EDOM, four letters for the acronym of the Enfants de l’Ovale Maroc association. Four letters to highlight its values: Education Dignity Open-mindedness and Motivation. Words which also perfectly define the mission and career of its president, Mohammed Missoum. At 67, the renowned orthopedic surgeon has busy days, “much to the misfortune of my wife”he admits, smiling on the terrace of a café near the United Nations hospital in Rabat where he works. After his long day of work, Mohammed continues the missions for the association that he founded with friends in 2004. “I have the same investment and the same rigor in the operating room as for the association”, he assures us.
From surgery to Rugby
This associative investment has always accompanied him. “It started at a young age with Cub Scout training and then in student association offices. I have always wanted to defend causes that are close to my heart,” he explains. The Franco-Moroccan continued his humanism with medical studies in Morocco before being qualified in Paris hospitals in orthopedic surgery. Mohammed then returned to his country of origin in the late 1980s “because Morocco needed surgeons”.
Rugby is a passion that dates from his years at Lycée Descartes: “I was going to kick the ball with a friend who played rugby in a club in Rabat. I learned to love this weird ball, which didn’t bounce normally. ». The love of sport is inseparable from that of the third half. “I immediately liked this taste for sharing, solidarity and being on the ground fighting. Rugby is a true team sport. I have always appreciated his values of commitment and responsibility towards other members of the team,” he explains to us.
When the idea came to him and friends to start an association, rugby had to be at the center of the equation. The oval ball then becomes a vector of social cohesion for disadvantaged children, aged 6 to 16, from the commune of Mers El Kheir in Témara, “street children, and who, because of extreme poverty, could fall into drugs or prostitution”.
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20 years for the Children of the Oval Morocco
Les Enfants de l’Ovale Maroc celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024 and the results can only be encouraging: more than 3,500 children helped who are today professional rugby players but also doctors, lawyers, teachers, craftsmen and even entrepreneurs. “Today we support 320 children per year who have access to sports infrastructure but also to courses and artistic workshops. “, explains Mohammed proudly. Children learn rigor, a taste for work but also citizenship, gender equality and respect for the planet: “We are having them work this year on the theme of the environment but also on artificial intelligence”. The association benefits from the membership of numerous companies and volunteers, who share their time and skills. Over the years, partnerships have been formed with other associations but also schools including the Descartes high school: “The students come to enjoy our magnificent rugby field and our children can take advantage of their other sports facilities”. The field also hosts international competitions and gives Mers El Kheir a whole new dimension: “The town has changed greatly since the arrival of the association.”
A model designed to be replicated
10 employees today make it possible to run this educational machine, which is held up as an example by the Moroccan government. “We are achieving 85% social and professional inclusion for our children. Our model is now being studied to be able to be replicated in other parts of the country”announces Mohammed Missoum. EDOM is of interest even beyond Moroccan borders, but the surgeon prefers to focus on what he does in the suburbs of Rabat: “Our commitment is serious and I do not want to disperse”explains the one who would one day like to let go. The future of the Enfants de l’Ovale Maroc and its beneficiaries is as bright as the Moroccan sky. Mohammed is waiting to find the right person to ease up and “being able to spend more time with the children and play ball with them”. Succession is already assured at the family level. Her three children are all already involved in causes that are close to their hearts. Simple and human values shared today by all the children of Mohammed.
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