SAHA! Migrant Women Food Truck

Migrant Women Association Malta is helping migrant women lead a better life in Malta. Help us fund our food truck initiative to help empower these women.

Migrant Women Association Malta Business April 16, 2018 at 12:00 pm
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Project Description

OUR PROJECT 

SAHA! – a food truck and catering service bringing world food closer to you. 

Ever thought about having an authentic Syrian, Lebanese or Moroccan meal for lunch? Or imagined tasting cuisine from Asia, Africa or South America – right here in Malta?

Food not only brings people together – it can also help empower women. Food offers an opportunity of dignified employment and new hope to migrant women living in Malta.

SAHA! is an initiative of the Migrant Women Association Malta that aims to bring together people from  countries as diverse as Colombia, Venezuela, Morocco, Libya, Syria, Spain, Portugal, France, and Romania, who all have one thing in common: their love for cooking great food.

Migrant women in Malta have great cooking skills. Our participation at the World Music Festival 2017 opened up a new chapter for women, catering to participants of the festival and fundraising for the association. Our success has now led us to being the caterers for the second time in a row for the World Music Festival in 2018.

Our members are the most talented individuals, putting together mouth-watering menus that will transport your palate around the world without having to step outside of Malta.

From catering to small private gatherings to large public festivals in partnership with Valletta 2018, we are proud to have brought change to the women of MWAM, empowering them through skills and experience, as well as bringing them closer to the Maltese public.

How did this all start? 

The Migrant Women Association wanted to build upon our great resource and talent to find something sustainable, impactful and innovative for the migrant women.

We participated in the annual Social Impact Awards supported by sponsors including The Gasan Group, MeDirect and the Inspirasia Foundation. This start-up competition helps organizations receive financial and non-financial support to develop and materialise a project that has positive social impact in Malta.

The Awards gave us the opportunity to develop our cooking project idea going through a 6-month mentoring programme provided by TAKEOFF Business Incubator. After a number of stages, we had our final product, the food truck SAHA project. And, well:

We won the popular vote, the audience award! Around €16,600 was donated by the Social Impact Awards, ZAAR as well as CORE Platform.

So why do we need your help? 

We want to build further on this project to help empower women and build bridges through food – the idea of serving affordable, delicious dishes to people all around Malta via our very own food truck, as well as scaling our organisation to provide catering services to private events. Our vision is to work hand-in-hand with the Maltese, utilising local produce from local businesses, employing both Maltese and migrant women to produce delicious food – think of babah ghanoush, kibbah, hummus, tajine, cous cous – both vegan and gluten-free.

We are about to purchase an amazing food truck, but we need crowdfunding to cover costs that include:

  • Refurbishing the food truck including cooking hobs and appliances – € 2,000
  • Buying kitchen utensils – € 1,500
  • Buying uniforms and kits – € 500
  • Buying supplies for the initial operation of the food truck  – € 3,000
  • Painting and designing our food truck – € 1,000
  • Buying initial stock of ingredients and drinks – € 2,000

Once we have more cooking events and have enough to finance a food truck, we forecast that the revenues from food sales will:

  • Cover the costs of running our food stalls and festivals
  • Cover the costs of our food truck
  • Provide steady income to the women cooking and selling the food
  • Support our education and empowerment activities

OUR MISSION

Since 2015, the voluntary organisation Migrant Woman Association Malta (MWAM) has been working for the social and community advancement of migrant women in Malta. MWAM is committed to empowering migrant women and to enable them to fully integrate in Malta, and to help them realise their full potential.

WHO ARE WE?

Founder Umayma Elamin Amer from Sudan, came to Malta after fleeing the instability of Libya, where she had lived for three years. She began volunteering in the field of migration and through her work, Umayma was introduced to Claudia Taylor-East of SOS Malta, who inspired and supported Umayma to come together with other migrant women in Malta and build MWAM.

With over 85% of female asylum seekers in Malta and many women suffering from discrimination and gender-based violence, migrant women are left behind and lack opportunities that bring a better future to themselves and to their families.

Bring the flavours of the world closer to your doorstep and contribute to our ZAAR campaign!

For more information on the pledges, check out the FAQ.

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Project FAQ

How many migrant women live in Malta?

There are around 6,000 registered women that live in Malta that come from non-EU countries, of which approximately 1,000 are asylum seekers and refugees.

What is their day-to-day living situation?

Our research shows that around 85% of asylum seeking women are not employed - they lack work experience and face racial discrimination every day. Some women have good educational backgrounds but have no knowledge of the English Language. These women also face the challenges related to gender equality - Malta ranks as one of the worst countries for gender parity within the EU and the world.

What is being done to help them?

The Migrant Women Association is focused on empowering these women in Malta. We carry out communication sessions which help migrant women learn English within an inclusive environment and with additional childcare facilities. We also carry out programmes to help them with their skills organising IT workshops and entrepreneurship activities. We also provide counselling on their mental health and focus on gender-based violence issues within the migrant women community.

What cuisine can they cook?

Everything ? We have been participating in numerous cooking festivals and events, such as the World Music Festival as well as with Valletta 2018. The women are strong in serving food from Lebanon, Syria and Morocco but we have served a variety of dishes from other countries, depending on the migrant women cooking at our events.

How can the food truck help?

Food brings people together. The food truck is the vehicle - both literally and metaphorically - that can bring Maltese people together with the migrant community to share their passion for food. We have already received initial funding after having won a social startup competition - the Social Impact Awards - back in November in 2017. The food truck will employ women, but most importantly, from every plate sold, 50c will go into women empowerment projects that will further help migrant women integrate into Malta.

How will I receive my gift?

Once we have reached our fundraising goal, we will be distributing the pledges. For pledges that involve material goods, we will be organising a one-day session at our offices after the end of the campaign to distribute the gifts. Please note that we do not offer any delivery on physical items, and must be picked up on site!

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