“What time do you wake up in the morning?” and “What did you eat for breakfast” are such simple questions, yet they are questions I rarely think to ask. These details are so embedded within our daily lives, they seem insignificant, almost too ordinary to matter. However, during our visit to the women’s co-op in Talat-N-Mimoun, I realized that these seemingly small questions are often the most important ones when trying to understand another culture.
After walking through the hilly mountains, grass brushing against my legs, and as we wandered up the roads and through the trees, I felt an immediate sense of comfort stepping into the small white shed that held the products each of the women before us created. Spread across the table were many carefully woven bags, but one in particular caught my eye. It was a green rectangle purse with a blue flower woven into the design. It was perfect.
What I found interesting, which we discussed in class, was the ethics of buying many bags at once. Coming from a culture where marketing encompassed with social media and branding are so essential to a business’s success, encountering a business that relied solely on the people that come through changes their capacity to reach different demographics. Because of this, I understood the desire to support the cooperative by purchasing items. However, at the same time, I wished I had been able to choose and purchase a bag myself. I wanted the opportunity to communicate to the women that sat beside me that I valued their work and was taking home a piece that spoke to me.
When those questions were soon posed to the group, “what time do you wake up in the morning?” and “what did you eat for breakfast” I was surprised. I had assumed that understanding the cooperative meant learning about its products, finances, and work environment. But as the day unfolded, I realized that understanding a community begins long before understanding the operations. Through further conversations later about their routines, responsibilities, and relationships, it was evident how culture is woven into the ordinary moments of daily life. The questions I deemed insignificant rather revealed the realities that shaped their experiences and the values that guided their community.
While the conversations helped me learn about the women’s daily lives, it was the shared experience that allowed us to truly connect. I believe, and have seen, how common experience between two or more people can unite them together and create a bond that surpasses differences. Because we did not share a language, we found another way to communicate: music.
At first, I wondered whether asking the women to sing for us was appropriate. Was it something they wanted to do? But when they began to sing the uncertainty faded. Their voices moved in harmony, their hands striking the drums in rhythm and their deep sense of community became evident. They seemed intricately connected to one another, united through years of shared experiences, work and friendship. Then, reciprocating the favor, we sang for them. This exchange was extraordinarily powerful because it broke down this pre-existing barrier that was there prior where each person was a stranger. But once they gave us a gift and we gave them a gift, it created a sense of connection that words could not have achieved.
I felt the power of womanhood that day and it made me proud to share in that collective experience. At the co-op, I witnessed women empowering one another through community. Whether they were creating products together, sharing stories, singing, or simply laughing alongside one another, their community was apparent. I also saw the power that emerged between us. Through our engagement about each other’s cultures and even something as simple as making eye contact, we connected despite our differences in language and background. This experience reminded me that understanding another culture begins with people: their stories, routines, and willingness to share a part of themselves with others.