shea butter cooperative

While staying in Hamidou's village, we spent a day driving to a local shea butter cooperative. Creating shea butter is strictly women's work. All women know how to make it: it starts with a small green fruit that grows from local trees. The fruit is delicious, like a cross between an avocado and a peach. The pit of the fruit is roasted and then pounded until the oil is pressed out. It is a great deal of work to pound it and then separate out pure oil from the bits of pit. But a group of women in a nearby village managed to buy several machines to make the process less labor intensive with a cleaner product that would have a longer shelf life. When we arrived we were greeted warmly and Hamidou explained that we were teachers and would like to learn more about the process of making shea butter. The women were very happy to show us each step of the process, and explained at the end that they were having trouble selling the shea butter at a fair price. They wanted 4000 CFAs per kilo (about $8) in order to pay everyone well but customers were only offering 2000, only half of their price. They may be forced to close the factory if they can't find customers who will pay better, since they can't cover their costs well. Ia sked about shipping to the US, but they are a landlocked country, and this would involve driving all the way through Ghana to a ship, which is prohibitively expensive. The women were hopeful about our interest, although we couldn't figure out how we could help aside from buyiing large jars at the moment. The women thanked us over and over and even broke into spontaneous song at the end of our visit. Hamidou translated the song: "we have been suffering for too long but now our suffering is ending." We left with their names and address, and a faith that our visit there will make some difference in their lives in a way we cannot foresee now.