Our Shea Butter: Supporting Tapko Widow's Group in Ghana

Our Shea Butter: Supporting Tapko Widow's Group in Ghana

12th Feb 2016

RDA-True Essence Shea Butter

When you use our  Shea Butter you are not only using some of the purest product available anywhere, you are also helping to support an entire village in Northern Ghana!

True Essence Shea Butter is purchased from Shea Butter Market in Ghana, here’s a little bit about their inspiring story...

Our Shea Butter is purchased directly from the Tapko Widow’s Group, who harvest the shea nuts and process them into Shea Butter using traditional methods that have been handed down over centuries. We pay them a premium price and donate 2% of sales to their micro-credit project – helping them to help themselves! Helping women and families from northern Ghana has been a focus of Shea Butter Market right from the start. Shea Butter Market founder, Gifty Serbeh-Dun, is from Wa, a regional capital in Northern Ghana. She knows all too well the poverty and desperation that village women face.

Tapko is a small village located near the Burkina Faso border, Northwest of Wa, in Ghana’s Upper West Region. Life is very difficult for village residents. During the dry season, the hot dry Harmatan winds blow down from the Saraha. There is little cash economy and villagers must grow and harvest enough food and supplies during the rainy season to last them through the long hot dry season. This is hard for everyone, but especially difficult for women whose husband’s have died and who have young children in their care. In Tapko village a group of these women recognized that by working together they would be better able to support their children and families. They formed the Tapko Widow’s Group and set out to identify opportunities to earn income to support their subsistence agriculture activities. With assistance from a Peace Corp volunteer, who used to stay with Gifty’s family in Wa about 20 years ago, a small micro-credit program was established. The group now has 70 members!

Shea Butter Market’s Shea Butter is in its purest form
 – though there are no
 chemicals or additives, the area
 where the product is produced is too isolated to have the capacity for organic certification. By purchasing Shea Butter Market Shea Butter and products made from it you are not only buying some of the finest Shea Butter available anywhere in the world, you are also helping women and their families.

Many people are wondering how they can help the Tapko Widow’s group directly. We are looking at ways that will allow you to connect directly to this group and support them. For now, know that the women are paid a premium price for their product (we are exploring Fair Trade certification) and that by purchasing Shea Butter Market’s Shea Butter and products made from it you are making a difference in the lives of women and children in Tapko Village in Northern Ghana.

Hear Gifty speak more about the Tapko women and Shea Butter Market’s mission in the video below:

THE HEALING PROPERTIES OF SHEA BUTTER

African healers have used Shea Butter for thousands of years as the ideal treatment for dry or ageing skin. Its high content of non-saponifiables and unique fatty acid profile gives Shea Butter the ability to moisturize and retain the elasticity of the skin.

Shea Butter also helps to protect the skin against the damaging effects of the sun while repairing cellular degeneration. It soothes sun-soaked skin and is known to provide UV Protection. It heals cracks on heels & hands, and relieves dry, itchy & scaly skin. Shea stimulates skin renewal and minimizes stretch marks. It promotes cell regeneration, increases circulation, and reduces fine lines. 

Click  here for our easy DIY Shea Body Butter recipe!