A group of oldies :) will be trekking Kilimanjaro on 23 September 2017 for what we believe to be a very worthy cause for underprivildeged children.

The Taourarte Education Charitable Association (TECA) is a Gibraltar registered charity formed by a group of friends who were hiking on the Rif Mountains in Morocco in November 2014 and, by a fluke of nature had to seek shelter in the village of Taourarte due to a sudden snow storm.

Whilst in the village we had an opportunity to visit the local school and thus became aware of the precarious state of the building and lack of facilities for the pupils and teacher. As a result and, in thanks for the excellent hospitality shown to us by the villagers we decided to set up an educational charity and TECA was born.

We then learnt that schooling for children over 12 can only be provided in Chefchaouen about 3 hours travel and only accessible on off-road tracks using 4x4 vehilces. This entails substantial costs in terms of boarding fees for the villagers who send their children there. Scant financial resources of the villagers is not usually spent on the secondary education of girls. Tradidionally girls are required to help the family in chores such as collecting water, firewood and looking after younger siblings until they marry.

Our objectives are:
1. To provide funds for girls to attend boarding school in Chefchaouen in Morocco.

2. To repair or rebuild the existing classrooms. To provide adequate heating facilities. Provide a toilet block and provide solar electricity, also to bring water to the school either by pumping from a well or piping from a mountain spring.

3. To build suitable accommodation for teachers posted to this village.

We would respectfully appeal to you to support our objectives, any help will be very much welcome. Thank you!