Summer Work at the Coop

Preparing the warps for the looms

Now that we have a building, the women have been enjoying getting together each day, as have I. They decided that they will work at the coop five days a week, the two off days being Friday and Sunday. Friday because that is prayer day and Sunday because that is souk (market) day. They get to the coop around 2pm and stay until about 6pm. The work that they do during those hours varies each day. They rotate each day between weaving, taking pictures of the carpets and going to the cyber (internet cafe) to upload the pictures. 

At first, I went to the fields with them to supervise taking the pictures, but now I stay behind at the coop, in an effort to make sure that they can do everything they need to do without my assistance. They take an average of five carpets with them to photograph and each carpet has to have five pictures taken. They have been doing pretty well at this. When they return to the coop I review the pictures and I point out any errors or pictures that aren't good enough. Of course, I praise them for all the good shots too. 

Following the photography days, I show up at the coop with my camera and USB cable and hand it over to Rabha. She then heads to the cyber to upload the pictures to The Anou website. As with the photography sessions, I used to accompany Rabha to the cyber, but now stay behind at the coop. When I get home in the evening I log into The Anou website and review Rabha's work making notes of any errors. The next day I accompany Rabha to the cyber and have her review her work from the previous day. If she doesn't find the errors by herself, then I point them out and she corrects them. 

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a place where the women can all come together and work. For most of my service, I only saw the women when we held coop meetings. Now I get to see them five days a week. While the women are weaving we make small talk, I play with Yemna's son, Yassine, and of course we end each day with tea. The women all chipped in and bought a small buta (propane tank), sugar and tea. Each day, someone brings a couple containers of water and a couple loaves of bread. 

On the first day of work at the coop, a display was set up directly across from the coop, by a woodworking shop a few doors down. The women thought this was absolutely hilarious. Never before had the wood workers put a display on the sidewalk. The women told me it was done for our benefit. They said that the men think that now that they have a coop building the women are tjjunt n l'flus (literally: full of money). It was a pretty fancy bedroom suite, but well above anything the women could afford. The asking price was 5,000 dirhams which is roughly $600. Pretty good deal for a handmade bedroom suite.

Enjoy the pictures!

Miriam x

Yemna & Yassine

Yassine

Strategically Placed Bedroom Suite 

Colors of the very first five carpets to be made at the coop

Weaving Away

Weaving Away

New Style Carpet

Apparently my arm tasted very good because this cow wouldn't stop licking it while we were taking pictures of the carpets!

This was taken during the dust/heat wave. The big mountain (Masskar) is barely visable due to the dust haze. 

This is the building where I throw my trash. From time to time a match is lit and thrown in to burn the trash pile down. You can imagine how good Toon Town smells on those occasions.