Her parents were ageing and depended on their children for support. When Lucy settled at home, the house help was relieved and Lucy took up the responsibility of nursing her mother without any compensation. She secured a job as a house help in the neighborhood during day time. She had to manage her time caring for her ailing mother and meeting the expectations of her employer.
During assets and capability assessment Lucy shared that she had done extensive market research in her neighborhood and that if she had capital she would go back to her old job of selling second hand clothes. We supported Lucy to purchase one bale of second hand children pants. Lucy being well-versed with the market, she learnt what her clients needed and she started restocking with t-shirts and other products depending on what the market needed. She was able to expand and restock her business several times. She has opened an online banking platform, pay bill number through which her customers can pay for the goods. This platform also provide her with the opportunity of saving other than keeping cash in the house.
MEET ELIZABETH,A CROP FARMING SUPPORT BENEFICIARY
Elizabeth is a 70 year old grandmother of 12. Despite her advanced age, Elizabeth has strived to give her grand kids the best she can afford only that sometimes it is not enough. She resides in a space provided by a well-wisher. Her eldest daughter separated from her husband and came home with 4 children. After a while, she remarried and was blessed with 4 other children. She fell ill and within a very short period passed on living a huge burden of care to Elizabeth. Her husband struggled to bring up the children but when the burden became too heavy for him, he took the children to their grandmother. Elizabeth, being a caring and loving grandmother took in all her grand kids and was determined more than ever to take care of them only that by this time her age had advanced and her energy fading away. She struggled for a while to put a meal on the table as she depends on casual labor. Her eldest grandchild saw her struggles and took a job in a butchery after school. This caught the attention of a community volunteer who intervened and rescued the boy through St. Martin Community Programme for children in need of care and protection. The Programme supported him through secondary school. St. Martin through the program for children in need came to the rescue and supported the boy with school fees, and that saw him able to complete his secondary education. The ERP supported Elizabeth with farm inputs to do maize farming for one acre. Currently Elizabeth is expecting over 20 bags of maize which she says will be enough to meet the family food requirement for next year. The savings she will make from purchasing food will go a long way in catering for other basic needs. In addition the project supported her with a pedigree goat. She is hopeful that it will meet her family’s milk requirement.
