The boys in each family go to school. But the girls of these families must sell these extra vegetables in the streets or market. This means that many times the girls of the villages cannot go to school.
The girls must sell the vegetables quickly or the fresh vegetables will spoil. When the vegetables spoil, they cannot be eaten. The spoiled vegetables can cause diseases. And many times the family loses money.
These are some big problems. Without money, these people may feel trapped. They may have to leave their homes to find jobs. They may feel like they have no chance to make their lives better. Well, one man wanted to change this situation.
Mohammed Bah Abba comes from Jigawa, in Nigeria. He comes from a family of pot makers. That is, his family is skilled at forming round containers using special earth. This special earth is called clay. People can bake, or dry, the clay in an oven or in the sun. Once the clay is baked it does not change shape. It keeps its shape when it is dry and when it is wet. So it is a good container. As a boy, Mohammed knew a lot about making clay pots.
Clay pots have been used in Jigawa and all over the world, in fact, for many centuries. People use them for many things from cooking to storing things like water, clothes, and money.
As a young man, Mohammed went to college. After college he began to teach. But Mohammed continued to work closely with the community in Jigawa. He studied the problem of refrigeration in his home area. He worked with farmers, women, and children. Mohammed saw that his country needed help. He began to think about a way to keep vegetables fresh longer.
