Empowering the Women of Beni Khedeche

On the first day we arrived in Beni Khedeche, we met at La Maison de la Culture and were greeted with a display of a variety of traditional gifts and crafts. In addition, La Maison de la Culture presented several cultural practices so we could get an idea of what Beni Khedeche was all about. One of the most interesting traditions was a performance of a traditional wedding song. I have included the footage below and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It is certainly haunting and intriguing and displays how Beni Kheddeche values its traditional ways. As you can tell, the woman is very humble but possesses impressive talent...this is quite typical of the women of Beni Khedeche! Meeting with many of them throughout my time here, I have been thoroughly impressed with the amount of work and dedication they put into their town. The women pick the olives, clean the house, cook the food, take care of the children, and excel in school! During my time here, I also met with women who weave wool rugs and blankets in Beni Khedeche's Maison de l'Artisan. This Maison helps the women sell their products abroad, but the work is still taxing and time consuming. Meeting with these women, they displayed not only their hard work but their gentle spirits as they took time to placate my friend and I as we administered surveys on employment opportunities in their city. From their responses we learned that most women (nearly 76%) believe their education in Beni Khedeche does not prepare them to enter the workforce and on a scale of 1-5 (1 being poor; 5 being strong), the majority of women chose 1 to represent the opportunities for youth in their city. Given the perseverance, hard work, and intelligence of the women we surveyed, perhaps the key to the development of Beni Khedeche is the empowerment of its women! Hmmm...:) Enjoy the video!