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Story of hope amid drought and hunger

Alizeta Sawadogo  (50), lives in Louda village, Burkina Faso, where the land is arid due to climate change
Alizeta Sawadogo (50), lives in Louda village, Burkina Faso, where the land is arid due to climate change Alizeta Sawadogo (50), lives in Louda village, Burkina Faso, where the land is arid due to climate change

STANDFIRST: Documenting the second part of the Christian Aid visit to the west African country of Burkina Faso Allison Morris looks at work the charity is doing to help rural communities in the battle against climate change.

RUNNING my hand through the red, dusty earth that makes up much of the northern part of Burkina Faso - that lies in an area known as the Sahel - I find it hard to imagine anything growing in land that is little more than desert.

While the capital Ouagadougou is similar to any bustling city on the African continent, as we drive further north the flat featureless landscape becomes drier and more inhospitable.

The vast majority of the population live in a way that has changed little in hundreds of years. Dwellings are still built from mud and straw and cooking is done on outside stoves fuelled by wood. Water is sourced daily from wells.

Women are responsible for all the household chores and a significant portion of the back-breaking farming work. During the wet season they grow millet and maize that has to sustain their families throughout the year.

In a testament to the resilience of human survival in the most challenging of circumstances the rural communities are also managing to extract food from the arid land during the long dry season.

Christian Aid through their partners in the field are helping by providing enhanced seeds that yield stronger crops.

Encouraging new farming techniques, such as placing rock belts along the land to stop water running off during the rainy season is also helping increase production.

Despite this most still struggle to feed traditionally large families of around eight or nine children.

Alizeta Sawadogo is in an arranged marriage, as is the tradition in this Muslim country.

The 50 year-old has eight children, seven daughters and one son.

Considered old in a country with a life expectancy of just 56 she carries out physical farming activity that would put most 20-year-olds to shame.

When she finishes daily with her household chores, helping farm her husband's land and cooking the evening meal for her family she utilises what little free time she has to farm a small featureless piece of land gifted to her by her husband.

Working until late in the evening the small amount of crops she grows on the land are sold in part to help pay for her daughters' education.

While most children in Burkina Faso attend primary school the attendance for girls can be erratic. Some men are reluctant to pay for a daughter's education in a country where women are still treated as a possession of their husband.

In the dry season Alizeta works in a market garden. The project is supported by Christian Aid partner ATAD.

The garden is watered twice daily by the women from water pulled manually from a well.

It takes hundreds of daily trips to the well to keep the land hydrated.

I try it once and am forced to accept that Burkina women are made of stronger stuff than I am. It's heavy, difficult work.

The garden allows women to grow vegetables to feed their families or sell on at market to make extra income for the household.

"There are days when you have nothing in the stomach but you muddle through. You are drowning but you struggle hard to survive", said Alizeta.

Through sheer hard graft and determination that her children would have a better life than her own, shortly before our visit one of Alizeta's daughters had passed her entrance exams and been accepted into the university at Ouagadougou.

The first from her village of Louda to have done so, being educated and getting a city-based job gives women status and the opportunity to chose their own husband, a 'love match' rather than an arranged marriage.

Years of back breaking work have taken their toll on Alizeta's health but her actions assisted by Christian Aid and their partners have changed the course of her daughter's life.

In a country that is plagued by drought and hunger, where around one in every ten children die before the age of five it's easy to feel as though all is lost. But Alizeta's story gives hope that with just a little help positive change is possible.

This Christian Aid Week (10-16 May) thousands of volunteers across Northern Ireland will take part in the country’s longest running door-to-door fundraising week to raise money for its vital work with communities like those in Burkina Faso featured here. To make a donation visit www.caweek.org, call (028) 9592 2015 or text ‘WEEK’ to 70040 to give £5.