Drought-Hit Morocco Closing Its Famous Public Baths 3 Days a Week

A Moroccan traditional bath, known as hammam, is empty of customers in Rabat, Morocco, March 4, 2024. A worker walks inside an empty Moroccan traditional bath, known as hammam, in Rabat, Morocco, March 4, 2024. Notice posters are shown outside at a Moroccan traditional bath, known as hammam, while it is empty of customers, in Rabat, Morocco, March 4, 2024.

For years, Fatima Mhattar has welcomed shopkeepers, students, bankers and retirees to Hammam El Majd, a public bath on the outskirts of Morocco's capital, Rabat. For a handful of change, they relax in a haze of steam then are scrubbed down and rinsed off alongside their friends and neighbors.