Bustling with life, music and laughter, SOUK Seattle was a space of warmth and welcome. This past Saturday in the Pioneer Square area, SOUK Seattle, a charity market, was open from 1-7 p.m. and drew in a consistent crowd all day. The event was inspired by the “Souk,” traditionally an open marketplace found in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asian countries where vendors and businesses of all types gather. A portion of all vendor sales were donated to charities supporting Palestine, Lebanon, and Sudan. The organizers of SOUK Seattle wanted to bring the culture and community that any Souk embodies to the Seattle area.
Any vendor found at SOUK Seattle’s spring event had a story to share about how cultural heritage inspired people to build businesses with the intention of keeping their culture alive.
Gaya Baloyan, an Armenian vendor at SOUK, started her business, Siroon Collections, to raise awareness about the current war in Armenia.
“I started the business in 2020 because of the hard soft war in Armenia and I wanted to raise awareness about what was happening in about Armenia, and so I went to Armenia and I started co-designing with the makers in Armenia as a way to support them and as a way to then talk about where I’m from. And so we have a collection that’s made with up-cycled bullet casings, because we want to spread the message of peace and really show everyone that uniqueness can come from something unfortunate,” Baloyan said.
When asked why it was important to be part of events such as SOUK Seattle, which largely focused on raising funds for Palestine, Baloyan shared her personal connection to the cause.
“As an Armenian and what we’ve been through, our history, I think I personally can relate to what is going on in Palestine and I wanna also raise awareness about it and talk about it and to me, our cultures are very similar and being a part of something like this is important because it just allows us to have a space where we’re being come together and support each other,” Baloyan said.
SOUK Seattle gave the spotlight to businesses that are dedicated to spreading awareness about the struggles of their homes.
Angelina Moneir is an Egyptian-Palestinian Italian artist who creates art inspired by Arab culture and nature.
“I’m an art therapist and eco therapist. Everything culminates from that and just our heritage, making people aware of how great our culture is rather than what they see in the news,” Moneir said.
Moneir’s art reflects the stories of her ancestry. Purchasing her work, like her liberation earrings, poppy eye stickers or eye witness prints serves as a link of reflection and connection between the buyer and purchaser.
“Sometimes I like them to like the beauty of it [her art] or have a connection to it in some capacity. Or like to evoke some kind of emotion, whether it’s a positive one or maybe not so positive just because it’ll reminds them of other things, but then reminds them that without hardship we aren’t where we are,” Moneir shared as she reflected on what she hoped the audience at SOUK Seattle would take away from her collection.
Habiba Youssef, a Seattle resident, expressed her excitement and appreciation for events like SOUK Seattle and hopes to see more opportunities for similar events to be held in the future.
“It allows for different people to get to know many different cultures, and it allows us also to immerse in our own cultures,” Youssef said.
Poppies for Palestine was another vendor featured, which focuses on direct and mutual aid. They are entirely volunteer-run and supply all products sold for donations out of pocket, which means every dollar donated goes directly to families in Gaza.
“SOUK gave us a platform to get fundraisers in front of a sympathetic crowd and helped us raise $2,592 with more donations still rolling in, and we donated an additional $260 out of pocket to HEAL Palestine, one of the two charities SOUK chose to fundraise for. Without community events like this, the families we support may survive,” an anonymous source said.
This spring’s SOUK Seattle was successful on multiple fronts. It successfully raised money for Palestine, Lebanon, and Sudan. It also brought the community together and served as a reflection that even during times of hardship, people unite to celebrate their heritage.
