Blog 7: Sonya

Earlier this week, we went to see the village weaving cooperative and meet some of the women who work there. The goal of the women’s cooperative is to empower women in the community and give them a way to earn income and increase their role in the family. Currently, there are 17 women in the cooperative but others are always welcome to join. We spoke with a couple of the women, including Fatima who spoke to us about her experience of the cooperative. We saw a lot of their work, which was all very beautiful and involved intricate designs. Some of the design elements were direct references to Amazigh culture and traditional tattoos. Afterwards, we were able to learn how to tie basic weaving knots and see the room where they make goods. I was amazed at how long it would take to make something even seemingly simple. Since each knot and stitch is done by hand, a small rug can take 10 days from prepping colors to completion. It was really great to go to this incredible initiative and hear some of the women’s stories. Looking forward to speaking with them more!






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