Millet porridge in the morning
Bread is not for everyone.
More than half of the 35,000 people in the village of Kounoune, Senegal, eat millet or corn products on a regular basis. Porridge for breakfast, rice for lunch and couscous in the evening are the usual eating habits.
The work of the women
In the villages of Senegal, the inhabitants are not awakened by the crowing of the rooster, but by the pounding of the millet mortars.
From 6 a.m., in the middle of the dark night, the women start working to crush the millet they need for the upcoming daily meals.
This activity takes up an enormous amount of time and energy that could be put to good use for other tasks.
The women organize their work in women’s groups, the ‘Groupement de Promotion Féminine’ (GPF). In regular meetings, the women exchange their common interests in order to pool their resources, ideas and experiences. They develop joint activities to increase their income.
The aim of the GPFs is to increase the value of women’s contribution to society and to increase their individual and social autonomy and power. This form of empowering women changes the social relationships between the sexes.
Many women’s groups process grain products using mortars; they lack the means to buy their own grinding machines. Or they drive miles to have the grain ground in a mill.
Grain mills
We want to buy three milling machines worth three million six hundred thousand francs (5,487.80 euros). The machines are intended for three Groupement de Promotion Féminine in Kounoune.
The installation of a millet mill will enable women to focus on more “profitable” activities: such as looking after their children, growing vegetables and/or raising livestock, doing handicrafts or helping the men in the fields…
We organise grain mills
Help us! The women of Kounoune are counting on your generosity.
