More on Aicha Ech-Chenna
Mariane Pearl reported on Moroccan women’s activist Aicha Ech-Chenna for May’s Glamour Magazine. Now, Women’s eNews has just done another report on Aicha’s work, telling the story of a 23-year-old single mother and hammam worker called Rabia, who lives in Casa. Rabia says of her son:
“I cannot go home with Yassin,” says Rabia. “But I will not leave him. He is my life. He gives me hope. He gives me hope to find a good job so we can be happy.”
She says that she doesn’t want to continue working in the hammam unless she has to. In that job, she earns only $30 or so per week, which makes it one of the lowest-paying jobs in Morocco.
Recently, I asked my students to name what they thought the ten best jobs in Morocco were. Their list: the king, minister, doctor, lawyer, dentist, businessman, ambassador, university professor, restaurateur, architect.
Then I asked for their list of the ten worst jobs. Number one? Hammam worker.
Imagine scrubbing the dead skin off human bodies all day long, sitting in wet clothes and sweat, pausing only for a sip of water or an orange, because for every body you scrub, you might get ten or twenty dirhams. Such is the life of a hammam worker.
Therefore, praise is due to Aicha Ech-Chenna, whose work allows single mothers to become literate, gain job skills and work their way out of poverty.
May 20th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Fabulous! She is proof that one person can make a difference. I put your last post about her on my blog as well (giving you credit of course dear) with great reactions. thank you for sharing this data as well.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:04 am
If it only costs six dirhams to go in the hammam according to a tourism blog I read, then how can a scrubber actually get 10 or 20 for the scrub? This is a rhetorical question, of course, but yeah hammam scrubber is down there along with plaster workers. They are not only wet, but also covered in plaster and breathing the dust. 20-50 dhs a day for a laborer. Then he goes to the hammam??
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Well, it does only cost 6 dirhams! To get in…then 20 extra for the scrub - at least at my hammam. But yes, I got your point
About the plasterers - that reminds me. My father is a contractor back home, and whenever someone here asks what my father does, I answer “carpenter” (in Arabic) because it’s easier to explain. The reply is usually “meskin.” I can never explain properly that a carpenter or contractor in the States does a bit better than here!
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Thanks for the tip - I’m stealing your idea for my next adult class.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
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