We Have Become Dynamic & Entrepreneurial Women

Khoredia Mbodji has been the president of the Keur Niene Serere Market Garden, since its inception three years ago. She is a strong and determined woman who is a leader in her community and she is proud of what they have accomplished. Keur Niene Serere also recently received a brand new Community Health Post where mothers can safely deliver and others can seek basic care. We sat down with Mbodji to ask her about her experience working with Andando.

Mbodji watering her onions.

“I have learned so much since Andando has joined us in Keur Niene Serere. Andando has brought us a garden and a health post for our population and the surrounding villages. Through these investments, we were taught the new techniques of market gardening and all organic methods. Before, we mostly grew only one thing during one season, but now we have mastered other techniques for many types of gardening and techniques to develop nurseries, as well as the reforestation of trees.

“Since the arrival from Andando to the Keur Soce area, we have improved our socio-economic living conditions. We manage to grow vegetables, sell some of them to earn money to take care of some of the daily problems of the family, and contribute to the schooling of my children. Andando allowed us to have access to organic vegetables that are prepared in our different meals. Previously, we bought these vegetables at a premium in Kaolack. Now, we have these vegetables, we also sell them at the weekly markets and we sometimes give some to our family members who come to visit us.

Cabbages growing at Keur Niene Serere Market Garden fed by water drawn from the solar-powered pump.

“The project has changed many things in our day-to-day life: access to vegetables, getting used to working or undertaking agricultural activities, and helping to improve our health. We have become dynamic and entrepreneurial women. Before the arrival of Andando, we spent all our time under the trees just discussion things that led us to nothing. However, since the arrival of Andando, the activity of the garden has become our main concern.

“Not only is this important for our community, but the project extends its effects to the broader population with the gardening and the health component. The community has access to vegetables that they did not previously, and we are able to seek care and treatment in our own village. Even more so, the surrounding villages come to stock up on vegetables and seek healthcare in Keur Niene without having to make the laborious and expensive trip to Kaolack and back. Everyone feels the positive impacts of these programs.

Members of the Keur Niene Serere Market Garden attend a workshop in the garden.

“These things have contributed much to my dignity and well-being. First, it allowed me to have knowledge in market gardening, then it allowed me to be autonomous socially and financially. Before the arrival of Andando, there was not much for me to do. I struggled to manage my problems on a daily basis, and I had to ask for social assistance from my neighbors in the village. Generally, it was disheartening. Now thanks to Andando, I became a fighter, because I work in the garden and I manage to meet my needs and those of my family and my children. With Andando, poverty here is being reduced. I do not hold out my hand and even if I borrow money, I intend to repay in the time because with the garden I am a woman in activity and employment.

“In the future, we hope to do even more, like try to have toilets in every house in our community, setting up a poultry project for the women, and strengthening the capabilities of the Health Post.

“With the efforts of all those involved, we have the tools to succeed. I give my thanks from near and far to everyone in Andando contributing to the completion of the work.”

"We Are More Engaged and Ready to Take Action!"

In honor of International Women's Day, and the nearly 1500 women participating in our market garden program in Senegal, we bring you the story of Combe Ndiaye. Ndiaye is president of one of the women's groups in Kouthieye Market Garden, who have been participating in our program since last July.

Andando Staff with some member of the Kouthieye Women's Cooperative in their new garden.

Last year, the Kouthieye Women's Cooperative partnered with Andando in bringing the necessary infrastructure to make their small garden start thriving in the midst of difficult conditions in rural Senegal. In just a short time (barely six months!), they have turned their garden into a flourishing ecosystem that provides produce for the women and their families to consume, and plenty more for them to sell and earn an income. We sat down with Ndiaye and asked about her experience:

Some of the initial harvests!

"Andando has brought great change to our community. All of us women see an improvement not only in our ability to farm and produce many vegetables through this new system, but we also see big improvements in our organizational and social lives. It has galvanized us women to be more engaged with each other and also take more action in the life of the community. We are more direct participants and can create new ideas and change where we are.

