By Guy Hubbard OUAHIGOUYA, Burkina Faso, 15 October 2012 - In
northwest Burkina Faso, deep in the Sahel belt, a small oasis is
beginning to take shape. |VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Guy
Hubbard reports on a garden managed by local women that benefits
a whole community in Burkina Faso. Watch in RealPlayer|
Bordering the vast Sahara Desert, the Sahel stretches across the
African continent. Eking out any kind of life here is tough, but
a group of women are turning their corner of this harsh, arid
region into a lush and productive garden. In a place where
people survive mainly on nutritionally poor grain millet, the
vegetables these women produce are changing their families’
diets – and lives. In this area, malnutrition is rampant.
Burkina Faso was one of nine countries affected by recent
droughts. But even in times of plenty, nutrition is a problem –
not necessarily because of a lack of food, but rather because of
a lack of the right kinds of food. Vitamin-rich fruit and
vegetables are expensive, and mothers are