Why Pound for Change?
Pound for Change was launched by Pencils for Kids to help people in the developed world appreciate the daily hardships women face, preparing food in Niger. From understanding comes action – to raise money for education scholarships for girls in Liboré, Niger. Through Pound for Change we offer hope to girls who yearn to learn and do not want to spend the rest of their lives pounding millet like their mothers and grandmothers. They too have dreams for a brighter future.
Niger is the poorest place in the world to live and has one of the lowest literacy rates. Girls rarely go to school beyond grade six. Instead, from an early age, they are already working in the fields, helping their mothers.
Millet Pounding
Women in Niger spend up to six hours each day pounding millet (a small grain cereal) to make the grain into flour, which is their main food source for every meal. Often they can be seen in groups taking turns pushing a heavy wooden pestle into a wooden mortar. Every muscle of their bodies is engaged in this strenuous activity.
Millet is harvested by removing the long grainy head from the rest of the stock and then "threshed” to remove the usable grain from the hard husk. After moistening the millet with water the manual pounding begins and then the chaff is strained off. The separated seed is returned to the mortar and pounded and strained at least three more times until all the grain is turned to flour.
You can hear the sound of millet being pounded all day and well into the evening. Thump, thump, thump, thump... The work is laborious, challenging and time-consuming.
The way out of poverty is through education...
Scholarships awarded to girls in Liboré cover the cost of uniforms, books, supplies, food and tutoring for a year. Every year that a girl stays in school enriches her life, broadens her opportunities, and promises a better future for her whole community.
Here's how you can help
Create an event with your friends, group or organization, simulate the experience of pounding millet, and raise awareness and funds that will help change the lives of girls and women in Niger!