Projects

TIGMI ATQI

Mountain people for mountain people

Wind from the Tatra to Atlas.

The IDEA of the TIGMI ATQI the project has been in development for a long time, interwoven with various ideas and goals. But on September 8, 2023, after the earthquake in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco, it took on a different dimension.

The epicenter of the earthquake was near villages inhabited by Berbers - including the AIT TIDILI tribe, in the ATQI Valley. This place has been known and visited for over 30 years by Polish ethnologists and anthropologists.

In a moment (October), villages located at an altitude of over 2,000 meters above sea level will be covered with snow. As far as we can, we want to support our friends and families before winter.

Women from the High Atlas, like many other African women, need work, a decent life, funds for their children's education and their needs. So that they can live with their families in their natural environment. Not every woman and family has the strength, conditions and opportunities to attempt migration into the unknown.

PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS TO PLANS

• developing assumptions for long-term cooperation with women from ATQI;
• encouraging women to use their craft skills and continue traditional carpet weaving;
• helping specific creators, craftsmen and artists in selling their products;
• strengthening faith, hope for rebuilding homes and continuing life in the High Atlas.

WE START with the charity auction ,,Carpet ATQI No. 1”

This auction - NOT ABOUT THE CARPET - as another item to be purchased, but about the IDEA OF SUPPORTING WOMEN from various corners of the world, especially from hard-to-reach mountain regions. 

We start from AFRICA - MOROCCO - ATQI Valley with AIT TIDILI.

What will we do with the money from the sale of ATQI Carpet No. 1 from Biji?

• we will purchase more carpets from women from the ATQI Valley in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco;
• we will pay for air and land transportation;
• we will pay customs duties and VAT;
• we will develop a legal and accounting procedure;
• we will prepare materials authorizing the carpet: videos, photos, contracts, certificates;
• we will prepare promotional materials;
• we will auction the carpets, in an online store, maybe in a stationary store;
• we deal with sales and settlement.

When you buy a carpet, you tell an African woman

• your job is important, you earn money for a living;
• it is remuneration for many weeks of hard work;
• your carpet has value - it is unique, handmade from natural materials;
• you are a creator, a craftswoman, an artist;
• I show your work to the world because it is worth it;
• I wish you, if that's what you want, that you can still live in your home, village, and not migrate to the unknown.

Each carpet has an artist’s signature. This is not a nameless carpet from a tourist shop, but an original handcrafted work.

ABOUT CARPET ATQI No. 1

https://allegro.pl/charytatywni/fundacja-atqi/cele/tigmi-atqi?order=n

Creator: Biya from the Duar of Baakat, AIT TIDILI, High Atlas, Morocco

During our last stay in the ATQI Valley in 2019, we hosted Bija and her mother Zara at home. Zara - she was our guardian, our good spirit from ATQI - we remember her all the time, because unfortunately she is no longer among us.

The ATQI Foundation then came to the ATQI Valley to implement a project to create a library in the local school - attended by 493 children from nearby villages - duars. At the end of the campaign, we received a carpet as a gift from Bija, who is the mother of two boys. This is one of our most valuable souvenirs from the ATQI Valley from AIT Tidili.

Bija had been weaving this rug for several weeks with her mother, Zara. Previously, sheep had to be shepherded, sheared, wool prepared, and dyed. Everything by hand, in difficult conditions.

The carpet is new, never used, waiting for its time! It is hand-woven and has beautiful, artistic imperfections and torn green fringes. Its dimensions are not perfectly machine-made.

Width of one arm - 82 cm;

Width of the second arm - 67 cm;

Length - 132 cm.

Distinctive features: torn fringes on one side, no fringes on the other side.

The meaning of words

Tigmi - means house, ATQI - means "rock", "high vertical rock" that reigns at the foot of the peaks surrounding the valley in Tashlehait - the language of the Berbers of this region. Berbers call themselves Amazigh, "Free people". The name of the valley and stream (Assif) ATQI comes from Atqi. It is one of the most isolated regions in North Africa, in the eastern part of the High Atlas. Not far from Toubkal National Park in Morocco. It is inhabited by the AIT TIDILI tribe.

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