Water helps women like Yasmine escape extreme poverty.
Yasmine smiles while standing in her small, fenced plot of kale, beets, and onion which is next to her tiny, tin-roofed house…
Yasmine smiles while standing in her small, fenced plot of kale, beets, and onion which is next to her tiny, tin-roofed house. Resting peacefully on her back, a small precious granddaughter rides the waves of her never ending bending to take care of her crops. How is this young woman a grandmother? She politely laughs at the question. In addition to this wee one strapped to her back, she says, she has a few other older grandchildren. “I got married very very young,” she explains.
Yasmine takes full advantage of her young age to work as a gardener and a businesswoman. In addition to selling some of her crops at the local market, she uses peppers to make a highly sought after spicy powder. She purchases the peppers when the price is low and adds value by grinding them and enhancing them with home-grown spices. She stores the powder until the price goes up, and then resells the powder for a profit. This is her fourth year doing this.
Yasmine lives in Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso, a small city town of approximately 65,000 people. One of the biggest advantages of urban life is access to a nearby source of clean water. She explains, “I used to live in a rural area and fetched dirty water from the river. I had to carry big plastic jugs with water for my entire family. Now I get water from a distribution point nearby. It would be really difficult to do business if I did not have water close to me.”
While Yasmine appreciates living in Ouahigouya, she thinks that rural women potentially enjoy a business advantage — if they have access to water. “If they could have clean water nearby, they would definitely be able to run a business like mine. They could save all those hours that they spend getting water every day and use that time to garden and grow kale, garlic, beets, onions, and cabbage — those things would be in high demand in urban areas. In the countryside they have more land, so if they have time and water to garden, they could make money.”
Yasmine can’t even imagine withholding the blessing of water from anyone — particularly women still living in the surrounding villages. After all, she was one of them.
Without water, we do not have access to the tools we need to be self-sufficient in today’s society.
We believe that there is…
A Solution:
ONE WELL PER VILLAGE:
We believe people, not water, can change everything! When you sponsor Well Drilling
Project in Burkina Faso, Africa you’ll unlock the potential of an entire community!