The Alaoui-Sossi family
His wife and their three children run the campsite he wanted today: a place open to everyone.
Our father
Mohammed Alaoui-Sossi
Founder of the campsite, died 29 May 2013
He grew up in the orphanage in Meknes. He went to France, worked there, raised a family there. Then he came back here to build this campsite.
In Lyon he did many jobs: video shop assistant, hotel manager, truck driver, plumber. He ran maintenance at a centre for political refugees, worked with children, then started his own business. He had learned carpentry in Morocco.
He never kept his work apart from what he did for others. In 2006 he wrote that he wanted to hire young people from the orphanage where he grew up, and that the campsite had to stay open to everyone.
We need many small projects that, in their own way, reach people.
Letter of 27 November 2006 (translated)
In France
Before the campsite, there were other people.
In Lyon, he and his wife founded an association for the people of their neighbourhood: the unemployed, families in difficulty, people on their own. They came for help finding work, filling in a form, getting through a hard time.
He organised diabetes screening campaigns and supported families through their paperwork, for health as well as work. That is what he wanted to carry on in Morocco.
And every Christmas there was a dinner for those with nothing to celebrate with, and toys collected in schools. Father Christmas was him.
We wanted to bring together all the families hit by this scourge.
On unemployment, Lyon press, 1995 (translated)
August 2010
On the beach of Thara Youssef
The project had been blocked for five years. In August 2010, near Al Hoceima, on the beach of Thara Youssef, our father was able to speak in person to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, with his three children beside him.
That same evening, the regional investment centre called him to sign the operating licence. The building permit came in September, and the campsite opened less than a year later.
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1994
The association
In Lyon, he founds an association to help the unemployed and families.
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2004
The convoy
After the Al Hoceima earthquake, a truck leaves Lyon with food, blankets and wheelchairs.
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2005
The project
He proposes a training centre for twenty young people in Beni Boufrah, then starts the campsite paperwork.
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2007
The ambulances
Rescue vehicles found in France go to Beni Boufrah and Imrabten.
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2011
The opening
On 1 July, after six years of paperwork and eight months of work, the campsite opens.
For this project he closed his business and put in all his savings. There were years of obstacles; he did not give up. He saw the campsite open. He died less than two years later, after a road accident near Al Hoceima. We carried on.
The friends of Cala Iris
A campsite made of encounters
For decades, people of every origin and background have come through here, and many have become friends.
Each in their own way helped build the campsite, grow it and keep it going. Some while our father was alive, others after he was gone. This place owes them a great deal.
The people behind the campsite
A family, and those who became family.
His wife was already chairing Agir et Entreprendre in 1994. Their three children grew up with this project: the letters, the building sites, the summers on the land.
When Mohammed died in 2013, they chose to carry on. That year they put it in writing: this project is the last thing he left them, and they want to finish it for his honour.
The team on site
Two pillars of the team, here since the early years. When our father passed away, they stayed. Unwavering.