Earthquake Rebuilding with Communities in Morocco

On November 8, 2025, 250 local people attended a vision clinic held in the mountain town of Taddart Moulay Brahim, Asni, Morocco. The clinic was implemented by the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) and Mark Sachs, founder and chair emeritus of RestoringVision. The purpose of the clinic was to improve the vision of adult villagers by providing them with near vision glasses donated by RestoringVision. RestoringVision is a global nonprofit that provides new near vision glasses to communities around the world. Since its founding in 2002, it has helped over 50 million people worldwide.

Mark was assisted by his wife, his sister, and her husband who were all vacationing in Morocco. Mariam Ait Hfid from HAF provided overall management and translation support for the clinic along with HAF coordinator Si Hassan. 

The clinic was held in a small school room where villagers were escorted to an exam table to try on different glasses and determine the appropriate power to help them see better up close. This is important for community members to be able to carry out daily tasks such as sewing and religious studies. Once the correct power was identified, they were directed to another table where they picked out glasses in a style they liked of the correct power. Smiles and happy laughter accompanied the morning’s experience.

In addition to support from HAF, several young boys from the community helped with communication. They caught on quickly and were a big help in explaining the process and making it go smoothly. The community of Taddart Moulay Brahim, and especially community leader Abdelfatah, were also an enormous help in the process, providing help, lunch, and space for the clinic to take place. The clinic ran for about 4 hours and the workers were treated to a delicious home cooked Moroccan lunch. It was a very good day.