How Baking Bread is Changing Lives: The Success of Sweet Potatoes

Five men standing outside holding multiple bags of bread, smiling and raising their hands in celebration.Five years ago, a difficult economic situation forced Thaimu Banugura to leave his hometown, Jaiama Nimikoro Kono, in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Despite having completed his West African Certificate Exams to graduate from secondary school, Thaimu[...]

Women at the heart of our work 

Mother gives child a vitamin A supplement in outdoor setting.Women are the cornerstones of many families. They oversee home life — raising the children, preparing meals, even fetching water — and they bear responsibility for part, if not all, of their families’ livelihoods. In times of struggle, women often put[...]

Meet Mollika: 17-Year-Old Award-Winning Farmer 

Smiling young woman in colorful traditional clothes proudly showing gold medal in rural garden setting.Nothing can stop rising star Mollika Biswas, an award-winning farmer. The 17-year-old lives with her parents and her older brother in a small village in the Satkhira region of Bangladesh. Two years ago, Mollika embarked on a health and nutrition journey with[...]

A Friendly Competition Helps Eliminate Trachoma

Group of people standing outside in a rural setting in front of a borehole and water tower with Helen Keller Intl logo on it.Hawa Sissoko is a housewife in Kéréko, a small village in Mali. She, like many of her neighbors, would have to walk more than 10 miles each way to have access to clean water. Without clean water, diseases like trachoma can run rampant, and serious illness[...]

Trachoma Eliminated as a Public Health Problem in Mali

Eyecare professional examining woman's eye for trachoma in outdoor rural setting.The World Health Organization announced the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem in Mali.  Though not the first country to eliminate trachoma, this milestone is particularly extraordinary due to the scale of the disease. A 1996 survey found[...]

Koinadugu Women Fight Hidden Hunger through Farming

Woman holding a two sweet potatoes outside with lush green trees in backgroundOn a frosty Sunday morning, a group of farmers wearing brightly colored African waist scarves, called lappas, gather together in front of Haja Conteh’s house in the Koinadugu district of Sierra Leone. The all-women farmers group, called “Denkola Two[...]