Thinking Big While Taking Small Steps
If you visited the small village of Djoga in western Niger, you’d see a cluster of huts sprouting from the reddish-brown earth, while the smell of animal dung and the pestering flies make it clear that the people of this village raise animals and farm for a living.
Even in Niger, Djoga is the kind of place you’d typically drive by without noticing. But if you did stop, you’d get to meet Fourera, whose rags-to-riches story is well known in these parts and inspires other local women to move from living at a bare-subsistence level to starting a business and creating a regular income.
On a typical day, with the temperature hovering around 100 degrees, Fourera travels to the nearby weekly market with her ...