Interview with Support Flow to Morocco

We have been supporting the Support Flow to Morocco financially for several years now, as Sarah and her association do incredible work in Morocco, which we greatly appreciate and consider meaningful. Now I'm happy to have Sarah here in the interview.

Sarah Bischof, 36, commutes between Tamraght and Hochdorf, founded the aid organization “Support-Flow to Morocco” and runs a guesthouse by the sea next to Agadir with her family. Click here to go to their websites:
www.support-flow.ch
www.maison-darna.com

You collect winter donations for families in need in Morocco. What exactly do you collect?
Winter clothes, i.e. everything that is good for weight and keeps you warm: jackets and shoes especially, but also sweaters, gloves, hats or blankets. We also collect toys and school supplies, as well as wheelchairs that can also be used outside. You are also welcome to bring us school desks, footballs or stuffed animals - many people in Switzerland don't even know anymore
where to put it...in Morocco this is all very, very valued. Because you have to imagine that we are traveling in areas where you can't just get into a city so quickly.

We are traveling in the Anti-Atlas Mountains, where it also snows, where the people are self-sufficient and where we find almost all the children wearing sandals and thin sweaters despite the snow. Or in the desert, where many nomads live. The temperature differences between day and night are extreme. And the houses or tents are not
isolated like ours. No trace of comfort.

So you collect the donations in Switzerland and bring them to Morocco via a transporter?
Exactly, we are currently accepting donations in 6280 Hochdorf, in 8047 Zurich and in Wettswil am Albis. You can also send us packages. Three things are very important:

1. The items must be in perfect condition, i.e. well-used, but without stains or holes. Because the transport and customs costs of three francs per kilo, which we have to pay to the transporter at the charity rate, are simply too high.

2. The donations must be sorted (women, men, children - please sort children by size) and labeled. This makes packing extremely easy for us.

3. We are dependent on being able to cover the transport costs incurred for the delivered material . We are just a small association that currently cannot (yet) rely on any foundation funds or anything similar. In order to bring the material, which weighs tons, to Morocco and to be able to carry out our distribution campaigns
We rely on your financial donations.

The big plus point: Since we are an association, we can also issue donation receipts for taxes for larger donations. We are very grateful when, for example, companies or private individuals donate something to us at the end of the year. Or if you become a club member: www.support-flow.ch. Because we don't just do transport, we also do selective projects such as food distribution campaigns to the poor during Ramadan or, depending on the situation, we also help with medical emergencies for nomad children, for example.

And you care about animals too, right?
Exactly, we are not an animal rescue station, but we look after street cats around our “base” (www.maison-darna.com) in the south of Morocco. We care for and feed them - and look for sponsors so that we can sterilize and vaccinate the cats.
In this way, we contribute to a healthy population of street animals. I know every cat by name and we have really grown fond of them. Our daughter Luna helps enthusiastically.

How did you come to set up such an aid project?
I started doing this around four years ago. Back then, I had been commuting back and forth between Switzerland and Morocco for a few years. It's important to me to give something back to a place where I can create something.

I have always had problems with the throwaway society and have actively campaigned against food waste in Switzerland, for example. Living in the two worlds, between abundance and poverty, made me more and more aware of this gap.

And I couldn't get the images of the children with bare, blue toes in the middle of the snow out of my head. So I started collecting winter clothes and bringing them to Morocco. Then the cats came along.

Yes, and so the project grew more and more, more and more people became aware of it through my Instagram channel (www.instagram.com/supportflowtomorocco).
Collection campaigns attentive. In 2021, it became an official “Support-Flow to Morocco” association, which supports me.

In winter I stand in our charity garage in Hochdorf almost every day to sort and pack the donations. In January I will be taking part in the Anti-Atlas tours myself. And of course I'll take you with me.

It is important to me to show that the donations are being received. That's key and I think it's also our strength - since we are comparatively small.