Awa Ouattara says “thank you” for buying Living Wage mangoes!

Awa Ouattar is 46 years old and is one of the long time employees of Zongo Adama. She rents a house in the city of Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, for a family of ten persons. She is the main provider, so these ten people, including elderly and children, depend fully on her. Her main income of the year is the mango harvesting season which lasts for 12 weeks. During this season she works in the packing house of Fruiteq where she sorts and selects the fresh mango’s for export to Europe. Awa has been doing this work since 2007 and would like to keep doing it for many years more. But she also needs to make a living during the rest of the year. During that time she sells drinking water and water ice in the street, but this only earns her 46 euro’s per month. She would like to expand her business with selling cereals, but for that she needs a bit of starting capital, which is hard to find in Burkina Faso.

Therefore Awa is very pleased that a growing number of consumers in Europe is willing to pay for Living Wage Mango’s. The first money raised in 2020 was enough to cover 40% of the wage gap for the packing house employees. At the request of these employees, the first money was used to create a fund that provides free microcredits to Awa and the other employees who want to set up a small business. An Association of Employees has just been activated. So Awa is looking forward to starting her cereal business this year! Of course this is only the start. Let’s get the raised amount up to 100% of the Wage Gap, so that Living Wages can be fully realised for all employees. You will not only help Awa, but also her family to lead a dignified life with better prospects for the future.

Visit the grower: https://www.natureandmore.com/en/growers/zongo-adama

Learn more about Living Wage: http://livingwage.eu/en