Our Story

From Family Tradition to a Living Vision.

My name is Manal Shalhoub, and although I live in Britain today, my roots and much of my family's story remain in Malula.

Malula (also widely spelled Maaloula or Maʿlūlā) is an ancient mountain town in Syria with an extraordinary cultural heritage. 

Malula is more than my family's hometown. It is a place of extraordinary history, culture and resilience. For generations, families have preserved traditions, language and recipes that have become part of the identity of this remarkable mountain community.

Growing up, I watched my mother, my aunts and the women of Malula prepare natural dairy products, preserve seasonal foods and pass recipes from one generation to the next. These skills were rarely written down. They were shared through conversation, patience and love, becoming part of our family's story.

As the years passed, I realised something.

The knowledge had survived.
The traditions had survived.
But the opportunities had not.

Many of the women who possess these remarkable skills had limited opportunities to turn that knowledge into sustainable livelihoods.

That realisation became the beginning of Malula CIC.

But we did not want it to remain simply an idea.

In 2026, we began turning that belief into action — investing in Malula, creating employment, beginning production and building enterprises rooted in the community.

What began with the traditions I saw in my own family has grown into something much larger: The Malula Vision.

Why Malula Matters?

Malula is one of the few places in the world where Western Aramaic, an ancient language with roots stretching back thousands of years, continues to be spoken.

Its heritage lives not only in its extraordinary mountain landscape, historic buildings and places of worship, but in the everyday traditions, knowledge and stories preserved within its families.

Food is part of that living heritage.

Traditional dairy products, preserved foods and family recipes carry knowledge passed from one generation to the next — connecting people, place and memory.

We believe protecting this heritage means more than remembering it.

It means helping create the conditions in which the people who carry it can continue to live, work and build their future in Malula.

Why We Began With Women 

The first chapter of our work began with the women of Malula.

They did not need us to teach them their craft. The knowledge was already there — developed over generations and passed through families from one generation to the next.

They knew how to make traditional dairy products, preserve seasonal foods and create foods deeply connected to the identity of Malula.

What was often missing was not skill.

It was opportunity.

Our starting point was therefore simple: create the conditions in which existing knowledge could become meaningful, sustainable employment.

That principle led to the creation of our production operation and ZODA, where traditional skills are now being used within a working local enterprise.

But the principle extends much further.

When people have the opportunity to build livelihoods around the place they call home, heritage has a greater chance of remaining alive.

Why a Community Interest Company?

Malula CIC was established in the United Kingdom as a Community Interest Company because we wanted our purpose to be clear from the beginning: to create lasting social and economic impact.

We believe enterprise can be commercially sustainable while also serving a wider purpose.

Our role is not simply to raise funds. It is to help turn ideas into practical action — investing in people, creating employment, supporting locally rooted enterprise and developing partnerships that can contribute to Malula's long-term future.

In 2026, we began putting that principle into practice. We invested our own resources, secured a production facility in Malula, recruited a local team, invested in equipment and renewable energy, commenced production and helped establish ZODA and Hawa Malula.

The project has been built almost entirely through our own investment, with approximately £800 in external financial support received to date.

This matters because our ambition is not to create permanent dependence on donations.

Our ambition is to build sustainable enterprise that creates opportunity.

Support and partnerships can help us go further and faster — but the foundation must be something capable of standing on its own.

For us, success is not measured by profit alone. It is measured by the opportunities created, livelihoods supported, enterprises strengthened and heritage given the opportunity to remain part of Malula's future.

From Our Story to the Malula Vision 

What began with a simple idea — creating opportunity from skills that already existed within the community — has grown into a much wider ambition.

ZODA and Hawa Malula are important first steps, but they are not the destination.

The Malula Vision looks beyond any single product, business or project. It asks how enterprise, employment, heritage, sustainability, partnerships and community can work together to help create a stronger future for Malula.

We have taken the first steps ourselves.

Now we want to see how far this journey can go — and who might choose to walk it with us.