Ramadan gives rise to informal trade

01/10/2007

Many Moroccans unemployed throughout the rest of the year take the opportunity for informal commerce during Ramadan, selling food and other goods on the country's streets.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 01/10/2007

[Sarah Touahri] Moroccan women sell pancakes on the streets of Rabat

With Ramadan in full swing, Morocco has seen a flurry of informal trading, especially in residential districts. Unemployed young people and housewives take advantage of the festive season to sell goods in places and at times that cater to the late nights of the holy month. The streets of most cities are filled throughout the night with a fragrant mix of delicious flavours and exquisite aromas. Owners of snack bars and grocery stores set up special spaces in their shops to sell customers’ favourite Ramadan delicacies.

Tarik Mhidia has been selling chebbakia (a Moroccan honey cake) since the beginning of Ramadan in a district of Temara. This is the third straight year the 29-year-old has engaged in the seasonal trade to avoid unemployment. He has selected a strategic spot for his wares, attempting to attract as many customers as possible. "My father encouraged me by giving the money I needed, and my mother is helping me to make the chebbakia. Sometimes I make 200 dirhams a day. Chebbakia and other honey cakes sell very well during Ramadan. But it’s just a temporary job which only lasts a month," he said wistfully.

His experience is similar to that of 25-year-old Mohamed Beljebbar, who each year turns his father's garage into a shop selling fresh fish, which Moroccans consume in large quantities during ftour. "I'm a law graduate and I have no business experience, but I’m sure I won’t waste my family’s money or my time because demand is exceeding supply at the moment. But once Ramadan’s over I’ll have to turn to other little jobs," he said while serving a customer.

Young people are not the only ones engaging in casual work during the holy month; women of all ages roll up their sleeves to make and sell all kinds of Moroccan delicacies. The best-known are the women who sell baghrir and harcha pancakes, trying to outdo each other with ever more artistic methods of tempting starving customers.

The casual traders have drawn criticism from full-time professionals, who believe their temporary competitors use unfair methods by changing their line of business to suit the circumstances. For twenty years El Hajja Halima has occupied the same spot in the Souika de Rabat. Her customers adore her pancakes and she is proud of her reputation, but says she is very disappointed she does not earn more. "At my age I’ve got nothing left to hope for. I’ve been selling baghrir for years. I get up at dawn to get everything ready. It’s a cake which requires time and patience; otherwise you just won’t get it right. Look at all those young girls who want to take everything over now, telling us our time is up," she said scornfully, pointing at a young girl wearing a djellaba and covering her face with a headscarf, pretending not to hear the older woman.

"El Hajja keeps on saying the same thing over and over," the young woman replied. "I never answer back. She’s an old woman who doesn’t want to understand that we young people, too, have nothing else to do. Anyway, I’m only doing it for a month so I can buy my textbooks for university."