With Hands and Hope is the story of one village and one family carving out a difficult survival. Forced by drought to leave their ancestral land, Ibrahim Bâ and his family joined the massive exodus from countryside to city. Eventually they found their way to Hann Dalifort, a squatters' settlement near Dakar, Senegal. The inhabitants had organized themselves into a traditional village. They had built their own school, mosques, Catholic church and medical clinic with minimal help from the state. By tracing the plight of one family, the film shows what people can do communally to create homes and lives for themselves.