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Ya Biladi
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Ya Biladi
From Labani to freezies : The treats that kept 90s Moroccan kids cool
In the middle of August, in the thick of a heatwave, with the blazing sun beating down, 90s kids can't help but remember, with a nostalgic smile, how they fought the heat. Back then, nothing beat the joy of ice cream and frozen snacks to stay cool and make the most of summer holidays. Today, store freezers are packed with endless choices, but millennials in Morocco didn't have that luxury. Their handful of options, though simple, left a mark that still lives on, resurfacing in Facebook posts, Instagram reels, and YouTube videos that transport us straight back to those carefree summer days. If you're a millennial who grew up in Morocco or visited during the summer, Yabiladi has compiled a list of your favorite frozen summer snacks. Disclaimer: you might get emotional. Vanilla-and-wafer «Labani» Want ice cream and wafer? Moul Labani has you covered with his street ice creams, the Moroccan way. For many 90s kids in Morocco, this treat was the highlight of a day at the beach, a trip to the local moussem (festival), or a day at the fair. The ice cream was most often, if not exclusively, vanilla, sandwiched between plain, crisp wafers, a very thin, flat, light biscuit. That's why it's called Labani, which is a Darija word derived from the French la vanille (vanilla). Although it was only vanilla, it was a faithful companion to kids during hot summer days. And just like in American movies, where spotting an ice cream van is considered good luck, seeing a Moul Labani vendor was also a sign of sweet, refreshing fortune. Typically dressed in a white coat, he carries a large metal box that he places in a two-wheeled cart. Today, Moul Labani is still holding on despite the endless ice cream options available to kids. But for those longing for a taste of the past, you might just be lucky enough to stumble upon him. A Stick, Yogurt, and Abra Kadabra Ice Cream For those who didn't have access to Moul Labani, or were forced to play indoors, a clever trick emerged: why not make ice cream at home if we couldn't buy it? The ingredients were simple and usually found at home: a wooden stick (or sometimes a spoon from the kitchen drawer), a yogurt of any kind, and the freezer. 90s kids would pierce the yogurt lid with the stick or spoon and place it in the freezer overnight. For a genius idea like this, patience was key. Those who preferred grenade-flavored fermented milk didn't pierce it; instead, they waited until it froze and then sliced it in half, always with an adult's help. These DIY ice creams became so popular in the late 1990s that hanouts (corner shops) started making them for kids to buy ready and frozen. Milk and yogurt companies also jumped on the trend, releasing yogurt drinks that hanouts froze and sold in halves or even quarters for those on a budget. Fun freezies Freezies were another refreshing favorite for Moroccan kids in the 90s. Made by sealing flavored liquid, like sugar water or fruit juice, inside a plastic tube and freezing it, they were a simple yet irresistible summer snack. Fun and colorful, they came in a variety of flavors, such as cherry, orange, lemon-lime, watermelon, cream soda, blue raspberry, and grape. What more could a kid ask for while running around, playing outside, or gaming on a Nintendo than one of these sweet frozen treats?
Japan Times
19-03-2025
- Health
- Japan Times
Musk says aid cuts haven't killed anyone. That's not true.
As the world's richest men slash American aid for the world's poorest children, they insist that all is well. "No one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding,' Elon Musk said. "No one.' That is not true. In South Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, the efforts by Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump are already leading children to die. Peter Donde was a 10-year-old infected with HIV from his mother during childbirth. But American aid kept Peter strong, even as his parents died from AIDS. A program started by former U.S. President George W. Bush called PEPFAR (U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) saved 26 million lives from AIDS — and one was Peter's. Under PEPFAR, an outreach health worker ensured Peter and other AIDS orphans got their medicines. Then in January, Trump and Musk effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development, perhaps illegally, and that PEPFAR outreach program ended. Orphans were on their own. Without the help of the community health worker, Peter was unable to get his medicines, so he became sick and died in late February, said Moses Okeny Labani, a health outreach worker who helped manage care for Peter and 144 other vulnerable children. The immediate cause of death was an opportunistic pneumonia infection as Peter's viral load increased and his immunity diminished, said Labani. "If USAID would be here, Peter Donde would not have died,' Labani said. Achol Deng, an 8-year-old girl, was also infected with HIV at birth and likewise remained alive because of U.S. assistance. Then in January, Achol lost her ID card and there was no longer a case worker to help get her a new card and medicines; she too became sick and died, said Labani. Yes, this may eventually save money for American taxpayers. How much? The cost of first-line HIV medications to keep a person alive is less than 12 cents a day. I asked Labani if he had ever heard of Musk. He had not, so I explained that Musk is the world's wealthiest man and has said that no one is dying because of USAID cuts. "That is wrong,' Labani said, sounding surprised that anyone could be so oblivious. Another household kept alive by American aid was that of Jennifer Inyaa, a 35-year-old single mom and her 5-year-old son, Evan Anzoo, both of them HIV-positive. Last month, after the aid shutdown, Inyaa became sick and died, and a week later Evan died as well, said David Iraa Simon, a community health worker who had assisted them. "Many more children will die in the coming weeks,' said Margret Amjuma, a health worker who confirmed the deaths of Peter and Achol. On a nine-day trip through East African villages and slums, I heard that refrain repeatedly: While some are already dying, the toll is likely to soar in the coming months as stockpiles of medicines