Flatweave Rug

Zineb Rkhsis

Zineb is a Tadula Zanfi native and was born in the late 1980’s. Zineb attended school until the sixth grade as it was not commonly encouraged to finish more years of school at the time of her youth. She learned how to weave from her relatives and now specializes in flatweave or hanbel rugs. She hopes that one day her association becomes well known and is able to improve the lives of the women within it.

Ijja Mochrika

Ijja was born in Teznacht and moved to Teduit ZanFi because that is where her husband's family lived. She is the mother to six children, all of whom are still in school. Four of them live in Agadir, leaving the village to look for a job. Ijja lives with two of her children, one of whom is suffering from mental illness. There is no way to get treatment for her, though the other four children have chipped in to try and cover medical expenses. Now, she is still in the process of looking for money to be able to pay for treatment for her sick son. Ijja used to just make rugs by herself, but it is was not enough to support her son and herself. Then, one person from the association encouraged her to join as a member. The association donated some livestock and weaving materials to her and her family and have allowed her to earn more income. She hopes that her products will sell well.

Khadija Ait Benamo

Khadija was born in a village near the city of Ouarzazate and moved to the village of Tadula Zanfi when she married. She and her husband have nine children, the oldest son is currently attending university in Agadir. She learned how to weave from her aunt at a young age and she heard about the association forming in her village, she decided to join believing it would be the right place to develop her skills and ideas in textiles. Also, she hoped that the association would be able to provide her much more income. With more income in the future, Khadija hopes to improve her current house and perhaps one day complete a hajj to Mecca.

Khadija Kutani

Khadija Kutani is the president of the association. She hopes that through her work she will be able to improve the lives of the association’s members and raise the standards of her association's work so it can compete on national and international markets. Through the income the association creates, she hopes that she will be able to teach and educate a whole new generation of girls from her village.

Samira Oberak

Samira was born in Tedla, is married, the mother of twins and has is 25 years old. She left school after sixth grade. Samira was one of the founders of this association, and she works in the craft of weaving and embroidery. Initially she used to work in a different association, but she left to start her own association. The young women of the first association followed her into the new association to learn weaving and embroidery from her. Local teens with a high school education help out at the association. Now, she is improving in her weaving skills by learning from the other women of the association. She hopes to earn a sustainable income from the coopeartive.

Rashida Fanshaar

Rashida was born in Teduit in 1978 and has been able to attend school through the 6th grade. After she left school, she learned the craft of weaving from her mother and was able to earn a small amount of income, which she could spend on herself. She hopes that good things come to the association and that it continues to grow and flourish.