Enterprising Casablanca women provide for their families by selling Ramadan food

06/10/2006

Some Casablanca women make good money selling traditional homemade Ramadan food, such as rghaif (pancakes). They provide a service for women who are too busy to cook after a long day at the office.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 06/10/06

[File]

At two o'clock in the afternoon on the first day of Ramadan, 16-year-old Amina sat on a wide sidewalk in Casablanca with a basket filled with rghaif (pancakes) in front of her. Other women crowded beside her, each bearing copious amounts of treats, which working women generally do not have time to make.

Maarif, a commercial district in central Casablanca, turns into an open-air market during the holy month of Ramadan, with many housewives ending almost a full year of anticipation to become seasonal merchants. The vendors excel in making rghaif, baghrir and batbout.

Rghaif are an especially popular purchase from these vendors as most of shops and bakeries cannot completely cover the high demand.

During the workday, before the market was not yet crowded, Amina told Magharebia, "Actually, I help my mother, who's no longer able to work on the street. But, from the morning on, she prepares all this at home for me to carry to the market. The important thing for me is to not return home with anything [laughing]. And of course, this always happens, because customers love whatever my mother makes."

Amina stopped her studies after primary school to help take care of her family.

"Our social situation does not allow for schooling. My father isn't with us and my three sisters are still young, so my mother and I try to spare them from this seasonal work. It is enough for several months, but we don't rely on it. My mother sells these loaves and other sweets outside of Ramadan."

Local markets in Casablanca and even a number of other cities teem with such cases. Bab Marrakech market in the old city, Hafarin market and Garage Allal in Derb Sultan are full of simple families who provide for themselves.

Each day at ten o'clock in the morning, housewife Fatina Muduni begins preparing her goods, which she must carry to the market before one o'clock in the afternoon. She realises that her trade flourishes this time of year, when there is high demand for prepared food.

Mudini says she admires women who have to prepare the ftour table after a hard day at work.

Women's move from the home to the office has helped the spread of this type of business. The rghaif from these street vendors cost much less than those found at bakeries.

With the rising costs of basic ingredients such as oil, sugar and butter, shops raised the price of their rghaif. Vendors have held onto their clientele by keeping the same prices as last year.

"I see our role as alleviating the burden on these workingwomen and preparing what will adorn their tables for them. I am proud of the numerous women who make advance requests for what they need when inviting guests," Muduni says.

"What is the gain? A lot. Thank God. But it varies from one day to the next," said Muduni, who estimates her earnings range between 100 dirhams and 150 dirhams on good days.

Other women do not have the same financial success as Muduni.

For Khadija Amari, the profit is more modest. She would like to be at the market early every day, but she has to take care of her ill husband daily. She is thus unable to leave early enough for the market enough to bring in regular earnings.

Young people also seize the opportunity. Some set up tables at the doors of coffee shops that are closed during the day to offer shabakia, a Moroccan sweet popular during Ramadan, sheets of bastilla and other food, such as dates and eggs.

The street vendors have to contend with local authorities, as Moroccan law prohibits roving sales. They are thus subjected to the harassment by mkhaznia, policemen belonging to local squads, who occasionally drive them away.

"They [the street vendors] create a sort of chaos and impede movement of pedestrians and traffic. Likewise, they are the subject of numerous complaints from shopkeepers, which are usually obscured from passers-by," said an officer of the urban squad as he was accompanying a security patrol pursuing vendors.

But during Ramadan, the squads tend show sympathy for the social conditions that the majority of families engaged in the seasonal profession are living under.

Vendor Idris recalls, "Before Ramadan, we were engaged in a daily war with the authorities, who pursued us as we pushed small carts from one alley to the next."

Nothing hinders vendors' resolve in preparing rghaif and taking them out into the street. Even if their merchandise is confiscated, they still return the following day.

When carts are impounded, the goods are spoiled and the street merchants are detained for hours at the police station.

"It's a way for us to rely on ourselves and our skills in making treats rather than begging or providing domestic service. We are aware that women like us are the ones who need our services, though our customers also include men," Amina says.

She says that her cleanliness is a big draw for customers, noting the big machines used by bakeries or larger commercial shops are often suspect in terms of their cleanliness and the quality of materials and ingredients used to make these rghaif.

One female customer asserted that bakery production doesn't even compare to the traditional homemade way of preparing rghaif, shabakia and other treats.