Gladys is the Vice President of the Christian Mother’s Association (CMA) shea butter cooperative in Damongo, Ghana. Gladys is 38 years old, married with four children, and takes care of additional dependents, her 85 year old mother, and her sister’s four children. Her sister’s children live with her because her sister recently died from complications after having her fourth child. Working in shea butter production is how Gladys is able to make ends meet and care for her family. Prior to selling shea butter she was making less than $30 a month. Now, her income has increased by 133% – to $70 a month. She is able to pay for her kids school fees, health insurance, and her utility bills.
Her most important cost is sending her kids to school. Three attend high school, and the youngest is in elementary school. Glady’s husband would not have been able to pay for all her kids to go to school. When I spoke with Gladys she told me she is most proud of being able to help her husband pay for the school fees.

Gladys excitedly states, “My husband is so proud of me. He keeps telling himself ‘who can have such an industrious woman, if not me?’ Of course I feel happy when he makes such an utterance. I have come to believe that the African woman who can support her husband financially at home is often free from domestic violence. My husband loves me greatly and we hardly have any serious quarrels. This brings a lot of joy to the children and they love to stay at home with us during their holiday period because of the peaceful environment“.

Glayds also loves to cook. One of her hobbies is cooking and selling food in the community. Her ultimate dream is to open a restaurant, and she already has a name: the “Top Club Restaurant”. The unique aspect of her restaurant is that she wants to use it to employ widows, young women, and girls who are school dropouts. Gladys has seen how making an income has empowered her life and she wants to help other women achieve the same goal. Gladys states, “my fervent desire is to promote women empowerment programs in Damongo and to ensure the liberation of women from unnecessary violence metered out on them by men or their husbands.”

Want to hear Gladys’ story for yourself? Come out to The National Mall between June 30th – July 4th and July 7th – 11th. Gladys will be at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival for you to meet personally and to learn more about her life, experiences, and shea butter production.

As many of you may know from a previous post, Shea Yeleen has the privileged honor of being invited to participate in the 44th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival. This incredible event will take place from June 30th – July 4th and July 7th – 11th on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. This year the three themes for the festival are Colombia, Rhythm and Blues, and Peace Corps.

The Peace Corps section will include great programs and workshops, such as: “Sharing The World With The U.S.”, “Sharing the U.S. With The World”, “Capturing The Peace Corps Experience”, and “Thinking Globally, Living Locally”. As a former Peace Corps volunteer, I encourage you all to check out some of these programs, as well as many others that will be featured.
The Folklife Festival will kick off on June 30th, at 11:00am. Be sure to bring your dancing shoes for the “Evening with Soul Train and Dance Party” at 6:00pm, featuring The Roots musician, Questlove, as the DJ. A break down of the schedule can be found here .

Shea Yeleen will have a tent on the National Mall and allow guests to meet with three shea producers traveling to the USA from Damongo, Ghana. Come hear these phenomenal women share their cultural experiences and showcase the shea butter production process. You can also purchase our fair trade shea butter products at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s official “Marketplace.” We will be in the blue Peace Corps section (between the “Wine Making” and “Peace Corner” exhibits) in the “shea butter” tent. More details regarding Shea Yeleen’s location at the festival, as well as other exhibits, can be found here on the site map. Can’t wait to see you all there!

*click picture to enlarge*

Some call shea butter “women’s gold” because it is one of the few economic commodities women control in Sahelian Africa. The earliest mention of shea butter comes from the 14th century when Muslim scholars recorded its value in the local economy. Exclusive to the sub-Sahara, shea butter’s use in cooking, as lamp oil, ointment, moisturizer and soap, make it one of the most relied upon products in West Africa.

Shea butter production, however, is an extremely arduous task. In the first step, the women rise at dawn and begin by gathering shea/karite nuts in the forest where the shea tree grows. This can take several days and requires walking miles outside of the village. Once collected, the nuts are boiled over large, hot, open pots until the they are softened and all of the bacteria is killed. Afterwards, the nuts are dried, then shelled and cracked to reveal the seeds within.

The second stage involves a more laborious method. The shea seeds now need to be crushed, roasted, and pounded using a mortar and pestle (a millet grinder is an adaptable technology device that can replace this step). Once reduced to a consistency similar to chunky peanut butter, water is added to create a paste. Two to three women then knead and beat the paste until a caramel-colored foam floats to the surface.

