Awa: A Mother in West Africa (2006)

• 77%
• 2006
• Documentary
• Alexis Curtis

This is an intimate portrait of a single mother in Burkina Faso who supports her six children through her street-side rice business. Like so many African women, Awa has received no formal education and operates within the informal sector earning, on average, about ' a day. As Awa narrates her life story, she never pauses in her unending preparation of the rice. Her father forced her to marry his childhood friend and she bore four children before her husband died. Her husband's three other wives resented this new favorite and would not help her once she was widowed. Sustained by her faith in God, she began a street vending business to survive. Marrying again, this time for love, she was soon abandoned but left with two more children to feed. The film takes us through Awa's arduous 16 hour workday, interspliced with interviews of her children who are grateful for her hard work in their behalf. Here is a glimpse of some of the economic realities faced by women today in urban Africa.