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Proceeds help support schools
Leather and straw items made by Tuareg women were sold for centuries
to noblemen and warriors. There are no longer noblemen in the
desert and, with only occasional tourists as customers, the Tuareg
risk losing the knowledge of these crafts.
RAIN’s first women’s artisan
cooperative is based in Gougaram, a remote Tuareg settlement.
Four generations of Tuareg women belong to the cooperative.
They sit in the sand, using only knives, razor blades, rocks
and boards to produce a range of beautiful, ornate items of
leather and straw, including handbags, necklaces, eyeglass
holders and bowls.
RAIN provides seed money, skills training,
design and marketing consultation, and is selling the women’s
products in the United States at fair trade prices. Proceeds
are returned to the women, who use half of their earnings to
support their schools.
Another nomadic people in Niger -- the Wodaabe -- are famous
for their elaborately embroidered clothing. RAIN helped organize
Wodaabe women into a cooperative and is now marketing their shawls,
shirts, pillows and other lovely items.
The Wodaabe women stay in the town of Agadez
for several months to make their goods. Their home, however,
is several hours away in Foudouk Amateltel, where half their
cooperative earnings go to the 120-student residential school
for nomadic children.
In the first 15 months of the RAIN-initiated
cooperative in Gougaram, the 80 women involved earned almost
$8,000 (in a country with an average annual income of $200).
Half of these earnings they shared among themselves; the rest – nearly
$4,000 – was used to buy uniforms, sleeping mats, blankets
and medical care for the 110 nomadic children attending the
Gougaram residential school.
Cooperative items are available in limited
amounts by contacting RAIN at info@rain4sahara.org, as well as at RAIN. Contact Us to receive sale notices or to order leather, straw or embroidered goods.
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