This foam is transferred to a bucket of water, where several washings remove residue. The cleansing process, sometimes repeated up to four times, yields increasingly whiter foam. The foam is then boiled until the shea oil is released. The top layer, which is skimmed, is strained through a cheese cloth and cooled. At room temperature the oil becomes a sold, and women use a portion of the shea for personal use and sell the remainder as a way to generate income. The entire production, from harvest to finished product, lasts for several months. The women usually work in small family groups, balancing these extra tasks with other daily duties that are traditionally the women’s responsibility. Shea Yeleen’s goal is to assist women formalize and better structure the shea production process by helping them create shea cooperatives, providing them with training on quality production, and linking their shea butter to the market.

If you would like the rare opportunity to see the shea butter production process first hand, please visit us on the national mall during the 44th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival from June 30-July 4th and July 7th-July 11th.

Hello friends. The time has come for our first official “Giveaway Wednesday”. This is a great opportunity to try out some of the wonderful Shea Yeleen products. Best of all, it’s for free! All you have to do is answer the question of the day. It’s that simple!

The question of the day is: “If you were given a million dollars today, and were required to use it towards philanthropy, what cause would you choose and why?”

The competition will be open until Friday, April 15th at 11:59pm. Please submit your answers in the comment section of this post, and also supply your email address so you can be contacted if you’re winner. Best of luck!

Hello friends! I’m excited to introduce to you a new monthly feature that will take place for Shea Yeleen supporters. This giveaway is a great time to win some of our wonderful products.

On Wednesday a question will be posted on Shea Yeleen’s blog. Participants will have until Friday at 11:59pm to respond to the question. All answers will be reviewed and one lucky participant will be chosen as the winner. The winner will be announced, given exposure on our blog, and will win a free gift from Shea Yeleen. It’s that simple!

This is our special way of saying thank you for supporting Shea Yeleen and all of the effort that is being made to economically empower women in rural West Africa. There are more exciting treats and events to come. Stay tuned for updates!

patrons attending the Folklife Festival on the National Mall

I have some good news to share! Shea Yeleen has been invited to participate in the 44th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It will take place this summer from June 30th – July 4th and July 7th – 11th on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Folklife Festival is an educational presentation that features community-based cultural exemplars. Previously, it has brought more than 23,000 musicians, artists, performers, craftspeople, workers, cooks, storytellers, and others to the National Mall to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and aesthetics that embody the creative vitality of community-based traditions. Best of all, this extraordinary event is free to the public and open to any and everyone.

This year the three themes for the festival are Colombia, Rhythm and Blues, and Peace Corps. Shea Yeleen has the esteemed privilege of being featured along with other current and returned Peace Corps projects. This year is a special year for Peace Corps because the agency is commemorating and celebrating 50 years of the service and accomplishments of Peace Corps volunteers! Since 1961, more than 200,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers in 139 countries worldwide. Their fields of service include agriculture, business development, community development, education, environment, health, and youth development.

With the women in Dio, Mali

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be a volunteer, as well as my father, Peter Wright, who served in Burkina Faso from 1974-1977. I served in Mali as a health education volunteer, and during my father’s tenure, he was assigned to a UNDP/FAO project helping to manage activities for a 1,000 hectare reforestation project. 300 Burkinabe were impacted in this project through increase wages and tree conversation for their communities. Both my father and I translated our services into a lifelong commitment to local community development in Africa. He spent over 25 years working with farmers in Burkina Faso, and now works on a natural resource management project funded by CARE/Danmark implemented by CARE/Niger. Needless to say, my parents have had a huge influence on my life, and the Peace Corps was a critical stepping stone in creating Shea Yeleen.

If you have the opportunity, please take the time out to attend the festival and meet with shea producers coming from Damongo, the community we work in with partnership with Naasakle. Eugenia Akuete, President of Naasakle, was here last fall when we honored her and the work in Damongo. Shea Yeleen will be hosting a reception in DC to correspond with the festival. Please stay tuned for specific details and information regarding our involvement in the festival and the date and location of our reception. Can’t wait to see you there!

Last night I was watching Bill Maher and he was having a heated debate with Tavis Smiley about the Islam world and women’s rights. Bill was using Egypt as an example and was asserting that no real revolution could happen unless Muslim men started treating women better. Tavis responded that Bill’s judgment was too premature and we as American’s cannot climb up too quickly on our high horse of women’s rights since our treatment of women should not be considered a standard. Tavis didn’t view women’s status in America to be something to boast about. Bill was appalled that Tavis would even compare women’s rights in the US to women’s rights in Egypt or any Muslim country for that matter.

As a Ghanaian American, although I was born in the conservative Muslim north of Ghana I was raised in rural upstate NY. Over the years, I heard stories from my Mom about the mistreatment of some of my aunties in polygamous marriages, and the pressures of being a proper Muslim woman. I can’t help but feel conflicted about the topic of Islam and women’s rights. I hesitate to make a broad brush conclusion that being a woman in every Muslim community means oppression and abuse, however, from my experience I have very little to combat this reality.

