In Kidal, northern Mali, the political and security crisis has resulted in many refugees and displaced people, particularly women and children. Those who stayed there try to support themselves by going into market gardening and sewing.
This is the case of Ele Walet Kanamnane, market gardener in Kidal. “After the war, we were only three in the neighborhood. The others fled. (…) After the housework, I come to the garden for the market gardening work. With the events, everyone is gone. It only remains the women who take care of the garden to be able to support themselves”, she says.
Ele Walet Kanamnane, however, deplores the problem of water and the high cost of living: “there is no money, there is nothing. Vegetables are expensive. The pot of rice is 500 FCFA”.
The clashes in the region have left many dead, leaving many widows and orphans. In order to rebuild, women gathered to form an association to learn a trade and to initiate income-generating activities.
“What motivated the creation of the association is that many women lose their husbands in the fighting. They suffer and have no work to help their children. This is what prompted me to create the association in order to help women to take care of themselves. They are taught to sew. After the training, they will be able to sell the clothes they are going to make”, says Nina Walet Hamma, president of the Orphans Association in Kidal.
The women we met hoped for the return of stability and social cohesion between the populations suffering from the crisis. “We try to do our best despite the conditions in which we find ourselves. We hope that with the blessing of Allah, the situation will change. And that there will be no fighting and peace will come again”, added Lala Ambery, a member of the association.
Some projects for socio-economic reintegration are supported by the UN mission in Mali. The initiative aims to help those who are vulnerable or affected by the crisis.