Casablanca at night Music 00:00
WILLACY: Night time in Casablanca -- a world away from the intrigue of the Hollywood legend. It’s Morocco’s largest city, four million people live here, thousands are young and homeless. 00:15
Omar street scenes Tonight one man discreetly seeks out the city’s street kids. His name is Omar Saadoun. In Casablanca, these youngsters are at best a nuisance – at worst a mark of shame to be pushed back into the darkness. 00:37
It’s an angry scene, the crowd turns against Omar for shining a light on Casablanca’s grimy underbelly. 00:58
Omar: What do you do for these kids? 01:06
Man: It is the government’s responsibility.
Omar: What is your role as a citizen? You do nothing for them, you are just being violent with them and calling them names.
WILLACY: Casablanca’s not an easy city for these youngsters who live on the margins, nor for those who try to help them. 01:18
Omar: The dangers I face are countless. The most dangerous incident was when some young kids threatened me with a knife. 01:28
Omar I tried to interfere when I saw a kid suffering from burns. I wanted to take him with me to take him to the doctor, but the young kids refused to give him to me. When I insisted they wanted to kill me with the knife. 01:37
Kids on street WILLACY: There’s no secret to the phenomenon of street kids, and Casablanca’s like many other cities -- not enough jobs, poverty, family break-downs, domestic violence all play their part. There’s about 15,000 children living rough on the streets here, they’re exposed to the sex trade, many end up on drugs or sniffing glue. The Moroccan government’s way of dealing with this problem has largely been to lock these kids up. 02:04
Sun rise over Casablanca Music 02:31
WILLACY: Day breaks over Casablanca, but for many it’s a false dawn. 02:44
Omar at bus station meeting children Omar Saadoun’s at the city’s main bus station. Every year, thousands of young children turn up from far flung villages and shanty towns in search of a new life. Today Omar meets another couple who’ve taken a one way ticket to nowhere. 02:51
Omar: Are you OK? You didn’t brush your hair this morning. Let’s do this, so you can wake up and have some fresh air. Are you OK? Why do you look so scared? 03:13
WILLACY: Anas is just nine years old, and Ashraf barely a teenager. 03:28
Anas came to escape a father who beats him mercilessly and Ashraf to find his father who abandoned him years ago. If it were not for Omar they’d be destined to life as outcasts on the city’s seamy streets. 03:33
Ashraf Ashraf: My father ran away to Casablanca, and then my grandmother would not take care of me. 03:49
Omar: Does your father beat you? Anas: Not always, sometimes. 03:55
Omar: I can talk to your father so that he never beats you again. I will explain to him that you are still very young and that he should not beat you a lot. I am not going to tell your father that you slept in the street. Understand? 04:01
Omar leaves bus station with boys WILLACY: Frightened, fragile and lost, these boys can count themselves fortunate -- they’ve been found by the only group in the whole of Morocco committed to helping street kids. 04:26
Omar: Where did you sleep yesterday? Child: In the bus station. Omar: You slept in the bus station? Child: Yes. 04:38
Omar takes boys to Bayti WILLACY: It’s not the most salubrious part of the city, but this is the Casablanca headquarters of Bayti, a charitable organisation dedicated to helping abandoned kids, runaways, sexually-exploited youngsters and the victims of violence. Its motto is “right to life not to survival, to affection not pity, to respect not rejection.” Set up thirteen years ago Bayti’s creator is Dr Najat M’jid, a Casablanca paediatrician. 04:50
Dr M’jid: I don’t like injustice, and I don’t like inequality. I don’t like the fact that children are being hurt. So 05:25
Dr M’jid that’s why it’s important for me to work with the children on the streets, and defend their rights. 05:33
Affluent Casablanca shots Music 05:39
WILLACY: Located on the Atlantic coast of Africa, Casablanca is a cosmopolitan city. There’s much about it that’s attractive and affluent. A place of wide avenues and classic French art deco architecture, this sprawling metropolis hides a dark side. 05:49
Port area Music 06:09
WILLACY: The city’s port is a refuge for those who live on the edge -- society’s fringe dwellers. 06:19