During my experience volunteering with Peace Corp. in Mali, one of the hardest adjustments I had was seeing the way women were treated. Men in my village had the right to beat their wives, and unless a neighbor or family member interceded on the woman’s behalf, it was generally accepted as proper behavior. I saw fathers choose to send their sons to school instead of their daughters, who they were eager to marry at a young age. In the Wahhabi community I served in, before the rainy season, the entire community would celebrate the marriages of the young girls in the community. I saw girls as young as 14 eager to be given away to their husbands to take their dutiful role as wife. Very soon after they would be at the health center, bellies heavy with the arrival of their first child. Not that there is anything wrong with marriage or being a wife, but when you don’t have a choice and/or option in the matter, it can easily become a tool of oppression.

It’s hard to ignore the fact that many Muslim communities require women to be submissive to the men. In 2009 the Malian President, Amadou Toumani Toure, refused to sign a family law that would give more protection and legal rights to women. He was convinced by the uproar by Muslim men. Every woman should have the right to be a free human being and feel safe on this earth. We all deserve that much.

In recognition of Women’s History Month, I urge you all to educate yourselves on the societal customs and legislation that affect women all over the world. Believe it or not, you do have the power to make a difference. It is my hope that I’m doing my part and making somewhat of an impact through Shea Yeleen. If you would like to assist me in this endeavor, please feel free to donate some of your funds and/or time to our organization. It would mean so much to me, but it would mean even more to many of the women in Africa.

I was intrigued by Jessica’s leadership and commitment to making sure more people would come out to vote, and after hearing her story I understood why it was so important to her. Jessica’s experience during the civil war and later as a refugee in Uganda and the US is one that tests the human spirit. Jessica first became aware of rumors of a civil war in 1989 when her uncle and his friends discussed politics and the growing tension between the North and South. It wasn’t until 1991 that the war was brought to her doorstep when rebels entered Yei and started opening gunfire. Jessica said, “all I could do was take my two week old daughter, other young children, my mother, and run for the forest. We had no where else to go, everyone around us was running to the forest.” After traveling by foot with many stops along the way, Jessica and her family arrived in Kaya, border town between Sudan and Uganda, where they stayed for a couple of months. Life in Kaya was difficult and the only source of income was selling tea and fried dough to travelers.

When life became unbearable, Jessica and her family crossed into Uganda to seek refugee assistance through the UNHCR camps. In 1993 they settled in Ajumani, Uganda and lived in a camp called Oliji. Jessica shared that, “the refugee camp experience was terribly difficult it was so congested, over crowded, sanitation was very poor, and in order to get water you’d spend over six hours waiting. Protecting my children and providing for them was also difficult, I don’t think I could have done it without my mother.”

Women Collecting Water

There were no jobs in the camps, however Jessica decided to volunteer her time to teach first grade math. Volunteering opened a door for her when an international NGO began recruiting people to train them to become counselors for victims of the civil war. She was selected and began making money working as a counselor. Life began to improve as she started to make a little money to take care of her family. About three years later Jessica shared with one of her colleagues that she wanted to move to another country so she could do more for her four children. Her colleague, moved by her story, helped her file the application to gain refugee status for herself and her children, and in 2000 she moved to the US to rebuild her life. Jessica now lives in Austin and is working as a nurse and raising her youngest son. Her other children are either in college or working professionals.

Jessica’s story is one that many Southern Sudanese share, and although she has rebuilt her life Jessica says that her dream is to go back to her country. The dream of many Southern Sudanese is to rebuild their lives in a new Southern Sudan where they have autonomy over their lives and country. The referendum means a new beginning. Jessica sees Southern Sudan as a resource rich region that can provide for its over 8.2 million people.

However, separation will not be easy. Sudan was embroiled in a prolonged North-South civil war that started in 1983. This conflict was rooted in northern economic, political, and social oppression of largely non-Muslim, African Southern Sudanese. The civil war resulted in four million people displaced and, more than two million deaths over a period of two decades. In 2005, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (or CPA) which ended the two decade civil war. The CPA also guaranteed Southern Sudanese the right to vote for secession or unity in January 9, 2011. International observers predict that the South will vote for secession and become an independent nation. Even if the outcome of the referendum will be for separation there is fear that the country could revert back to war. Jessica shared concerns for the many Southern Sudanese who currently live in the North, because if a separation occurs they will be considered foreigners in a country they have inhabited for generations. There is also the issue of resources like oil-sharing that have been historically controlled by the North. Regardless, Southern Sudanese are hoping that the next few days will begin the political journey to overdue peace and a new African country.

Stay current on the Sudanese referendum on BBC Africa and the Sudantribune.com.