On the desert highway, the road linking Aqaba with Amman lays AlHumaima village. A tiny village of 1,450 inhabitants just on the outskirts of Aqaba, when passing by it, nothing really attracts your attention, a bunch of small houses with no greenery except for some desert bushes.

This sleepy desert village is starting to wake up on a promising project that Al Humaima Ladies society is preparing to start, after the major setback in their main source of income, which was a kindergarten. Unfortunately the ladies had to close it as they were not able to continue paying the teacher's salary and other running expenses. Although the monthly fee is only one JD, parents were not able to pay it. This is how poor this village is, and how this new project will make a difference in the lives of the ladies that will work there.

This new project is a result of the pastry course that Noor AlHusein Foundation conducted in the village after receiving a grant from AZEM project.

Shamma AlMusa" Head of the ladies society" finished the feasibility study of their project. "Our project will be a productive kitchen, to manufacture all sorts of pastry such as Kibbeh, Sfeeha, and cookies, and the products will be marketed locally" says Shamma.

Seven out of the ten ladies who participated in the course will be the core of this project. The society has already made a contract with the nearby Silica factory who will be their main customer. They agreed to provide all the pastry and sandwiches to the employees. And they will set the work time to be two shifts, same as the factory in order to fulfill the demand.

This course opened a wide opportunity to housewives and even teachers who are willing to work in the night shift to enhance their income.

The ladies also benefited from the small projects management course; they learned the principles of marketing and selling, and how to prepare a preliminary feasibility study. And they are perusing a project to market the home garden herbs and eggs. They already consulted the Housing and Urban Development Corporation and the Ministry of Agriculture to help them market their products in the local market and Aqaba city.

This ladies society is trying hard to make it work, and to succeed in their new project.

All this wouldn't be possible without AZEM's support to carry out this life changing training course.