Ten years ago, Alia Abdel Majeed (Om Aya), started Ramadan paper decorations project; after her husband’s death her neighbour and only friend suggested to her to start a project through which she can overcome her grief over her husband’s death, and at the same time increases her income so she can support her children, hence “Joy Making” project, representing Alia’s launch in the job market and a service for Dar Al-Salam women.
Alia started her work with the neighbourhood’s ladies from her relatives and neighbours who joined in big numbers at first but then many withdrew as they didn’t quite understand the idea of the project, “I decided to deal with this challenge and choose women more interested and in need of this project, and now my team consists of ten women from the neighbourhood whom I depend on, among them are seamstresses and housewives”, said Alia.
Alia chose women specifically to join her project, for she believes they have the most right to this job so they can support their children during the month of Ramadan and the Feast after. Om Aya considers decorations making is a delicate work including details women know and enjoy doing more than men.
Preparations for Ramadan starts once the month itself ends, as it takes all year long; 10 days before Ramadan, Alia starts collecting the decorations from the women and selling them to stores and merchants, then earn the fruits of her all-year-long toils giving the other women their share, they then rest during Ramadan and start all over again once the Feast is over.
Alia goes to Attaba, Moski, and Bab Al-Sharia to buy the raw materials and distribute them on the women weekly, explaining the stages of decorations making; they cut the twine thread on which the paper decorations are hung. The women use sewing machines or manually prepare the decorations, and because hand sewing is difficult, Alia bought sewing machines to give to novice women until they buy their own machines in the future.
At the beginning of each week, the women hand Alia over their production, with the average of 20 decoration branches per week, each branch is 15 meters long. Alia noticed that this year the raw materials are less available and more expensive, previously they cost 25 EGP, but now they cost 50 EGP, while the price of a kilo of paper is 100 EGP unlike its price ten years ago when she started her project which was 2.5 EGP per kilogram.
Months after she started her project, Alia witnessed how her life changed, gradually she overcame her grief over her husband’s death and started taking care of her children; Alia has five children, and as her project got more successful year after year, she helped her children finish their education and supported them until they reached their marriage age.
Fathia Hasaballah started first as a seamstress owning her own store, then she decided to work with Alia 3 years ago to increase her income for her work was unstable and depended only on the customers’ orders, that’s why she had one middle sized sewing machine, however after joining Alia she managed to buy a new modern sewing machine to help her business, and later her sister joined her.
Fathia considers decorations making is one of the most interesting jobs she ever done, especially as she became experienced in it after three years, hoping she and her sister would continue working in the project during the coming years.
A few days before Ramadan, Alia doesn’t sleep because of the work pressure, as the week before the holy month is like a harvest season of a whole year of hard work, especially as Alia chose to work personally with the merchants, contacting them over the phone.
Despite all these pressures, Alia loves her work which makes her really happy, “work is fun, I feel like doing something important”. Her husband’s death would’ve dragged her to the depths of despair but she chose to use her free time and achieve her life’s project.
Om Aya and her team became a landmark of joy making, her reputation reached Banha and Alexandria, she hopes to expand her work reaching all governorates, and to be a source of joy in Dar Al-Salam and all Egypt during the holy month.
