Founder of Soufra kitchen, Mariam Shaar, standing in the dining room with a Palestinian keffiyeh laid on the table. Burj al Burajneh camp. Beirut, May 13, 2024 (Photo: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today)
BURJ AL-BARAJNEH — “I'm so happy to cook my grandmother’s food. To remember Palestine, our country, we must cook,” says Wafa, as she diligently chops a sprig of Parsley at Soufra, a women-run catering organization in Beirut's Burj al Barajneh Palestinian camp, where she is the head chef.Soufra started in 2014 and is the first kitchen of its kind in Lebanon's Palestinian camps. “I am proud. It’s not been easy. But as Palestinians we are persistent and determined. We don’t give up,” says Mariam Shaar, Soufra's founder. Soufra lets women in the camps earn a steady income in an otherwise challenging landscape where jobs are few and far in between. In Arabic, the work ‘Soufra’ denotes a table spread with delicious food.The families of the 40 or so women working with the organization were forced to flee different parts of Palestine, like Akka...
BURJ AL-BARAJNEH — “I'm so happy to cook my grandmother’s food. To remember Palestine, our country, we must cook,” says Wafa, as she diligently chops a sprig of Parsley at Soufra, a women-run catering organization in Beirut's Burj al Barajneh Palestinian camp, where she is the head chef.Soufra started in 2014 and is the first kitchen of its kind in Lebanon's Palestinian camps. “I am proud. It’s not been easy. But as Palestinians we are persistent and determined. We don’t give up,” says Mariam Shaar, Soufra's founder. Soufra lets women in the camps earn a steady income in an otherwise challenging landscape where jobs are few and far in between. In Arabic, the work ‘Soufra’ denotes a table spread with delicious food.The families of the 40 or so women working with the organization were forced to flee different parts of...