the orphange and was greeted by the younger children with half smiles, the older children with open stares. Attempts to engage seemed to have thawed the tension with the younger children, we tried to encourage the older girls to participate, but they ignored us and seemed very sad. Throughout the session, the children seemed ´restrained´in their ´play styles´, by that I mean lack of noise and half smiles. They seemed almost sad.

I asked the lady who ran the orphanage, about those children. She replied that sometimes children are not adopted and they stay here until adulthood. Many of them will not be adopted now. There was not an answer to what will happen to them in adult life - opportunities, relationships, health and so forth.

The next day, in the Medina, I saw a guy, possibly around 16 or 17, sniffing a petrol can.

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