20091130

CASABLANCA, Nov 30 (Reuters Life!) - A decade of social reforms has granted more freedoms to Moroccan women, yet most who give birth outside marriage are still treated like criminals, abandoned by family and friends.

The sight of a young, unwed mother being forcibly separated from her newborn baby shocked Aicha Ech Channa, a nurse in a Casablanca hospital who had also recently given birth.

"As the other nurse pulled the baby from her mother's breast, her milk spilled onto the baby's face and it started to cry," she said. "This woman was devoted to her child and yet she was forced to sign it away."

The baby's cries and the mother's anguish haunted Channa, who gave up her job to devote herself to single mothers in distress, who were often persuaded to give up their babies rather than live with the shame and public disapproval.

Over more than two decades, her association "Women's Solidarity" has offered thousands of women a stable future so they don't have to abandon their offspring.

Counsellors offer the mothers psychological support, doctors check their health and for three years they are taught skills that can bring them an income such as cooking, baking, sewing, make-up and hairdressing.

Channa's work made her the first Arab Muslim woman to win the $1 million U.S. Opus Prize, awarded to individuals for outstanding achievements in resolving serious social problems.

Receiving the prize at St. Thomas University in Minneapolis this month, Channa dedicated her win to King Mohammed and the Moroccan people.