The Ojoba Women's Shea Butter Cooperative is made up of 250 rural village women. These women live under difficult circumstances as subsistence farmers in the arid northern region of Ghana, West Africa. They must cope with poor, rocky soil, unreliable rains, and little public infrastructure such as affordable transportation, communications, health care or education.
Click on pics to meet a few Cooperative members
Adongo Atandaa
Adongo Atandaa has been a member of the Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative since 2005. She is married and has four children. Before joining the cooperative, she had no steady source of income, and purchasing basic school supplies for her children was a huge struggle. During the long dry season, commonly called “the hungry season,” she used to have to travel far from her village and children in search of work. But now with the income she earns through the cooperative, she doesn’t have to leave home anymore, and she has been able to keep all four of her kids in school.
Ajara Issifu
Ajara Issifu has been a member of the Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative since 2005. Even before joining the cooperative, Ajara was a highly skilled shea butter producer, but she didn’t have access to enough capital to turn her gift into a livelihood. She is very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the cooperative, because receiving the high market price, pre-financing, and additional support has enabled all the women to dramatically increase their profits on the shea butter they produce. Ajara has always dreamed of providing her four children with the highest level of education possible. Her dream is beginning to be realized now that her oldest child is beginning his first year of Senior Secondary School.
Akaribo Ayamga
It has been difficult for Akaribo Ayamga since her husband died three years ago. She has had to take care of herself and her 5 children alone. She says that she couldn’t have done it without the support of the Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative. In Ghana, there is no government assistance for widows, and local inheritance practices often leave the women with nothing. But because of the regular income she gets from being a member of the shea cooperative, she says “now I feel confident that I can feed and clothe my children no matter what.”
Beatrice Ayanoore
Beatrice Ayanoore’s husband died suddenly 10 years ago from a stroke. She was left all alone with four children, the youngest of which was only a few months old. Until becoming a member of the Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative in 2005, she had to struggle just to survive. She used to do petty work in the market in exchange for scraps of food. Now things are different. She proudly remembers the first time she was able to pay all the school fees for all her children for the entire academic year. Beatrice says she is very grateful that she now has the opportunity to “build from strength to strength.” She even dreams that one day, one of her children will complete enough education to become a nurse.
Amina Mahamadou
Education has always been a dream for Amina Mahamadou. She was never able to attend school herself, and always wanted to make sure that her children had that opportunity. But before becoming a member of the Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative, she could not always afford to keep all of her four kids in school full time. Now she is finally able to realize that dream for her children, and is even attending adult literacy classes for herself. Not only that, she has become the main breadwinner for her family, and supports her husband during the long dry season when there is no farming.
Anna Adongo
Anna has put the income she earns from working with the Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative to good use. She invested her earnings the first year into a small flock of guinea fowl. As her flock grew, she began selling them and investing in goats. She now has a viable livestock business in addition to her work in the shea cooperative. The other members of the cooperative like to joke that she will become a serious cattle owner next. She is now easily able to support herself, her husband and her five children throughout the year. She dreams that one day, one of her children will be able to complete the highest level of education and come visit us in the USA.
Before coming together to form the shea butter cooperative; many of the women were engaged in a daily struggle just to get by. Their subsistence crops of millet and groundnuts did not produce enough food to feed them and their children for the whole year, let alone allow them to save seeds for the following year, or sell any surplus at the market. In order to earn additional money to feed their families, and pay for school fees, many of the women resorted to back-breaking work such as firewood collection. Others were forced to leave their children with relatives while they searched for any type of menial work in the big cities far to the south. Still others were so poor that they had no choice but to give their children away to work as maids and servants just to ensure their children's survival.
Now, with the income produced by the purchase of Ojoba Collective shea butter; these women are finally beginning to see some improvement in their lives. Not only can they feed themselves and their children, but all of their children are now enrolled in school. All the women are also enrolled in Ghana’s national healthcare plan, a first in the village.
There are intangible benefits as well. As one of the women said, "before [forming a cooperative] we didn't do things in common. But now we can come together as women and share ideas. Now we have confidence to work together and not be shy." For the first time, these women can dare to dream about a better future for themselves and their children.
