Youssef, Making the World Better
Youssef Aitha has been part of MLP since the beginning. He was a student at Lycée Moulay Rachid in Erfoud, where we developed the Purple Library — he and fellow student FatimaZahra proposed the idea for a library to their teacher, making Erfoud the first location. He was also one of the students who transformed an old storage room into the library. Youssef became an avid reader for three years in the Purple Library, preparing him for university and feeding his passion to learn about the natural world. Today, Youssef is studying biology at Moulay Ismail University in Meknes, and he dreams of being a biologist working in environmental protection.
In spring 2017, Youssef was chosen as a MENA Scholar in the Coca-Cola MENA Scholarship Program,. He was one of 12 recipients of this honor out of over 500 applicants in Morocco and studied entrepreneurship in the summer of 2017 at Indiana University. For his application essay on how to "Make the World Better," Youssef wrote about his experience with MLP and how he hopes to continue helping this initiative flourish in his country.
"I am so happy to be one of the first team members of MLP and to be a part of something great that helps me be in a high level in many things such as Leadership.
MLP means a lot to me. We’re not only talking about books and English courses, we’re talking about life changing. I am sure 100% that our project will make tomorrow more than better in Morocco, because our team is focusing on solving one of the worst problems that Morocco suffers from, which is the absence of reading. Our mission in MLP is to bring books to the hands of students in my home country and also to speed up the learning of English because we all know that English contributes to global communication. That’s very important, as we are Global Citizens now. The strength of the MLP Idea helped me win the MENA Scholarship.
The Purple Library helped me get a lot more involved and to swim deeper in the English ocean, not only the language and the US/UK culture but also global cultures. Moreover, I’ve read many books in different fields now, but I prefer the books in sciences because they help me improve my knowledge as a biologist.
A long time ago, I had a dream of doing something positive to my town, and why not to all under-resourced communities in Morocco. Now we’re achieving that dream because of MLP.
My hope is to visit the US and the world, and to bridge the gap between all the cultures."
