We currently have the following projects operating in a village in Tamale called Kalariga:

• Women sheabutter project

• Children’s education project

• Voluntary placement

A b o u t    K a l a r i g a

Kalariga is a village in Tamale.
This area has a very poverty, which results in many problems in the community such as:
* High illiteracy rate, the majority has not attended school.
* Lack of good drinking water. Still to this day there is no tab water in this area. People carry their water from the rivers and dam nearby. Here animals and people drink from the same water source which forms a breading source for all kinds of sicknesses such as guinea worm, which is still rampant in this area.

	Women sheabutter project		Women sheabutter project

In Tamale the sheanut is abundant for the production of shea butter. It is eaten and contains a lot of oil pigment which goes under several processes before its extraction. Most of the people here are still in "darkness" and can't realize the importance and how to conserve the jungle of shea trees. People turn to cut them for fire wood without transplanting. Some cut it down for mango plantation and which when continued will completely perish in the future.

There are 50 women involved with the production of sheabutter in the project. We sensitize and educate them on the benefits of sheabutter and give them support to promote the production of shea butter.

This project can bring about a change of life to the people of the community mostly young girls and women who don't have jobs to earn their livelihood but take up to prostitution and migrating to the top cities to be on the streets putting themselves in problems. It can also enable parents to provide better in the needs of the family and afford sending their children to school.

S o m e    p r o b l e m s

There are various problems these women face.

• The biggest problem is the lack of capital: There is not enough money to buy the ingredients. This is mostly bought on credit which is much more expensive because of the amount added by the supplier. They also can’t choose the (quality) sheanuts they want. The supplier chooses and the women can end up with the least quality sheanuts, which contains less oil thus less sheabutter. The result is that is that this often leaves the women without profit or even with a loss.

• Lack of equipment needed for good processing of the sheabutter

• Lack of water in the community: There is no tab water and water is taken from the dams nearby. When there is no rain these dams are dried up, which leaves them without water.

• Lack of grinding mill: Grinding of the sheanuts is required for the sheabutter production. However, there is only 1 grinding mill in the area and as a result the women aren’t always able to grind at the day they need to.

• Also when there are “lights off” or the machinery is spoiled grinding is not possible.

	Raining season		Dry season
Water sources in the Northern Region