V I R G I N U N I T E

newsletter
GUESTS NEWSLETTER ISSUE 7 AUGUST 2008 Compiled by Eve Branson

“WHAT IS VIRGIN
UNITE? WHAT IS ITS
AIM? WHAT DOES
IT DO?”
WELL, AS RICHARD HAS ASKED ME
TO HELP WITH THE LOCAL VIRGIN
UNITE ENTERPRISE IN MOROCCO, THIS
NEWSLETTER GIVES SOME ANSWERS TO
THOSE QUESTIONS.

V I R G I N U N I T E

C O N TA C T
Morocco
Virgin Unite
The School House
N E W S A N D D E V E L O P M E N T S F R O M T H E AT L A S M O U N TA I N S
50 Brook Green
Hammersmith
London W6 7BJ
tel: +44 (0) 203 126 3962
fax: +44 (0) 203 126 3980
email: sue.hale@virginunite.co.uk
K A S B A H TA M A D OT • ASNI • ASSELDA • TIMZRA • TA N S G H A RT
 virgin unite morocco
Further Billy Goat Tales
If you are thinking of sending 30 Cashmere goats from England
to Morocco – I’d advise you to think again!
In past issues of this newsletter I’d already mentioned my wish
to bring a herd of white Cashmere goats to the area near
Kasbah Tamadot. This crazy idea came to me in the middle of
the night and it all seemed so simple and so positive, creating
jobs for the men herding the goats whilst the girls would be
able to spin and knit using the Cashmere wool.
This idea was all falling nicely into place, and when an English
farmer friend said she had a pedigree herd and wanted to retire
from farming, I decided to buy her entire herd of 30 ‘nannies’
(female goats) as well as one male – Billy. Billy is a grand white
male, proud of his large curling horns, that I’ve nicknamed Richard.
Up to the farm I fled, camera and cheque book at the ready,
followed by a quick visit to Morocco to consult Brahim, Kasbah
Tamadot’s House Manager, to discuss purchasing some suitable
land near to the craft house in the village of Tansghart
opposite the hotel. The craft house has recently been
completed and we are teaching 40 young Berber girls to
produce embroidery, knitwear and patchwork items, as well as
various crafts which we are selling in the Virgin Unite shop
behind Kasbah Tamadot’s tennis courts. In this way they are
learning a trade that will allow them to earn their own living.
Above the craft workroom are two en-suite bedrooms ready
for any volunteers to stay and teach the girls new craft skills.
Berber girls learning patchwork Rugs in the making
quick update
With the craft house and its two bedrooms finished, Patricia
McLaughlin, who accompanied me on a previous visit, was
able to return and stay in early May 2008. Patricia had a
tremendous impact on the girls on that first visit, teaching
them patchwork skills, and on this trip she was accompanied
by her friend Veronica Ferguson for four full days.
We organised a cook and cleaner during their visit, although as
they were unable to speak each other’s languages there were
some very funny misunderstandings! All should be much
improved in future as the girls are now learning English.
When she first arrived at the workshop, Patricia was thrilled to
find 24 young girls keen and excited who had arrived punctually
at 9.30am.They stayed and worked on patchwork until 5.30pm!
Quarantine Alert
We then fixed a date for the goats, all of which had by now
been thoroughly acquainted with Billy, to be flown out to
Morocco. Everything seemed fine until all livestock in England
last summer was suddenly quarantined owing to an outbreak
of two cases of ‘foot and mouth’ disease. My enthusiasm was
dashed; gloom descended as fax after fax was sent to and from
the Ministries of Agriculture both in Rabat and London.
When the quarantine finally lifted and the correct permissions
and forms were almost ready, my excitement was building again
when suddenly – wham! – there was a case of ‘blue tongue’,
another disease affecting livestock that required a further
quarantine. With the goats now pregnant our timeline was
thrown off as it was too late to travel. My dream was fading fast
though the goats were blissfully unaware, peacefully munching
on our English pastures whilst waiting to give birth. We’re
working hard to get around these issues, however, and I’m
confident we will succeed!
Rockin’ The Kasbah Once Again
You may recall that in a previous newsletter I talked about a
wonderful star-studded charity event put on last year by some
generous American friends in Los Angeles called ‘Rock the
Kasbah’, which raised a fantastic amount of money for the
benefit of all the villages around Kasbah Tamadot. At that event
I gave a PowerPoint presentation showing pictures and
explaining our aims.
The Americans are generously repeating the ball later this
summer, so surely a filmed documentary this year would be
more explicit than my somewhat amateurish PowerPoint
presentation?! We managed to organise a camera crew to do
