Telling Africa's Stories

Twenty-year-old Nyasha Zulu and 21-year-old Simbarashe Mudara have lived most of their lives in the dormitory town of Chitungwiza, 30 kilometers from Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The town has no major industries to speak of, and so youths such as Nyasha and Simbarashe often spend time engaging in risky behaviour.

Vocational education students in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe who recently received start-up kits from Mercy Corps. Photo: Richard Nyamanhindi/Mercy Corps

Now, thanks to Mercy Corps — under the Non-Governmental Organization Joint Initiative for Urban Zimbabwe (JI) — they have been able to receive vocational training to help them begin their own small businesses and make better choices about their lives.

Implemented by Mercy Corps in 2008, the vocational training program has been assisting more than 300 youths in Chitungwiza. The youths are drawn mainly from vulnerable and poor households in the town to access vocational training opportunities.

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Because of drought and conflict in Somalia, Nadifo has lost everything but her three children — including her husband. Photo: Safiya Mohamud Said/Mercy Corps

Disasters take so many things from people; health, prosperity and hope can all fall victim. But no one can know what life has in store for them, and all we can do is carry on — just as women like Nadifo, who has struggled with some of the worst possible circumstances, has had to do.

This is a story of grief and loss. A story about a young woman in Somalia who in the prime of her life not only lost her livestock and everything she owned to the drought that has struck East Africa, but who also lost her husband and his parents in the bombing of Somalia’s war-torn capital Mogadishu.

Nadifo is a 25-year-old mother of three children. Not long ago she had a fine herd of livestock in the rural Somali area of Webiyada; she raised a wonderful family — three beautiful girls aged between two and six — and had a loving husband who helped her go about each day with harmony.

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A community home-based volunteer counsels a client during her home visits in Mbare, Harare, Zimbabwe. A Mercy Corps-led consortium is is providing HIV services to poor and vulnerable households in urban areas. Photo: courtesy of Zimbabwe Project Trust

Florence Tigere is in bed today. The typically vibrant 55-year-old woman, who serves as both treasurer and secretary of her HIV Sahwira Support Group, is suffering from a piercing headache. The severe pain, coupled with Florence’s swollen face and feet, has community home-based volunteer Mary Musamba concerned.

“Please take your mother to the hospital immediately,” Mary advises Florence’s 17-year-old daughter, giving her 50 cents of her personal money to pay for transport. Mary is worried Florence may have contracted a type of meningitis or possibly malaria. In either case, she needs treatment right away, especially because Florence’s immune system is already compromised by the HIV.

The importance of early medical referrals is one of the many reasons the Joint Initiative for Urban Zimbabwe (JI) — a consortium of ten non-governmental organizations (NGOs) places a strong focus on community home-based care. The consortium, which is led by Mercy Corps, is providing HIV services to poor and vulnerable households in urban areas — including delivery of free home-based care to more than 8,578 clients in six urban areas of Zimbabwe.

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"I’m a returnee from Khartoum and now a displaced person from Abyei," 30-year-old Nyan-man Ajiing explained.

Nyan-man Ajiing, 30 years old and the mother of seven-month-old triplets, has had to move twice in the last eight months, and is now struggling to survive in a displacement camp. Photo: Moses Mapuor/Mercy Corps

Nyan-man, the mother of triplets — two boys and a girl — had been in Khartoum during the long Sudanese civil war. In December 2010, she returned to her ancestral home in the city of Abyei, along with other thousands of returnees who came back to South Sudan in anticipation of independence, which was set in motion with a referendum vote on January 9, 2011. Southern Sudanese like Nyan-man also feared how would be treated in the north after the south secedes later this week, on July 9.

According to Nyan-man, being a returnee from Khartoum was difficult — but it was better than being an internally-displaced person (IDP) from Abyei with three children, all aged just seven months old. While she was living in Abyei, she made and sold tea to purchase powdered milk for her three kids, as her milk alone wasn't enough for three hungry babies. But now, living in displacement, she has no opportunity to sell tea, and so there is no way she can raise any money for milk for her children.

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Mercy Corps is helping increase agricultural knowledge, food security and sustainability in Sudan. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

"Agriculture is the only way of eradicating poverty in South Sudan." — Kawac Deng Kawac, Awiel East commissioner in address to the Agriculture Trade fair organized by Mercy Corps

Many people are aware of the oil wealth in South Sudan but it is less well known that my soon-to-be-independent country is incredibly fertile with huge agricultural potential. Yet many of the population suffer from constant food insecurity as the legacy of civil war leaves few people with the knowledge to engage in anything more than low level subsistence farming.

