Intrepid Travel donated £2,500 to its charitable arm during an event at Abta’s Travel Convention in Marrakech to help educate four girls from rural Morocco.
The donation to the Intrepid Foundation will go to Education For All, an organisation giving young women and girls in the High Atlas region – where more than 80% of women are illiterate – access to education.
The contribution will fund the lessons and safe boarding of four students for a year.
Zina Bencheikh (left), Intrepid Travel’s EMEA managing director, announced the funding during a media event, sponsored by the operator at the Selman Marrakech hotel.
She said the the Intrepid Foundation has so far raised AU$250,000 (about £140,000) for Education For All, and introduced cycling guide Zahra Ait Boumessaoud, who was one of the students supported by the scheme.
Boumessaoud was one of the guides who had taken a group of Abta delegates on a charity cycle ride for Abta LifeLine, visiting the Al-Manara Gardens, the Adgal Gardens and the Palmary.
They had lunch at Amal, a non-profit organisation and restaurant that empowers disadvantaged women in Morocco.
“Educating girls has a positive impact on the economy,” Bencheikh told delegates. “It is also one of the overlooked solutions to climate change.”
She also said how delighted she was that Abta was holding its annual convention in her home country.
Boumessaoud told Travel Weekly that she spent six years with Education for All – three at secondary school and then three at university, where she studied English.
She now lives in the city, taking clients on cycle tours and working in Intrepid’s Marrakech office.
“Education For All opens the doors to reality,” she said.
“In rural areas, girls don’t learn. In my village in Atlas mountains, I would have to cross three rivers to get to school.
“Now I have learned Arabic, English and computing.
“The cycle tours are good for customers and community, as there are too many motorcycles in the city – and I keep fit.”