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Women plant rooftop at refugee camp in Lebanon

Linked by Michael Levenston

The women behind a catering business in Beirut are using a rooftop to grow some of the ingredients they need to make their dishes.

AP ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 29, 2022

Beirut – 12 May 2022

  1. Various of Mariam Shaar, founder of Soufra catering business, at Soufra’s roof garden
  2. Various of Soufra’s roof garden, plants
  3. Shaar harvesting plant
  4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariam Shaar, Soufra project founder:
    “This roof garden was an idea on how to mix between the kitchen and the roof. If we can’t buy any thing (item), for example, many vegetables to use in the kitchen. It’s easier for us to plant these vegetables in our roof and then we can use them in the kitchen. This is easier for us because (of) the distance, in addition to the money (it’s cheaper).”
  5. Various of plants grown in roof garden
  1. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariam Shaar, Soufra project founder:
    “We started with five women. Now we have many units in Soufra, in the kitchen (of) Soufra, we have catering, we have a cafeteria – a small cafe for women. And also, we have a small shop in Soufra. Now, we have more than 30 employees in Soufra’s Kitchen.”
  2. Soufra Kitchen and cafeteria in Burj El Barajneh refugee camp
  3. Various of Soufra workers preparing dishes
  4. Stuffed vine leaves
  5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ghada Masrieh, cook and member of Soufra Kitchen:
    “I have a family. I have four children but they are all grown. Some of them are married and some are at home. I don’t have young children and I have a lot of free time, so I like to fill my time by working here because on the one hand, I am benefiting and having fun. On the other hand, I can help with the household expenses.”
  6. Dishes prepared by women
  7. Various of woman preparing kibbeh, popular Lebanese dish
  8. Women working in kitchen
  9. Apron with name of project embroidered on it, women working in the kitchen
    LEADIN:
    The women behind a catering business in Beirut are using a rooftop to grow some of the ingredients they need to make their dishes.
    The Soufra catering business is based in the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut, and it mostly employs women from that community.
    STORYLINE:
    The women at a catering business in Lebanon have for years been growing some of the ingredients they need in their work, a habit that has recently somewhat shielded them from Lebanon’s soaring inflation.
    Hidden among the wired skies of the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp, is a rooftop garden where the women plant some of the ingredients they need in the catering business.
    The garden was started years ago but has become vital for the business today, helping reduce expenses during a time of steep price hikes in Lebanon.
    “It’s easier for us to plant these vegetables in our roof and then we can use them in the kitchen,” said Mariam Shaar, the founder of the catering business.
    Shaar walks around the rooftop garden to check on the tomato and parsley plants growing there among other vegetables.
    Soufra, Arabic for dining table, was founded six years ago and employs around 30 people, most of whom are women.
    The business offers traditional dishes like stuffed vine leaves and musakhan, a pastry filled with chicken.
    As refugees in Lebanon, there are many jobs that people from the refugee camp are not allowed to take up, Shaar says.
    The Palestinians in Lebanon are prohibited from working in professional jobs, have few legal protections and cannot own property.
    Shaar, the descendant of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, adds that refugees often do not have the legal or financial means to start a business.
    Conditions have never been favorable in Burj al-Barajneh, one of Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps.

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