Location: Gaza – Palestine
Language: Arabic
Duration: 00:04:59
Sound: natural
Source: A24
Restrictions: A24 subscribers
Dateline: 2-20-2022
Storyline:
The difficult economic situation in Gaza and the lack of job opportunities prompted Sahar, who is a housewife, to make the Arabic “saj” bread to support her family of five, as she took a small place in the corner of her house to make bake and sell bread among the neighborhood residents. Sahar puts on fire using leaves and twigs from nearby farmlands.
Sahar works three days a week, and it is best for her on Friday when the turnout is high. Her children help at work. She seeks to expand her work by purchasing tools and getting fuel or by employing more people, but she would clash with the reality of financial issues. Therefore, she appeals to the concerned authorities to support her to achieve this. Many families desire this type of bread because of its health benefits and its association with certain types of foods whose flavor is not complete without it, so they go to Sahar to buy bread from them.
Shotlist:
– (Soundbite) Sahar Abu Rida, who is a Saj bread maker
“Saj bread is a source of livelihood for us in the house because my husband is sick and the economic situation is very difficult, especially in the Gaza Strip where there is no work. I wake up every morning to prepare the dough at dawn because there is always a demand for it. Children help me too. I make the dough thin and start baking it on the sag, and then I start a fire after I had finished preparing it and brought more firewood beside. My daughter helps me to roll the dough. After that, I arrange the bread that is cooked every 3 or 6 loaves in a paper bag based on the quantity of bread.”
– (Soundbite) Sahar Abu Rida, a saj bread maker:
“The materials I need to set on fire are not always available. I try to gather as many leaves as possible or reeds or the remains of palm trees. The important thing is that I manage myself – praise be to God. Customers have them two or three days a week. The turnout is greater on Fridays. Where the consumption would be a lot. I start at six am until ten am. I will sell all the available quantities. I hope that this project will grow because I aspire to enlarge it, and I will start a second and third projects. Now, I do not have the capabilities for that, but there is no suitable place for that, as well as tools. For example, I can use two iron sheets instead of one and two or even three helpers instead of one. I want to enlarge it because it is a successful project. I also hope to have materials or fuel to make the fire because the materials I use cause thick smoke that prevents me from producing more.”
– (Soundbite) Omar, a client:
“I came today to buy the old Arabic saj bread, which all people know and are only homemade and not available at bakeries. We use it in crumbs, Musakhan dish and in yogurt, as well as the well-known foods that require saj bread. These dishes cannot be done without the sag bread. We support the family that makes it, and we come to their home to buy the bread. “
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