Tasty snails

'I like snails!' says Timothy, 10, from Ghana. 'They help our family and they taste nice!'

Giant snails for dinner might not be your fave meal, but they're very good for you. So in Ghana, where it's not always easy to get enough healthy things to eat, farmers are breeding them. This means making sure the snails have lots of babies which can grow into lots of good meals! The snails eat dandelion leaves (which Tim collects) and egg shells, which helps them lay more eggs.

Timothy helps his dad look after the snails. On the farm, they have about 6,000. They were shown how to breed them by an organisation that Christian Aid works with, which also lent them the money to buy their first batch of snails.

Timothy feeds the snails, gives them water, sweeps their room and washes their feeding trays every morning. In the dry season, when it doesn't rain, Timothy and his dad have to dig holes to find water for the snails, and this can be hard work.

Timothy and his family don't just eat the snails, they also sell them. And the money they earn means that Timothy can go to school and buy his uniform, pencils and books. That makes the snails pretty special!

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Christian Aid/Kerstin Hacker

Timothy shelling snails for cooking

Christian Aid/Kerstin Hacker

A man selling snails at the market