And it is particularly difficult for women and girls. Often treated as inferior, women are silenced and denied decision making authority. Often they are abused, conflicting with God’s idea of image-bearing and partnership. “Before the project I was not able to make any decisions. I used to quarrel with my husband about his lavish lifestyle.”
Donors like you helped turn the tide. Earlier this year your gifts provided twenty-five cassava processing machines to villages in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Easy to grow and nutritious, cassava is an ideal staple to help families escape hunger. Unfortunately, the roots are toxic unless processed properly.
Hanna used to spend three days grinding the roots by hand in order to make cassava flour. It was backbreaking work. Her hands would often be bloody with sores and her whole body would hurt. But with the machine processing only takes one HOUR! “The machine empowered me to process my raw cassava to gari and foofoo. I can even operate the machine by myself as a woman,” Hanna says.
Along with training in gender equity, the machine facilitated a more equal and harmonious relationship in the family.
“The training changed my husband’s behaviour towards the family. Now he cares much more. We now have even planted more cassava on the farm due to my suggestion and because we can process it and get more money.”
