120 femmes maraîchères
/ le jardin des femmes
Having met Winnie Nosal this afternoon we have some idea how
the 120 women gardeners in Mali are going to develop their self- help project
and how the « marraines « can be of assistance.
Firstly it was felt that sponsoring individual women was not
a good idea as it can lead to over-dependence and potentially begging – we have
all seen the “my son just needs 10 euros for school books” type of situation
which lead on to more and more demands. The project is a co-operative with all
the women involved. And on a more practical note, very few of them can write.
We asked if we could receive regular reports
from those who can make them on how the garden is progressing and Winnie said
this would be put into place with the leaders of the project. We wanted them to
send some pen pictures (and indeed actual photos) of the women to make it a
more personal relationship and Winnie said it would be useful if the marraines
would also furnish such details if they wanted.
On the question of our financial participation it
was proposed a 20 euro minimum subscription, but not necessarily any further
call for funds. Jean-Marie was confident that the project would get off the
ground with a one-off payment. This being the planting season a sum of 500
euros has already been paid for the purchase of seeds.
The budget for the garden had been sent by the
president of the Malian association giving a breakdown of the costs for getting
things under way. The basic costs, including completing the well are about 2000
euros, plus about 1200 euros to fence the garden (which is helpfully noted as
priority no.3). You can imagine if we can find 120 women Marraines @ 20 euros
the basic setting up costs will be covered.
So how can we pay our subs? A bank account has
been set up in the name of “Le Jardin des Femmes” to ring fence these funds. If
you can pay a euro cheque payable to “Le Jardin des Femmes” or a 20 euro note send it to Winnie Nosal,
Domaine de Sautou, 82160, Castanet, Parisot.with your name, address and email
address. If you have only a non-euro
account and a bank transfer is too expensive contact us at Taglines for more
information.
