In a small fishing town in Morocco's south, wedged between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara, a group of idealistic young surfers are teaching local children to brave the crashing waves.
A day's drive from the cities of northern Morocco, and on the fringe of the world's greatest desert, the group has set up a beachfront cafe where young people can gather, learn and have fun in the sleepy port of Tarfaya.
Left: M'barek El Fakir, 24, a surf coach, teaches a theory class for students learning to surf. Right: A student reviews her surfing positions after watching a video.
The surfers also teach the children English and Spanish, hoping to open their horizons beyond scant local job offerings or the lure of joining migrants heading to Europe via illegal and perilous boat journeys to the Canary Islands 100 km away.
Thousands of migrants have drowned at sea, and the surfers had to win over parents fearful of the ocean's swells.
Left: Maatoug and his wife Mouna Seggari look through old photos from Maatoug's childhood at their home. Right: Maatoug holds a photo taken in 2008 of himself and a friend posing in front of The Armas Essalama.
Story
He showed a photograph of himself as a boy, standing proudly in front of the Armas Essalama, a ferry bought to connect Tarfaya to the Canary Islands as part of a plan to bring tourists.
But it struck rocks just outside the town four months after it arrived and was never replaced. The rusting wreck is still marooned offshore, part of Tarfaya's sunset seascape.
PHOTO EDITING MARIKA KOCHIASHVILI; WRITING ANGUS MCDOWALL; TEXT EDITING MIKE COLLETT-WHITE; LAYOUT JULIA DALRYMPLE