Sudan imports large amounts of goods from Kenya and Uganda, but has the potential to be a regional breadbasket and — as the commissioner noted above — can alleviate poverty in the process.

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Joint monitoring trips are the most exciting visits, in my opinion, to go and see Mercy Corps' program activities. Unlike other trips like assessments and activity supervision, these visits involve groups composed of both Mercy Corps program teams and government officials that are engaged in monitoring the impacts of our programs in the communities we serve.

One of the members of our joint assessment team, a government official, addresses a classroom full of young students. These trips offer great perspective for everyone: ideas for the Mercy Corps team, insight for government officials and encouragement for students and teachers. Photo: Safiya Mohamud Said/Mercy Corps

Our School Environment and Education for Somalia (SEEDS) program runs in 17 of the country's 18 regions. The program aims to improve the access of basic education, health and water services for communities throughout the country.

The Mercy Corps Somalia team conducts periodic monitoring trips every three months to measure program impact. The government is a key member in the process. We meet committees, school principals, teachers and students who tell the stories and experiences that define the impact in their communities.

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The women who call themselves "4H," whose names each begin with the letter "H." Their collective volunteer efforts have reached more than 2,500 Mercy Corps beneficiaries. Photo: Haoua Sidibé/ Mercy Corps

The name "4H" is really a pure coincidence: these four colleagues from the same Mercy Corps project in Niger are called Hadiza, Halima, Hadiara and Hadiza. They told me about their efforts to support hundreds of women in Niamey, as well as their desire to make changes amongst the most marginalized, yet motivated populations.

Through the Urban Economic Opportunities Extension Project, 4H support exactly 2,557 persons including 2,456 women. Their target group, usually comprised of women of very low education levels, includes household women, who have become small business entrepreneurs.

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Southern Sudanese citizens standing in line waiting to cast their votes in January's referendum. Photo: Riak Paul Awuol/Mercy Corps

Last month in Southern Sudan, a referendum was conducted to determine independence from the rest of Sudan. In support of this historic vote, Mercy Corps trained program officers and reached out to the Sudanese people on ways to be well-informed about the voting process and conduct a peaceful referendum.

We formed a referendum coalitions around the objectives of creating awareness, as well as teaching why it is important to be registered and show up during the voting process. Mercy Corps helped create 25 coalitions, with the expectation of reaching out to 143,000 community members These coalitions went beyond their estimated outreach and actually ended up reaching 158,124 community members through almost 300 meetings in 137 different areas around Southern Sudan.

It made a difference: when the polling centers opened on January 9, people were competing to be the first person in line!

At the centre where I was registered, I arrived at 4:12 A.M. and thought I would be the first person in the queue. But can you imagine my surprise when I showed up and realized I was the 998th person to get there?

I felt excited and proud of my community, as well as Mercy Corps, for the great achievement and wonderful work done through the coalitions.

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Shugri at work as a tailor. Photo: Safiya Mohamud Said/Mercy Corps

It was midday and the weather wasn’t favorable. The heat was scorching and everyone wanted to be in the shade. I was in the Buulo Abow displacement camp supervising Mercy Corps program activities when my attention was grabbed by a slim lady in her late thirties who was carrying firewood on her back. I stared at her, wondering about the strength of this woman who was performing such strenuous work in such harsh weather conditions.

As I watched and sympathized with her, the load of firewood suddenly slipped off her back — she was too tired to continue her journey. I rushed to her and helped her collect the pieces. She looked so exhausted, and I offered to help her the rest of the way to her house, which she told wasn't that far. As we walked to the her home, she started to tell me her story.

This was the first time I met Shugri.

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Globalization has made making a living more difficult for traditional Somali weavers. Photo: Safia Mohamud Said/Mercy Corps

Somali women are very famous for their traditional weaving to make useful handicrafts such mats, baskets, hats and other household accessories. They use reeds and other special grasses locally known as "caw and meyr” to weave and decorate each and every product they produce. They add different colors to the products to make them look bright and shiny.

The process of making the product is never easy; it takes long hours of hard work and determination. But it becomes very attractive as soon as it's finished. If you saw it, you would like to take it with you!

Traditionally, it is the obligation of every mother to teach her daughter how to weave in order to make her a good wife that can take care of her household chores and other responsibilities. Women compete to invent their own unique designs in order to be the best in their field of expertise — and also to be a model in their respective neighbors and villages.

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