Kachana's story
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Meet Kachana
"My name is Kachana. I am from Nakolo. I am 35 years old and I have four children. I've been working with Tree Aid for the past two years on the Grow Hope project.
We are trained on bushfire management, shea and baobab processing, financial education and tree planting.
Unlike before the project when I struggled to get money, now I feel that getting food for my family is no longer a challenge."
Before the project
Like many women in Ghana, Kachana had no choice but to cut down trees to get firewood to sell and cook with.
“We used to harvest firewood to sell to pay for our children’s school fees and buy food for the family. More and more there is no wood for us to cut. The forest is being depleted because everyone is trying to survive."
With fewer trees in her community, she had to spend almost two hours a day walking far into the forest to find enough wood to provide for her family.
"Sometimes it’s very difficult to get food to eat. We used to harvest firewood to sell to buy food for the family. Harvesting firewood is very difficult because we spend a lot of time travelling to collect the wood and also transporting it to the market."
Since joining the project
Since working with Tree Aid, Kachana has received her own fuel-saving stove which uses half as much wood as traditional stoves. Now that she no longer has to spend hours looking for firewood, she uses her time to make shea butter to earn a sustainable income.
"I am working with Tree Aid's Grow Hope project. We were trained in shea processing. The shea processing equipment that we have received is helping us a lot... it saves us a lot of time and makes our work easier."
Looking to the future
“Now that we are part of this project, one of the benefits is that we will no longer struggle to find food for our families.
Before we used to struggle to get financial support but with this training, now we work together in the Village Savings and Loans Scheme and we can get loans to support ourselves.
For myself and my children, all we hope for is good health and to be able to feed ourselves well."
