As you may know, I'm a sucker for those stories of human triumph... of people who've managed to arduously climb the social ladder due to hardwork and perserverence, who want nothing more than what they need and who believe in charitable contributions to help make the world go around.

This week, I read a story in The Independent about a woman in Northern Ghana who went from being "the toothless woman" in the village who worked in the hot sun all day long picking shea nuts to making £2,500 per shea nut order! The nuts will be used by pharmaceutical companies to make the vitamin E-rich shea butter.

She plans to use her profits "to buy a house for me and my children," she says. As a widow, she has been cast out of her husband's home and forced to live a life of destitution. Now the family has another chance at success. She adds, "[The children] can go to school. I can feed them. In return, I work for the business as hard as I can."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/butter-that-brought-fat-profits-to-the-mud-huts-of-ghana-829324.html