Notes from the Field | ‘Now we have good dreams’

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‘Now we have good dreams’

Posted by: Daniel Fava on July 13, 2012 at 10:42AM EST

‘One Year On’
Food insecurity and conflict still a threat for the Horn of Africa

CARE International: Cash relief for drought affected families in Somalia
Rahma is a 14 year old orphan girl with three siblings. Between them, the parentless family has one cow and twenty shoats remaining from a herd already decimated by previous droughts. The few livestock they have are not enough to support the whole family, so she and her older brother Muuse have had to find other ways to earn extra money.

Despite its negative impact on the environment, the only way they have been able to earn money for food has been to cut trees and produce charcoal. Together, the brother and sister look out for suitable trees that can be cut for burning. 16 year old brother Muuse, cuts the wood into pieces, digs a hole and sets fire to the wood to produce charcoal. He also then transports the charcoal into town for selling at the local market. This was their way of life, until CARE started working in their village.

CARE worked with the local elders to identify families in need and Rahma and her brothers and sisters were enrolled as cash relief beneficiaries, enabling them to earn around USD$120 a month from two projects managed by the organization.

Because of these earnings they were able to stop cutting the trees for charcoal, they also bought two extra cows, and can now produce extra milk to sell in the market. They also decided to join a village savings and loans group. They took a loan and bought fodder for their cows, this has helped increase their milk production. From the proceeds of milk sales, they managed to repay their loan.
They strongly believe that with their increased income they will be able to cope better in future droughts. The extra money has even enabled them to send their two younger siblings to school.

Rahma said " Since the death of my parents we both gave up our dream towards development, our thoughts were focused on how to find food and water, but our God sent this wonderful agency to support us, make us change our attitude, let us protect our forest. It was cutting trees as a coping mechanism during the drought that made us lose our animals. Now we have good dreams; I want to learn and become teacher, and my brother wants to be doctor. Many thanks to CARE, and its staff".

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Send This | Categories: Africa, Aid, CARE, Children, Drought, Education, Food, Poverty, Somalia

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