and food are drawn down. Two women, Martha Juan, 25, and Viola Kiden, 28, a mother of three, have already died because they lived in a remote area of South Sudan and could not get antiretroviral drugs when USAID shut down supply lines, according to Angelina Doki, a health volunteer who supported them. Doki told me that her own supply of antiretrovirals is about to run out as well. "I am going to develop the virus,' Doki said. "My viral load will go high. I will develop TB. I will have pneumonia.' She sighed deeply and added, "We are going to die.' In South Africa, where more than 7 million people are HIV-positive, the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation estimates that ending PEPFAR would lead to more than 600,000 deaths over a decade in that country alone. Some of you may be thinking: This is very sad, but why is it our job to keep kids alive in poor countries? There are two answers to that. The first is that USAID was established to advance our national interests as well as our values and its demolition means that the United States loses soft power and China gains. Already, China has moved to replace the United States as the most visible supporter of Cambodia and we'll see the same elsewhere, particularly in Africa and the South Pacific. Anti-terrorism programs in Syria and West Africa are faltering and may lead to new attacks on Americans. Surveillance for early detection of avian flu and Ebola are weakened and an epidemic of either disease could reach the United States and cost billions of dollars. Trump's defunding of the polio eradication effort may lead, by one USAID official's estimate, to 200,000 cases of paralytic polio each year. The same official warned that the aid stoppage could lead to nearly a one-third increase in tuberculosis cases. Some of those will reach the United States and lead to enormous expense — a single case of extensively drug-resistant TB can cost $500,000 to manage. The second answer to that query reflects not a calculation of self-interest but also the moral code we live by. In this century, we are all blessed with miraculous, almost biblical powers: We can heal the sick and save children's lives, all inexpensively: America spends just 0.24% of gross national income on humanitarian aid. We properly honor a firefighter who saves a single child, but three cheers for us as taxpayers for rescuing millions of children around the world from AIDS, starvation and disease. That is, until January. You never forget the sight of children starving to death, so I wish White House officials could have been with me on this trip to South Sudan, where 70% of nutrition assistance has come from the United States. Malnutrition is common in poor countries — more than one-fifth of young children worldwide are stunted from malnutrition — and near the Sudan-South Sudan border, I dropped in on the remote Upper Nile town of Bobonis, where many children are affected. Staff members of a nonprofit supported by USAID used to visit weekly to provide an emergency high-nutrition paste to save the lives of young children with severe acute malnutrition — but that program was ended by the Trump administration last month. I quickly found a half-dozen children with severe acute malnutrition and getting no help. Fatima Abdulai, 14, held her niece, Nadia, a severely malnourished 2-year-old, and said the household has been reduced to one meal a day of sorghum mush. "Sometimes she cries from hunger,' Fatima said. "Then we give her water to drink.' Some of these severely malnourished children will survive, perhaps with cognitive impairments and others will die, especially if the malnutrition is complicated by some other ailment. At any one time, half of South Sudanese children suffer from malaria, diarrhea or upper respiratory infections, according to UNICEF. Civil war and famine in neighboring Sudan have sent refugees fleeing that country into South Sudan. Some are unaccompanied children, such as a 10-year-old girl who arrived recently on her own. The United States had supported a program to assist such children near the city of Renk and ensure they are not trafficked. That is one of the programs that has been canceled. Many of the refugees from Sudan are raped along the way by soldiers or bandits, and upon arrival in South Sudan they used to receive free medical care from a nonprofit supported by the United States. Their sexually transmitted infections were treated and they were protected from HIV. Sexual assault survivors told me that it was now difficult or impossible for them to get medicines. After my visit, the nonprofit was able to reopen the clinic for the time being and serve these women, but there is immense uncertainty among aid groups about whether they will be paid for their work and whether such operations can continue. "The bludgeoning of PEPFAR and USAID, one of the most eloquent expressions of American values ever created, might be America's most spectacular act of self-sabotage in generations,' said musician Bono, a longtime leader in campaigns against global poverty. "U.S. development assistance had its flaws, as its recipients often pointed out, but it was as close to poetry as policy gets.' For those readers wondering how they can help, let me offer two suggestions. One is to check out Helen Keller International, which does outstanding work in nutrition and blindness. The other, for those focused on advocacy to reverse these American government decisions, is to engage with the ONE Campaign. I recognize we cannot save every hungry child around the world. I agree that USAID is imperfect. I understand that there are difficult trade-offs in allocating tax dollars. Yet I think most Americans would both welcome some reforms and also be proud to see how we save the lives of hungry children and sick orphans around the world by allocating just 24 cents of every $100 of national income to aid. And I find it odious when the world's richest man cackles about America shoving programs for needy children "into the wood chipper.' When you meet those dying children and hold their hands and feel faint heartbeats flutter, you see children just like your own and hang your head in shame. Nicholas Kristof became an opinion columnist in 2001 and has won two Pulitzer Prizes. His new memoir is 'Chasing Hope: A Reporter's Life.' @ NickKristof ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times © 2025 The New York Times Company
