Three hundred kilos of eggplant!

Apparently the eggplant that Madame Toutane is displaying in the photo below is just one of 300 kilos--more than 600 pounds--of eggplant that her group has already harvested and sent to market from the land that they have cultivated with the help of CREATE!

The women say, "Last year we were sitting and doing nothing, and now look!"

What's the difference?

Water, water, and more water--in two reservoirs that the community members dug and finished with their own hands, on land donated by the community, using materials and guidance provided by CREATE!


Exciting news....stay tuned for more news and photos as Barry continues his reports from the field.

"Your project is different."

Like many poor people the world over, Toutane Diagne has seen aid projects with grand ambitions come to her village, only to close up shop and leave before their goals were accomplished.

But Madame Toutane says that CREATE! is different.

She says that this is not the first time the people in her village have tried to work together to solve problems, but that in the past "we tried but stopped because of lack of resources."

She goes on to say, "When you came, we were hesitant at first, but then we realized that your project was different.  And we were not wrong. Thanks to your action, we are harvesting. Now our aim is to grow all kinds of trees and vegetables.  And we know that we will succeed, because CREATE! is showing us how to help ourselves in small ways. We know that anything is possible."

Harvesting hope.

These women are members of a group organized in the community of Fass in northern Senegal.  With guidance from CREATE! this group took advantage of the short rainy season to plant eggplants and melons in their community garden, and they have now begun to reap the benefits of their efforts.

The women say that the harvest gives them hope, and that CREATE! is different from other organizations that have come to their village because of the ways in which we have involved the community in planning and implementing projects very quickly. 

Toutane Diagne, one of the elders of the group, says “It is important for us to make this project successful through our own efforts.  We cannot expect donors just to give us things, and CREATE! encourages us to mobilize even small contributions from the community to meet our own needs.  For example, when we decided to build a reservoir, the community provided the labor and CREATE! contributed cement, chicken wire and iron bars.  Now we have a beautiful reservoir and everybody is happy.  We wish that god will bless you and our operation.”

Today and every day.

When you start your day going in search of water, or firewood, or food, it doesn't leave a lot of time for earning a living.

When you need to send your children to do the same, it doesn't leave a lot of time for them to go to school.

Today and every day,  for families living in rural Senegal and in many other places in sub-Saharan Africa, this is the reality.

Because of drought, deforestation and other effects of global warming, people who for centuries have lived comfortably in their native villages are finding themselves sinking deeper into poverty.

Today and every day, CREATE! is working to change this reality, to help people learn how to catch and conserve water, to reduce the amount of firewood that they need for cooking their food, to plant more trees, and to grow vegetables even in the dry season.