#GivingTuesday and Giving Back to Improve Lives

Dear Friends of the Azawak,

We hope your Thanksgiving was filled with love and gratitude. As the holiday shopping

Ebagueye women wait to have their grain
pounded into flour at their grain mill.

season begins, please join Amman Imman and #GivingTuesday, a world-wide movement that celebrates generosity and giving back. It culminates with a global day of giving on December 2, 2014 that coincides with the Thanksgiving Holiday and the kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

As you consider joining the movement by contributing to our work in the Azawak, I want to continue sharing all the life enhancing activities that we accomplished this past year with you.

Along with helping to supply affordable food and grow skills through vocational training, we strived to help improve the lives of the men, children and women in various other ways, as well as increase their job opportunities and revenue.  

Grain Mills to Facilitate Food Preparation

The Ebagueye miller has been trained to use the machines.
Income is divided into three: the miller makes
a third of the profits, a third goes into maintenance,
and the rest goes to support the women's cooperative.

Women and girls in particular rejoiced upon the arrival of the Ebagueye and Couloubade grain mills, which transform grain into flour. The women and girls used to spend over two and a half hours pounding their grain every single day! Now, all they have to do is take their grain to the miller, and in less than a half hour, they can prepare a nice meal for their entire family. The miller himself is also proud to have a paying job for the first time, as he makes a profit selling his services.  

Couloubade Community Store

Gotchi and Tonguindo are Couloubade's
Boutique managers. They enjoy
earning a small income from
boutique profits.

Similar to the community store we built in Ebagueye last year, we built Couloubade a community store. Parents are relieved to be able to purchase shoes, cloth, sugar, pasta, matches and other items nearby rather than walking over ten miles round-trip for such goods. The two women that run the boutique are excited to make $20 a month each, as they increase their economic autonomy. The boutique in Ebagueye is growing, and the boutique managers have set aside money to build an extension to provide additional goods.

Ebagueye Gardens

The children and women of Ebagueye were excited to learn how to garden with Adam, our professional gardener from the Kijigari borehole community. They have begun growing potatoes, carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, watermelon, and other seasonal vegetables. We also planted mango, papaya, and other fruit bearing trees, including a fruit called the “desert apple” in all our communities.

Adam, the president of our Kijigari borehole Management Committee,
teaches gardening to men, women, and children
in our other borehole communities. Here he is showing off
 a "desert apple" tree that he planted a few years ago.

In my next installment, I’ll tell you about our women’s livestock project in Ebagueye and Couloubade, which has had a tremendous impact on the economic security of our women!  

Warm thoughts and best wishes this holiday season!! Again, please do join us for #GivingTuesday!!

Ariane