Living and working in France, Jihane Bakhti dedicates all her free time to a personal passion project. As a young mother, she launched the self-published Kalam magazine to address her needs and those of many Moroccan parents abroad. Through a pedagogical approach, she offers playful content in Darija to help young children develop and maintain their cultural ties with their country of origin. How was Kalam born? Kalam is the first monthly magazine for Moroccan children or those of Moroccan origin, combining Darija and French. It targets young readers both in Morocco and in the diaspora, following the adventures of two characters, Alia and Adam, through different cities of the country. They discover the historical, cultural, ancestral, and culinary aspects of these regions through educational games, hero encounters, illustrated texts, and popular canteens. The idea emerged from questioning how to appropriately introduce children to the richness of their country of origin or birth. The project started when I had my first son, now 5 years old. I was looking for resources, stories, and games to help him practice Arabic and especially Darija at home, just as we do with French or English. I found very little! I had to manage by translating content or creating some myself. That's how I thought of creating a resource for us parents to help practice Darija daily with our children, but also make it accessible to children themselves, so they would want to read it in a language widely spoken in Morocco. Did you realize gradually that many Moroccans living abroad had the same expectations ? Yes. I started creating small stories for my son. Gradually, I realized that many in my social and family circle shared the same difficulty. Before really launching into the adventure, I took time to contact several parents of Moroccan origin with different profiles, living in various countries, all with children under 10 years old. Our numerous exchanges confirmed our common difficulties, especially for our diaspora children. They don't live in Morocco, their ears aren't daily immersed in Darija and Arabic through radio, television, people in the street, or at home. They have very few opportunities to practice an accessible form of their country of origin's language. I realized I wasn't an isolated case. Every month, children receive in their mailboxes a magazine that takes them to discover a Moroccan city, guided by Alia and Adam. They meet historical heroes who contributed to creating or developing a city. They can meet Ibn Battuta in Tangier, Fatima Al Fihrya in Fes, Youssef Ibn Tachfine in Marrakech... Through reports, they also discover places in these cities. They learn to make typical recipes, like caliente in Tangier, Maakouda in Rabat, Ghriba in Fes... Children can also create craft pieces through DIY manual activities, like tadellakt for Marrakech, the Rbati carpet, the Chamali hat... Everything is transmitted through stories and games, sparking curiosity through attractive visuals and playful content. Learning happens through fun. Is that why you mix French with the Moroccan dialect in the magazine ? Exactly. At this stage, language becomes more a means than an end in itself, as it's not a Darija course, grammar, and conjugation, but rather a transmission of cultures and knowledge from the country of origin, in the most commonly used language in that country. I include French because I designed the magazine to make it accessible to all parents and children, especially those of Moroccan origin but who don't have perfect mastery of Arabic or Darija. I also focused on Darija because I noticed among parents I'm in contact with that the main expectations are related to the functional and usual aspects of speaking: being able to hold conversations and maintain interactions, transmit elements of our local cultures, including those from oral tradition. That's also why I incorporate illustrated stories through characters children can identify with. The goal is to offer immersion in these universes, rich with their centuries-old, even millennial references. Do sales figures reflect reader enthusiasm ? Since the first edition released in September 2024, five months ago, we have almost 200 families reading Kalam every month. Subscribers are mainly in France, given that the first version is in French and Darija. I receive extremely encouraging and heartwarming feedback. Parents are happy to finally have a modern playful resource, with visuals worked in the current era, for our children today. One of the most striking responses was from a young mother whose child is less than six months old and who is already subscribed, to build her little stock of Kalam and introduce it to him when he's a bit older. This shows how well the project has been received. Have you faced constraints related to the current publishing situation ? I launched this project by jumping into the unknown! This market is practically nonexistent, beyond classical Arabic resources for our diaspora children. I committed to it alongside my full-time job and do it on weekends and holidays. The difficulty for me was investing in it without knowing what to expect. But in reality, we're starting to realize that the need is more considerable and that the project has potential for sustainability. The other challenge was finding the appropriate pedagogical approach and also convincing some parents that oral transmission in Darija doesn't prevent having playful resources that allow better transmission of culture and geography. Beyond language, I believe Kalam's objective is fulfilled if our children better know aspects of Morocco through this medium and express it in their own way. In the age of digitalization and computerization, is there also a pedagogical objective in your choice of paper format ? I think the good news for our children is that more and more parents are convinced of the harmful effects of screens, especially at such a young age. There's truly a return to paper, and that was reassuring for me in launching a magazine, in continuation of our own childhood practices when we would buy youth periodicals. The parents I've extensively exchanged with prefer having a paper or audio support for children. The difficulty regarding the publishing market remains that currently, I self-publish all Kalam issues. But I tell myself that this allows me to focus on cultural transmission, more than on the idea of a linguistic choice. Have you expanded your team for magazine design since launch ? I handle all the writing, story creation, and game design myself, in collaboration with my mother who's a teacher and helps greatly with the pedagogical approach. Two people work with me on graphics and illustration to create quality visuals. A graphic designer works on colors, typography, and layout, then an illustrator created the two characters of Aya and Adam. Currently, the magazine is only available through subscription via the website. We deliver directly worldwide to Morocco, the United States, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Singapore... We have reader families in all these countries. The magazine seems to indeed give the possibility to mix Darija with various languages ultimately. Do you plan to develop in this direction ? Yes. Kalam exists initially in Darija and French. I think the next developments will consist of making it available in Darija but with other languages, so non-French-speaking parents of Moroccan origin can use it with their children in other countries. The other languages practiced by our citizens abroad are often English and Spanish. I'm passionate about having versions that cover the three languages most used by our diaspora and that Darija remains, for each of these formats, a constant that creates the connection between these different diasporas, whether they live in a French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, or English-speaking country.
