The North of Ghana sits on the edge of the Sahel region of West Africa and is a very arid area, lacking regular rains, fertile soil, or irrigation. Most of the population continues to live in small, isolated villages as subsistence farmers, where the hostile climate, depleted soils, and basic lack of infrastructure makes life very difficult, and hunger is never far away.

It is in this region where our beautiful market baskets and straw hats are made. Ojoba Collective helped to start a weaving cooperative there in 2005 as a way of assisting the most vulnerable segment of society; rural widow women and their children. There are currently 75 women, spread over 3 neighboring villages that are part of the cooperative. They are all widows, desperately poor, and extremely talented weavers.

There is a large population of widows in this region of Ghana for a number of cultural reasons. All of the women we work with are Fra-Fra people, a local ethnic group which is still mostly animist and practices polygamy. It is seen as a sign of wealth in the community to have many wives and children. The husbands must pay a dowry for each woman they marry, and often only older, more established men can afford many wives. Therefore when an older man dies, he might leave behind up to five young women with very young children to take care of. There is no government help for these women, and local inheritance practices leave them with nothing after their husband's death. Most of the women are illiterate and lack basic education; therefore there are few opportunities for them to improve their lives.

Women have been weaving baskets in this region since time immemorial, and selling them on the local market as a way to supplement their subsistence lifestyle. Unfortunately, since this is a very impoverished section of the world, those who buy on the local market are also quite poor, and can not afford to pay a fair price for the amount of time and materials that goes into these beautiful baskets. Recently, these baskets have become very sought-after worldwide, creating an international market. Unfortunately, rather than aiding and empowering the village women who weave these baskets, this has created an opportunity for educated middlemen from the cities to arrive on the scene and, in a haste to make profits, force the women to sell their baskets at an even lower price than the regular market price. This creates a poverty trap where the women work even harder and earn less money, often unable to properly feed, clothe, and educate their children.

By spending a lot of time with these women in their villages, we were able to witness the cruel consequences of this poverty trap first-hand. Through working with a local NGO dedicated to helping the widows and their children, we were able to set up a cooperative with a number of women, paying them a fair price for their beautiful handiwork so that they can begin to get ahead and slowly create a better future for themselves and their children.