After several stays in the village of Magdaz, a small village in the Moroccan High Atlas, and thanks to the friendship established with the village chief, Henri Navarre created the Tassadour association which works for the health of all in the commune of Magdaz in the High Atlas and which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary on Sunday, September 29. The name chosen, Tassadour, is the compression of Taswt, l‘wadi which flows to Magdaz and theAdour, the river that gave its name to the country where Henri Navarre was born in the Landes located in the South West of France. This beautiful meeting has made it possible to carry out 4000 medical consultations this last year in a rural district where, twenty years ago, health was an unknown concept.
Magdaz, a small Berber village perched at an altitude of 2500m
Early in the morning, the sun rises over the fiery red foothills of Magdaz, a small Berber village clinging to an altitude of 2,500m in the province of Tadla Azilale in the central Moroccan High Atlas. Several hundred people live in these scattered hamlets, clinging to the arid mountain. It all started in 2000: a trip to Morocco and a high mountain guide led Henri Navarre to Magdaz. After more than 15 years of traveling around Morocco, trekking in the Tassawt Valley, an encounter changed his life: “I arrived in a village outside of time”
Henri Navarre was very warmly welcomed by the villagers. Faced with the obvious lack of care, the idea of creating a dispensary resonated with people involved in humanitarian work. He met MSF, which directed him to the Red Cross in Bordeaux, where Michelle Barbot and Nicole Rabineau, two teachers, went on site to study the pathologies, assess and clarify the needs during two missions in 2002 and 2003.
From the steps to create the association to the request for authorization from the government, Henri Navarre and his friends see the culmination of their work. The association is created in less than two years. A partnership agreement is signed between the Moroccan government represented by the Minister of Health Dr. Mohamed Biadillah and Tassadour, according to very precise clauses of rights and duties.
The dispensary was built in 2004 with the participation of the villagers, the cost of the work being covered by Tassadour, the inauguration took place on May 1, 2004. Since then, Tassadour has ensured the presence of a nurse stationed at the dispensary, as well as the presence of a local interpreter speaking Berber, Arabic and French. In the first year, more than 1,500 consultations were given and 4,000 this year.
The village of Magdaz has 1000 inhabitants and is the center of a district grouping 14 villages and about 4500 inhabitants; all attend the dispensary. The population lives and consumes essentially from what it produces: corn, wheat, barley, potatoes, onions, a little livestock, mainly used as the picking of nuts (walnuts very abundant) for other essential purchases: oil, candles, gas bottles, clothes.
For several years now, the village has been served by a road, which obviously makes access to the health center easier for all its inhabitants. Magdaz now has a water tower that supplies the homes and the dispensary. Electricity has also arrived in this village; it benefits the dispensary and all the inhabitants.
The nurse vaccinates in schools in different villages of this rural district
A rural dispensary
Since its creation, the association has recruited a nurse, in France for a period of 1 year, posted to Magdaz accompanied by a translator. Fatima, a young nurse, started this year 2024 for a two-year contract. She provides on-call services and receives the population to provide care, provide follow-up, carry out vaccinations, and give medication. Last March, following a measles epidemic in the area, the nurse vaccinated in schools in the various villages. For the past ten years,
“A work of information to demonstrate that certain infections can be avoided with good hygiene: washing hands, teeth, etc. The living conditions do not help. Women and girls spend time in the bakery preparing meals and find themselves exposed for a long time to acrid and constant smoke. Result: a simple cough can degenerate into pneumonia. Men also visit the clinic, for follow-ups of diabetes, heart problems, rheumatism, etc.”
The dispensary’s missions are based around prevention actions.
- Drug treatments for pain, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, etc.
- Monitoring women, their pregnancy, contraception, family planning
- Childhood vaccinations: annual campaign, monitoring
- Health education and hygiene actions,
- Oral hygiene
- Fight against respiratory infections and infectious diseases, ENT, headaches
The founders and managers of the association: Henri Navarre and Isabelle Bayle Roussy.
The president of the association, Isabelle Bayle Roussy: “There was nothing twenty years ago”
Regularly, Isabelle Bayle Roussy, president and Françoise Dentraygues treasurer of the association but also nurses, go on site to supervise the work and provide various operational tasks of the dispensary. Occasionally other members of the office accompany them. Interview
“Our goal, within two years, when the contract of the nurse currently in post expires, is to hand over to the Moroccan Ministry of Health. To do this, I will go to Rabat to meet with the competent authorities. I can say that the association is recognized by the institutions, the governor of the province, the Caïd and the elected officials of the village.”
Thanks to the hundred memberships, and the earnings following various events, meetings, parties, film presentations, throughout the year in the South West, and donations, the budget for the year 2023 is 10,000 euros. The association does not receive any subsidies and always has needs to cover financially.
The budget is used to pay the nurse’s salary and the dispensary’s expenses. Medicines are provided by the Moroccan Ministry of Health, vaccines by the WHO.
Today, a vehicle is available to residents in all the villages concerned, so they can travel and reach the dispensary, saving them from having to travel several kilometers on foot in the mountains. In emergency situations, the district provides the dispensary with an ambulance.
Then the president of the association continues:
“What has changed since the beginning is the perception of health by the inhabitants: twenty years ago, there was nothing. This has developed, thanks to the successive action of volunteers and nurses on site in the field of prevention, and health education.”
And this association, through its perseverance and thanks to monitoring, authentic links with the villagers, and with the local authorities, in a permanent exchange and respect will celebrate this Sunday, September 29, the 20th anniversary of the association with a barbecue prepared by the women of Magdaz.
The Partners
In Morocco in Magdaz
- M. Mohamed AN NESRI. Moqqadem
- The association “Magdaz for development”
- Moroccan Ministry of Health
- Regional Delegation of the Ministry of Health in AZILAL
- Care center in DEMNAT
- AIT AMIL Rural Health Center
In France, you can contact Isabelle Bayle-Roussy at the following email: [email protected] 22, rue Marceau, 33110 LE BOUSCAT Join the association which will welcome you with joy www.tassadour.fr
