Linda- Remarkable individuals 2

Linda discusses advantages of working collectively to women shea butter traders in Binaba market

Linda’s plan- coming into fruition, but with more to be done and with formidable challenges - is to train women  to work a process with controlled, consistently applied techniques, in a protected work compound, resulting in a high grade, quality guaranteed shea butter, to be sold on for further processing and eventually giving the women involved a decent regular income.  Run on collective lines, and using facilitation and training, the women are taught to question, to discuss and to be involved in decisions made about Hope Givers. Her workers are recruited from among the young local women Linda had identified as being the least able, through traditions and circumstances, to initially help themselves.

Linda- with a young single mother and her daughter

Alice is typical and one of Linda’s original team of 12. Alice had a little schooling but after Primary 3 was taken to Cote d’Ivoire with her family, returning recently as a young adult, and training as a hairdresser, but unable to read and write. With no finance to set up a business, her prospects were limited. Alice expresses her commitment to the Hope Givers vision- “If you want to learn you have to be patient, have faith and not quit.” She is committed to the project. She also continues to work in a rented space as a hairdresser and produces a locally popular ginger flavoured drink- “Zonko”- to generate income.

Alice- in her rented shop, with zonko- in a recycled bottle.

Of the formidable challenges-the infrastructure we take for granted in the affluent West is lacking. Binaba is linked to the nearest villages by one decaying tarmac road, and the whole Upper East region lacks any sort of transport network.

At 27, Linda can remember electricity coming to her village. She can remember when mobile phones would not work locally as there was insufficient signal. The internet connections remain poor and unreliable.