"In regards to the produce, all the women of the gardens are able to take home all the vegetables they need to finally prepare good and nutritious meals. Before, we had to buy these vegetables elsewhere, taking time and money to travel to purchase them. They were also very expensive and without any quality like the fortified organic model that we do with Andando. Now we grow everything we need ourselves and do not have to depend on anyone.

The pump system infrastructure, just after the water was turned on, with the seedlings just starting to come up. 

"Beyond consumption, we also sell another part of the harvest to make money to support our children and the family in general. With Andando, we are able to save money, help our husbands, and promote our health through the use of organic produce.

"As we are just beginning and are still learning, we sometimes encounter difficulties when markets are saturated. Through the help of Andando, we are learning to organize ourselves to sell our produce in the market of Kouthieye following a rotation among the many different groups. We are also pooling together to send representatives to sell the vegetables in weekly markets elsewhere like Ndoffane, Keur Maniable, and among others in Keur Soce.

Checking out the progress with Garden Technician Mbaye Badiane

"With this new income, I am improving my living conditions. In the short term, I am trying to buy a wardrobe and a bed for my house. Longer term, it is helping me to take charge of my family and provide a more decent life for us all."

Initiatives That Change Lives

The programs built by you create real change in communities, just ask those who are impacted! Aida Niang has been working in the Sama Toucouleur Garden for the past couple years. She has benefitted from a boost in income, and her family has received a huge rise in their nutritional options at home.

Aida Niang watering her eggplants

“Andando has changed my life, my status, and my profession. With Andando, I became an entrepreneurial woman. I had previously had no economic occupation, I always stayed at home without doing anything and I had much difficulty supporting my family, my husband and my children.

“Now, all the women of Sama Toucouleur feel the happiness in their faces, because Andando has brought change on the social, health, educational and agricultural level.

“In terms of health, Andando has made a health post at Sama Toucouleur allowing women to receive medical services before and during pregnancy, in delivery, and even after. Then, we bring our children when they are suffering from any disease, because treatment and medical visits are done without difficulty.

“They also work for the education of our kids, and Andando supports our schools by building classes. Further, with the children getting breakfast every day at school, this helps parents save and their children to thrive.

Protecting seedlings under netting.

“It can be said that Andando participates in changing the quality of life of the population of all of Keur Soce. When I started working in the garden, I became more worthy as I work there and earn my living. Before this, I solicited help everywhere to try to solve some of my needs, but with Andando, I regained my dignity. Everything depends on a good plan and the will to do it. Regarding the future of the project, we must keep working to perpetuate the activities of the garden. We will also train our children on the different techniques of the market garden. This will ensure the long-term sustainability of activities and the project.”

We have made some incredible impacts this year, and yet the needs are vast. People like Aida Niang are ready to take them head-on, they just need a little investment and encouragement on our part.

Construction of the Solar Pumps Has Begun

As part of our partnership with The Vibrant Village Foundation, we are installing two solar pumps for use in the market gardens in Keur Soce, Senegal. These will be fully self-sustaining units that will provide ample water to the gardens and the women who run them.Partnering with an experienced Senegalese company, these pumps will allow the growing of vegetables all year, dramatically increasing output in this arid region. This will not only provide these women with improved nutrition and diet for them and their families, but also allow them to grow enough produce to sell the surplus for a much needed profit. This program will directly benefit 150 women and their households and provide a boon for the local economy. This is Mandou Ba, our recently hired Garden Manager. He has extensive experience working in permaculture in Senegal and will be providing assistance to the ladies of the cooperatives. He has also been assisting in the construction of the solar pumps and will provide basic maintenance and assistance.

Here we see the well and solar pump in the background, and the seedlings and their covered beds in the foreground. These seedlings are quickly growing and will be transplanted by the end of the month when the pump is up and running.

Many of the women and community members worked hard to shore up the fence and secure the garden and the new installations.

Making plans for the future of the gardens. You can also see here the clearing that was done by the women to prepare the soil for planting, as well as the healthy and mature cashew trees throughout the garden.

This is an example of a finished solar pump, next to a well. Our two installations will be similar to this and provide ample water all year around. Stay tuned for more news as we get closer to completion.