Her family had refused for her to work in any mixed-gender spaces,"but I wanted to work so I would not have to depend on anybody", she said.
"Neither Syrians nor Lebanese can make" some of the recipes her Iraqi city is known for, Jassem boasted, as other women sat beside her at a large blue table were preparing the day's menu. When the war in Mosul ended in the summer of 2017, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR estimated the number of"war widows" in the thousands."Without an income and often with children to support, Mosul's war widows are among the most vulnerable to have been displaced during months of fighting for the once thriving city."
Launched with just two cooks, the initiative has since grown and now also provides employment for young graduates, said Youssef, a married mother of five.