Struggling for food, work and education
With no source of income, they struggled to pay for even their most basic needs. And, to add to their challenges, their 16-year-old would have to walk almost four miles to reach the nearest school. Recognising that such a long journey each morning and afternoon was not good for their son’s wellbeing or academic performance, the family made the difficult decision to send him away to live with a family living closer to the school. This separation, though necessary, added to the emotional strain on the family.
Faridatou's husband diligently sought out any available work he could get to try to provide for the family's needs, but the opportunities were few and far between and despite his best efforts, they lived in a constant state of hardship and uncertainty.
Determined to contribute to the family's survival and help improve their circumstances, Faridatou started doing some market gardening**. This work, though demanding, offered them some practical hope.
Opportunities and sheep
Then, things improved even more. As part of a local Tearfund partner project called Food for the Body and Soul, Faridatou was offered the opportunity to train in an income-generating activity of her choice. She chose livestock breeding. Once she had completed the training, which included input on business management and management tools, she also received a ram and a breeding kit, livestock feed, a manger and a water trough.
A few months later, she was able to sell the ram and afford to buy a bicycle for her son so he could come home and still get to school easily without having to live away from the family!
Faridatou also bought a couple of sheep to breed and she happily explains, ‘I now have three sheep as one of them bore a lamb.
‘I am confident that this work will expand and will help to bring my family relief.’
Food for the Body and Soul: a food and nutritional resilience project
Now in its third year of implementation, the Food for the Body and Soul project in Burkina Faso includes activities designed to: support households struggling to access sufficient food and nutrition; improve relationships within households and communities through peacebuilding activities and promote positive gender norms using Tearfund’s Transforming Masculinities approach.
As part of this project:
- 121 people (105 women and 16 men) have been trained in effective farming techniques, the use of simplified management tools and the development of marketing strategies;
- 36 young people (13 boys and 23 girls) and 75 women have been able to create an income-generating activity and improve their finances;
- 12 gender champions have been trained to conduct Transforming Masculinities dialogues;
- 26 community leaders (21 men and five women) have been envisioned on the Transforming Masculinities approach;
- 62 couples have attended Transforming Masculinities community dialogues so far; and
- 109 children (75 girls and 34 boys) identified as malnourished have been restored to health after training provided to their mothers helped them produce nutritious meals.
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*Name has been changed for protection.
**What is market gardening?
Market gardening is small-scale farming that focuses on growing a variety of produce (fruits, vegetables and flowers) to sell. It is associated with manual labour as opposed to using farming machinery.
