Growing together, alongside local populations
“Before the CST Foundation installed the mill, I had to go to a village a few kilometers away to have the cereals ground. It took me a long time and I couldn’t go to school any more,” says a young girl from the village of Bolé in Chad. Now that the mill has been installed in the village, my mum is in charge of grinding the cereals and I can go back to school. This testimonial highlights the tangible impact of the support provided by the CST Foundation to the Dian Madji group, which is mainly made up of women. Since 2018, thanks to the CST Foundation, they have received 9 training courses in both management tools and market gardening techniques. And the results are in: the development of 4 hectares of land, the acquisition of 7 sheep, and the installation of a mill and a human-powered pump. Another group, in Congo Sara, has also benefited from the support of the CST Foundation for five years, with more than 8 training courses already offered.
Its members have also managed to cultivate 2 hectares of land and diversify their yields thanks to training in fruit drying. It wasn’t all plain sailing. The villagers were initially reluctant to use the new mill, which was said to be marabouté.A real headache for the Foundation, which also has to deal with the realities on the ground.The group’s next challenge is to grow rice and groundnuts.
