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El Fenn

Derb Moullay Abdullah Ben Hussain,
Bab El Ksour,
Medina,
Marrakech

+212 524 44 1220
[email protected]
group of moroccan women in amal restaurant

COOKING UP CHANGE AT AMAL

 

The secret to eating really authentic Moroccan food? Eating food cooked by women. And the chefs at Amal are also changing the world – one tagine at a time.

 

As chef Fatiha Goumih sits in the garden at the Amal restaurant in Gueliz, she pauses as she thinks about why her work means so much to her. 

‘It’s about the passion of cooking combined with the passion of giving,’ she says. ‘Amal is a beautiful community.’

Fatiha has been working at Amal for the past nine years as one of a team of chefs who also mentor trainees in preparation for jobs in the food industry. More than 300 women have been trained over the past ten years and around 30 women are selected each year from the hundreds who apply for the annual nine-month programme. All are in economic need and some are single mothers who are among the most vulnerable women in Morocco because they face rejection by their families and communities, and are often forced to live in extreme poverty because it’s almost impossible to access work. 

 

moroccan woman in yellow dress and hijab

Amal Founder – Nora Fitgerald Belahcen

But while employment and money are key, Amal’s mission is about more than pay checks. 

‘In Morocco, women make up only 25% of the work force,’ says founder Nora Fitzgerald Belahcen. ‘Their labour is largely unpaid and undervalued. We’re working to change that. And space creates visibility. This is what Amal Center is. It’s a dedicated space for these women to come into existence and be honoured for who they are.’

Nora founded Amal in 2012 after starting a small baking business with two women she’d met in the community. Both were struggling to support themselves and their young children and Nora, who was born and raised in the US, suggested they start making brownies and cheesecakes to sell together. 

 

blackboard with moroccan menu and table with chairs in restaurant

orange and blue cushions under the amal sign in gold

purple sofa and table, chalk board with amal purpose written in chalk

 

Amal has grown – and grown – ever since. Today the non profit has a flagship restaurant in Gueliz, as well as a centre in Targa for cooking classes and private catering and a cafe in Marrakech’s Centre for Language and Culture that is run by deaf women.   

‘The economic empowerment of women is key,’ says Nora. ‘But there is also an inner transformation, an alchemy that happens between the women that I am very interested in Many women come to us believing their needs are inconsequential and it’s powerful to watch that change as women work in community.

‘By the end of the programme, many women have realised that they deserve not just to be in the programme, but the rest of society.’’

Fatima Daoudi, a divorced mother of two, is a month into Amal’s latest training programme. 

‘I want to become financially independent for my children but also to help my parents who have done so much for me,’ she says. I had hard times and it felt like all the doors were closed. But Amal means hope and that is what it is for me.’ 

 

Amal is open Monday to Saturday for lunch from noon to 3.30pm. Couscous is served on Fridays and the menu changes daily the rest of the week. @amalnonprofit

 

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