Yassine Diop, 20, lives with her family in the community of Diender. She loves working in the CREATE! cooperative garden. Yassine especially enjoys the process of growing vegetables from seed using nursery beds. These fresh vegetables are a welcome addition to her household’s table.
Yassine is also a member of a Voluntary Savings and Lending Association (VSLA) in Diender. “By participating in a VSLA,” she says, “I am able to manage and save my money.” Yassine is saving for her children’s future. She dreams that her children will one day have good jobs so that they can care for her in her later years.
Yassine and other cooperative members are cleaning the Diender garden site in preparation for planting new vegetable seedlings. The cashew trees behind her were planted in 2010.
Also active in Diender’s poultry cooperative, Yassine is confident that participants can fully assume management of the poultry project from CREATE! at the end of the year. “CREATE! wants us to be independent,” she says. “Training from CREATE! has strengthened our capacity and showed us the path to development.” Yassine now has the skills to forge a sustainable future for her community.