Contributor: Laura Bruno

Augustina Bianco began to vigorously hack away at the earth with her hoe, saying “make sure you get this with the camera!” And so I did. Photo: Laura Bruno/Mercy Corps

After a bumpy six hour drive from our head office in Dili, we finally reached our first destination on my recent field visit in Timor-Leste: the village of Maununu. High up in the hills of Ainaro district, across a sometimes treacherous river (as we learned on this visit), this village of 240 households is one of the target villages for Mercy Corps’ EC-funded SECURE program.

SECURE is working to increase the food security and incomes of vulnerable communities in Ainaro and Manufahi districts. In a country where over 80 percent of the population relies on agriculture for both food and income, and where 65 percent of the population is chronically malnourished, the program is working to tackle very serious issues.

On this day, we visited with two corn farmer groups that are being trained by the program on improved farming practices. Augustina Bianco is a mother of six and eager participant in this training. When I asked to interview her and take some photos, she gestured me over to where she was working and began to vigorously hack away at the earth with her hoe, saying “make sure you get this with the camera!” And so I did.

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