some filming of the Cashmere goats, so up to the farm I sped
once more. On arrival I couldn’t understand why one of the
American crew members was so excited as she was putting on
her newly bought gum (Wellington) boots. “Gee honey,” she
explained as she discarded her high heels, “we don’t have gum
boots in New York!”
A trip to an English farm was certainly an experience for the crew,
but what was even more exciting as we ventured through the
old barns and out to a buttercup field was spotting the 30 newly-
born white, fluffy kids – their 30 proud mothers never far behind.
In the centre of the field was their play area of planks of wood,
shoots and seesaws. We managed to entice all 60 goats with
juicy branches (as well as proud father Billy) to gather round,
giving the camera crew plenty of shots. I felt utterly content
cradling the newly born white baby kid in my arms!
I’ll be sure to update you on the goat saga in future newsletters!
An Unforgettable Welcome
Now my priority was the of the 40 girls separately on
older girls at the craft house my last visit they were proud
in Tansghart, where all 40 today to be able to pin their
are still turning up every day. names in English on their shirts
We’ve divided them into 20 in – thus I can now call them by
the morning and 20 after their own names!
lunch, but there is a snag – I The girls’ Berber craft teacher
can’t understand Arabic or the Amena proudly showed us all
Berber language. After a quick the embroidery and patchwork
word with Brahim, he found an they were making whilst the
Discussions on finding an English teacher Amena and Eve in the craft house
English teacher to come every team was busy photographing
Sunday. So in future instead of and interviewing the girls.
just smiles, we’ll be able to communicate and I’ll be able to report When it was time to leave the
on what they’re really thinking – for better or for worse! girls were proudly calling in
On my last visit to Kasbah Tamadot in July 2008 I was able to English “Bye Madam”, “Thank
bring along the same documentary team that filmed on the you Madam, come back!”
farm in England. The footage they obtained here will be added Outside Amena was waving
to the shots of the goats and presented at the next ‘Rock the from her motorbike which
Kasbah’ event later this year. But before I set off to meet the we’ve just bought her, wide
crew, there was time for a swim and a quick breakfast watching smiles behind her scarf and
the sun breaking through the tall cypress trees that line the crash helmet, her white Amena waves us off from her new motorbike
infinity pool with the dramatic mountains beyond. Djellaba flowing around the
wheels.
I would like to think the team have ample film footage and
great memories from the visit. I, for my part, had thanks enough
when Amena arrived late on my last night with ten exquisitely
hand embroidered napkins and a blue embroidered table cloth,
a present from the girls – what more thanks could you possibly
want?!
Reflections…And Plans For The Future
My next dream for the villages is to organise a doctor who will
Eve and the shopkeeper showing off the patchwork Shopkeeper in the village craft shop hold a monthly clinic. At present there are no doctors nearer
than Asni, and with no transport available, this seems the next
priority. In addition, the local school has no water or loos for the
First we showed the film crew the craft shop where we sell any
younger children, though I am hoping to secure funding and
goods the girls have made in the nearby village: carpets, bags,
support from Virgin Unite and Kasbah Tamadot, and on my next
aprons and various knitted garments. The shopkeeper, a tall,
visit I will take a further interest in this project.
elegant, dignified Berber with a greying moustache, always dressed
in a bright, colourful, flowing Djellaba, was only too happy to I feel so very privileged to have found the simple art of loving
answer their questions (with the help of an interpreter of course). and living high in the Atlas Mountains. This surely is a world
separate from any other, where the people have not been
We then drove the team over to Tansghart, my favourite
contaminated or exploited – people wanting nothing, asking
village across the valley from Kasbah Tamadot.We dropped the
for nothing. All my life I’ve tried to find a philosophy, a religion.
team off in advance so they could set up and film the girls’
Perhaps I’ve found it in this simple mud brick village.
reaction to my arrival (I started with only three girls, six months
ago sitting on a mud floor and now there are 40). The crew was
not disappointed! The welcome was tremendous – kisses galore
– two on one cheek and one more. Having photographed each
EVE BRANSON