Morocco’s High Atlas mountain region is home to farms that have grown products like olives and almonds for generations. But many were hit hard by an earthquake last year, prompting the need for recovery in communities that were already undergoing the work to become more sustainable in today’s changing world. Michaela Creel, a third-year international affairs and cultural anthropology major, got a front row seat to this work last semester while on co-op working for the High Atlas Foundation, a nonprofit in Marrakesh. It was founded by former Peace Corps volunteers in 2000 and is dedicated to furthering sustainable development in Morocco by working with the community.
Creel originally didn’t set out to go abroad for her first co-op, but when she saw the listing for High Atlas Foundation, she was intrigued by how it combined her interests and would give her hands-on experience with community engagement instead of just spending her days sitting at a desk. “It’s an interesting mix of my majors,” she said. “It had that cultural side of engaging with people in the field, but it had that international affairs side being an international co-op. I thought it would be a really, really good experience for me.”
