Water and Food for 2,000 People in Rural Senegal

Friends,

It is my pleasure to thank you and share with you how through your generous support, the community of Mbossedji in rural Senegal survived the pandemic. Mbossedji began its partnership with CREATE! back in 2019, and when the pandemic hit, it had just started producing fresh food in its community garden. Led tirelessly by the community garden president, Ndeye, together with the training received from CREATE!’s team, the women of Mbossedji fought the negative developmental impacts of the pandemic and remained strong and resilient. The community not just produced nutritious food for themselves, but also became a makeshift market for the neighboring villages, selling their fresh produce to their neighbors and friends! This kept the communities food secure and helped the women maintain their economic independence.

This is what Mbossedji has achieved in the first five months of 2021. With its 2-hectare community garden site irrigated with 36,000 liters of water every day, they produced more than 5600 pounds of nutritious vegetables between January to May, 2021. Support from donors like you allowed them to receive training on organic cultivation methods including organic composting, crop maintenance, setting up and transplantation of nurseries. This training helped them maintain crops like tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and chili peppers, transplant their lettuce nurseries and set up the eggplant, okra and watermelon beds. Continuous production in the garden of a variety of nutritious vegetables and fruits not only improved the health of the community, but also led to improved income opportunities. Each project participant earned more than 1300 CFA every month on an average during these five months. The community has also learned microfinance techniques that helps them save their income to use in further entrepreneurial ventures.

Continuation of the project activities in the face of a pandemic has helped Mbossedji remain resilient and move towards self-sufficiency, the aim of CREATE!s sustainability projects in rural Senegal. This is what Awa, a project participant from Mbossedji has to say about CREATE!s projects to improve food security: “We used to consume vegetable very rarely because it was expensive in the market and we couldn’t buy the quantity we needed. Since we partnered with CREATE!, vegetable is always available in the village and I have the possibility to consume a big quantity. Now instead of going to the market for buying vegetables, we go there for selling it.” Other community members echo what Awa says, and this has been possible only because of the generosity of supporters like you. The community members of Mbosssedji and all of us at CREATE! are thankful for this support.

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