It’s no secret that the mindset here at Going Mobile central involves travel. Some of that travel takes place in an RV, while an equal amount of it occurs on planes, trains and automobiles – and even, occasionally, on boats.

However it’s accomplished, though, the travel we all do is fueled by an abiding interest in new places and the people who inhabit them. Over the past few months, though, our concern for the many people we have met far outranks our interest.

If you’ve checked the news feeds recently, you’re likely to have noticed why: One natural disaster after the next has caused death and destruction for some hapless citizens of the world.

And the catastrophes come near and far. On Aug. 8, a fire swept through the city of Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, destroying some 2,000 structures and killing at least 115. On Aug. 18, a fire began that destroyed hundreds of homes in Medical Lake and killed at least two people.

This week it’s Libya, which was hit by rain so heavy it caused dams to fail. The consequent flooding has reportedly killed thousands.

But on Friday, the big news was the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Morocco, killing – as of this morning – nearly 3,000 people, injuring more than 5,500 others. The Medical Lake fire hits home because it’s so close to Spokane, and my wife and I feel a personal connection to Lahaina because we’ve visited there a number of times – including during our 1995 honeymoon.

Yet we have a connection as well to Morocco. We flew there in the fall of 2019, and our travels took us near and/or through some of the places hit hardest by the quake. That particular part of the trip began after we’d stayed a couple of nights in the city of Fes, which sits in the country’s north, a bit more than 500 hundred kilometers from Marrakesh.

Leaving Fes, we traveled south to the dunes of Erg Chebbi. At that spot, on the doorstep of the Sahara, we rode camels into the desert (or at least I did), ate a traditional meal, listened to Berber music around a campfire late into the night, slept in a yurt and rose to see the sun rise over the dunes.

The next day, we drove to the movie-studio city of Quarzazate, home of Atlas Studios, where such movies as “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Star Wars” and “Gladiator” were filmed. We spent the night at the Hotel Kasbah Didis, which sits in the village of Aït Ougliff, some  400 kilometers east of the earthquake’s epicenter.

And then after hours of travel, some of it through the High Atlas Mountains, our driver dropped us off in Marrakesh, which is only about 75 kilometers north of the epicenter – and which suffered some damage, too.

On our trip we saw a number of other cities as well, including Tangier, Rabat, Casablanca, Essaouira and the fabled Blue City of Chefchaouen. And the country, along with its people, made enough of an impression on us that we want to do what we can to help.

At the behest of our Going Mobile colleague Leslie Kelly, we’ve already given to the Maui Food Bank. And there are a number of groups, such as the Red Cross, that are aiding those affected by the Medical Lake fire and that also deserve support.

Through an acquaintance who once served a Peace Corps tour in Morocco, in a village heavily damaged by the quake, I learned of an organization that is providing aid to Morocco. It’s called the High Atlas Foundation.

I never give money before checking with Charity Navigator. And according to their ranking, the High Atlas Foundation is a worthy organization. As the website says, “This charity's score is 86%, earning it a Three-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.”

So we have. Passions and values, after all, are what keep us all on the road.