I have officially made it to the weekend in Morocco and today was another exciting day! After breakfast at our hotel in Rabat, we headed back on the bus for one more trip into the medina to visit another women’s cooperative!

This one was particularly cool because it specializes in making leather and we all had the opportunity to make our own leather good! I choose to make a sunglasses case (I included a picture below!) and quickly learned that this was a much more intricate, time-intensive process than I had thought. I was very grateful to one of the men who worked there (that I believe also happened to be the son of its founder) who helped me cut the fabric and punch holes around the sides of it. At times it was difficult to concentrate on making my case because of all the amazing leather products displayed in the back, but after lunch I was able to make it back to do some shopping! This women’s cooperative seems to be a part of the Anou Cooperative (that I learned about earlier) which contains many other female artisans/groups throughout Morocco. Both groups prioritize sustainability and women’s empowerment, cutting out the middleman needed in an exchange to maximize profits for artisans. They have also both begun creating experiences for customers (like the one I did today) to further educate them and increase interest in their products. At the cooperative I visited today, I learned that these artisans receive the leather they use from a local tannery and then sell the products they create from it at their studio and inside their other shops in the medina.

As a customer, I much prefer the business model of the women’s cooperative over the souks. It is already difficult with the language barrier to know if I am getting a good deal at any place, but I appreciate that at the cooperative I at least know the materials are authentic and that more of my money is going directly to the people who make the products. This makes me want to spend more, even if the products are more expensive. I do feel like the souks tend have more visibility in the medina, given that many are closer to the entrance and have louder store owners. My group actually originally missed the entrance to the women’s cooperative today because it was set back behind a gate. Still, I believe that the more people that knew about these cooperatives, the more they’d be willing to shop at them rather than the souks.

After we finished lunch and shopping at the women’s cooperative, we headed back on the bus towards Rabat! On the way there, we stopped at a gas station, and I enjoyed trying a new flavor of pringles (Hot & Spicy!) which I really recommended! Coming back to Rabat, I feel much more comfortable and less overwhelmed. I am excited to see what my next few days will be like in Rabat (although I will miss the hotel shower!)

Anou – Beyond Fair Trade (saving this for the future!)