Princess Lalla Asmaa, President of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, and Rachel Ruto, First Lady of Kenya and President of the Voice of Children Foundation, chaired the launch of the fourth phase of the “Together, We Hear Each Other Better” program, at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi this Wednesday.
This operation, in line with the humanist and solidarity-based on the vision of King Mohammed VI for strong and effective South–South cooperation, involves the implantation of cochlear devices in some 70 Kenyan children suffering from profound hearing loss, allowing them to discover the world of sound, to communicate, learn, and flourish.
The Moroccan Princess and Kenyan First Lady planted a tree at the hospital’s esplanade, following Kenyan tradition to symbolize life, peace, and continuity. The planting of this tree of hope translates the deep ties between the Moroccan and Kenyan peoples and their shared resolve to build a future of inclusion and solidarity in Africa.
After unveiling the plaque commemorating this solidarity-based initiative, Princess Lalla Asmaa and Mrs. Rachel Ruto visited the ENT pavilion of the hospital, where they inquired about the condition of children awaiting cochlear implantation, as well as others who had already undergone surgery.
Thanks to this operation, within just four days, 70 children are benefitting from full and free cochlear implant surgery, a move translating genuine cooperation and faith in humanity.
Under the Lalla Asmaa Foundation’s impetus, and in partnership with the Voice of Children Foundation, eight Moroccan surgeons are working hand in hand with their Kenyan counterparts, sharing expertise in a spirit of African brotherhood.
This program of skills transfer, which lies at the heart of the mission, aligns with the royal vision of tangible, sustainable, and humane South–South cooperation.
For each family and each child, this mission represents a passage from silence to light—a moment when science, courage, and compassion come together.
The faces seen today are those of rebirths, of shared miracles, and of an Africa united by action and by heart.
This mission materializes on the ground the model of a compassionate, active, and inspiring Morocco, one that creates, innovates, and shares. A Morocco that seeks not to grow alone, but to grow with others. For in Africa, we rise together, and thus, we hear each other better.
At the close of the visit to the ENT pavilion of Kenyatta National Hospital, the Moroccan Princess and the First Lady presided over the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Lalla Asmaa Foundation and the Voice of Children Foundation, marking thus a new era of humanitarian and medical cooperation between Morocco and Kenya.
In an address on the occasion, Kenya’s First Lady expressed her deep gratitude and high esteem to Princess Lalla Asmaa for her humanitarian commitment and the generous cochlear implant donation, noting that this gesture does not only contribute to the Kenyan healthcare system, but represents a genuine gift of life.
The First Lady, who noted that cochlear implant surgery was not common in Kenya, welcomed the change through this partnership, which will see 100 surgeries performed -70 this week and the remaining 30 February next year in Morocco-, granting dozens of children aged between one and ten the priceless gift of hearing.
Mrs. Ruto underlined that this donation does not only restore hearing, but also fosters dignity and hope, by enabling these children to hear, for the first time, the laughter, music, and voice of their beloved ones. This MoU lays out the foundations of a sustainable cooperation, which seeks not only to conduct surgery, but also to strengthen the Kenyan healthcare system’s capacities, and promote a future where each child would be able to hear and be heard, Mrs. Ruto said.
Echoing Mrs. Ruto, Kenya’s Minister of Health voiced his profound gratitude to Princess Lalla Asmaa for the generous cochlear implants donations, emphasizing that this noble and highly humanitarian gesture, which will contribute to enhancing the care provided to children with auditory impairments, reflects the solidarity and dedication of the Kingdom in favor of the well-being of Kenyan Children.
Families of children who received cochlear implants as part of the fourth phase of the “Together, We Hear Each Other Better” program, also expressed their deep gratitude to Princess Lalla Asmaa for her steadfast and unwavering commitment to deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
During the signing ceremony, an Imam and a priest raised prayers for strengthening the ties of friendship and cooperation uniting Morocco and Kenya, as well as for fostering a lasting and fruitful relationship between the two countries.
In the evening, Princess lalla Asmaa was guest to a dinner banquet hosted in her honor by the Kenyan First Lady.
The “Together, We Hear Each Other Better” program, which is part of the ongoing efforts of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation to support deaf and hard-of-hearing children, is a unique experience on a global scale, as it is exported to countries in Africa, Latin America, and the MENA region.
This week, Moroccan medical teams have performed, for the first time in the Kingdom and in Africa, robot-assisted cochlear implantation surgeries.
The surgeries were performed at two leading institutions, the Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital in Rabat and the 20 August Hospital in Casablanca. this remarkable surgical achievement highlights the national momentum in medical innovation and the Kingdom’s commitment to placing health, research, and technology at the core of human development.
This innovative technique involves inserting electrodes directly into the inner ear to stimulate the auditory nerve, bypassing the damaged parts of the cochlea. With the assistance of the surgical robot, every movement is guided, calibrated, and secured, ensuring millimetric precision, better protection of internal structures, and optimal hearing recovery.