Dr M’jid: In the street there is violence. 06:27
Dr M’jid There are drugs, they sniff glue because it’s a drug. There is sexual abuse, there’s harassment by the police, there is hunger and cold. 06:30
Young men at port area WILLACY: A freezing, filthy place, Casablanca’s port reeks of fish guts and industrial solvent. The solvent a salve to the port’s transient, to block out the biting cold and the pain of alienation. 06:43
Omar with boy Here, Omar Saadoun is king of the kids -- one of the few who genuinely cares about their plight. 07:04
Boy in beanie Omar: How long have you been living in the port?Boy in Beanie: More than three years. I try to earn my bread. 07:18
WILLACY: But it’s not bread that most of these kids scavenge and beg for. 07:27
Omar Omar: Most kids living in the street, about 98-percent of them, sniff glue. 07:33
Boys at port All these kids come from poor families, or families that experience breakdown either because of divorce or the death of one of the parents. 07:40
Dr M’jid: When I saw the children in the streets, the first thing is incomprehension. 07:53
Dr M’jid I didn't understand -- it was unthinkable. Afterwards I felt a great deal of horror and anger. 07:58
Fund raising event WILLACY: Najat M’jid has channelled her horror and anger into fund raising. 08:06
A tireless campaigner she has to raise seven million dollars every year to keep her organisation running. 08:11
Tonight, the founder of Bayti is appealing to Casablanca’s rich to donate to her street kids program.Woman: She’s absolutely 08:22
Vox Pops amazing, she’s always in action, she’s really generous with herself. 08:32
Woman 2: Najat has the reputation of being a woman who is afraid of nothing, fearless, afraid of no-one and is a model for many women. 08:41
Dr M’jid visits children WILLACY: Since 1993 Bayti has helped more than 17,000 children. Children who cannot be re-united with their families are given a place to stay, older kids are taught trades. 08:58
Those of school age are provided with a free education in a class run and funded by Bayti. 09:14
Nawal at hairdressing salon Nineteen-year old Nawal is a Bayti graduate. A street kid, Nawal spent four-years at the Bayti school before training as a hairdresser. The horrors many Moroccan youngsters are forced to endure -- sexual exploitation, abuse and prostitution -- are the stuff of nightmares. Nawal now works in this Casablanca salon and readily acknowledges a debt of gratitude to Bayti and Dr Najat M’jid. Nawal: I owe her a lot. 09:57
Nawal Not only Doctor M’jid, but also all the educators who take care of us, especially the night staff who are very understanding. If a girl was not be able to sleep, they would listen to her. 10:00
Sidi Moumen Music 10:23
WILLACY: Just down the road from the Bayti school and office this is the shanty-town of Sidi Moumen on Casablanca’s dusty outskirts. It’s home to nearly 200,000 Moroccans. 10:35
This fetid dump not only produces poverty, three years ago it spawned several suicide bombers, angry young men who blew themselves up in central Casablanca, killing 45 people. 10:48
Aware that abandoned children can quickly be drawn into the deadly embrace of extremist Islam, Omar Saadoun promotes a different world game. 11:04
Omar at beach football match Omar: Come on! keep going. run and get the ball! Let’s go! 11:16
Music
WILLACY: Swapping their filthy street clothes for a soccer strip, these youngsters are looking to sidestep violence, drugs and sexual abuse. The beach is just a stone’s throw from the port, but to kids like Ashraf it’s a different world -- one where they’re embraced, not cast out. 11:29
Dr M’Jid and Safir on beach Dr M’Jid: When I see them playing sport in particular I see them happy which is important. 11:51
I see them far from the problems of the street. 12:00
WILLACY: Najat M’Jid is one of Casablanca’s privileged but she too knows emotional adversity. Widowed seven years ago she’s the mother of two daughters – Safir is the younger. Safir: She’s a passionate woman, 12:08
who is brave and who is strong. When she believes in something she goes with it to the end and that is why she is a magnificent woman. 12:24
Beach football match WILLACY: In a country where the King boasts in excess of twenty palaces, the government’s dereliction is damning. But thanks to Bayti a generation of homeless and hopeless young Moroccans has been given the chance to kick start their lives. 12:45