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5 September 2000 Koupéla lies 150 kilometres to the north of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Its name means "the village of the white stones" and it is home to a Red Cross project which is helping women to become independent. Two years ago, 20 women volunteered to come to Koupéla to gain a new livelihood and a new outlook on life. They have learnt how to read and write through literacy classes, which have also included basic management techniques that have helped graduates to set up their own small businesses. In order to bring in some revenue, and as part of their commercial training, the women manufacture bars of soap from "karité", the fruit of a tree that grows wild in the region. The women heat the stones of the fruit, then compress them so they produce an oil that solidifies into soap. The bars of soap are sold on local markets and in Ouagadougou. Other sources of revenue for the project include a pig farm, as well as a series of small, sparsely furnished but affordable rooms, which are rented out to travellers. The women also grind millet and are taught how to maintain the well. The project is one of five such women's projects, managed by the Burkina Faso Red Cross, with funding from the Spanish Red Cross. On each site, a well has been dug to provide clean water and latrines have been built. Later in 2000, the Burkina Faso Red Cross hopes to secure more funding so it can add sewing, embroidery, cooking and knitting classes for 50 women. With additional skills, the chances of a better livelihood and future are much greater. The International Federation's President, Dr Astrid Heiberg, visited the project as part of a tour of Africa. "You need strong women in a society to make things happen and here, many things are happening," she said. A welcoming ceremony for the visitors included dancing by the women of Koupéla, and an offering drink of "traveller's water", a sweet, milk-like drink made from millet. |
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The
women in Koupéla manufacture soap from the kernels of the karité
fruit. Oil flows from the compressed kernels into the pail. (p5596)
