Nyanut Kuan

Location: Aweil East – South Sudan

Located in Malualkon, a region known for its intense heat, Nyanut’s village is home to about 1,500 people who live far from any healthcare or other civil services. The intense yellow landscape of maize and sorghum crops stands in stark contrast to the deep red soil of the area’s few farms. These remote rural settlements depend on the mercy of the climate to water their crops.

Before the new borehole was installed, water was a daily concern for the people of Baackuel. Without any access to water, they had to make the extreme journey to the nearest village with a borehole.

“I used to be ready at 6 am to walk with my donkeys to fetch water,” recalls Nyanut. “I went every day and I travelled for seven hours on foot as my donkeys carried the water on our way back. Sometimes, my children would come and help me, but mostly I went alone.” Each day, every drop of water Nyanut collected was used up. And each day, Nyanut made the journey to replenish their supply. “You would go thirsty, and your children would feel sick if you didn’t travel to the borehole every day. It was a very hard life.”

Read the full story: https://www.actionagainsthunger.org

Mary Ateni

Location: Juba – South Sudan

Before COVID-19, Mary’s grandchildren attended school outside the camp and visited her during the afternoons. But with the outbreak of COVID-19 heavy movement restrictions were imposed on the population which meant that schools closed and her grandchildren couldn’t visit Mary anymore. 

Life changed completely inside Mahad camp during the outbreak of COVID-19. Under heavy lockdown, assistance stopped and food became scarce. The news that COVID-19 was more risky for the elderly worried Mary who stopped going out of her home, frightened of catching the virus.

Social distancing was “very difficult because houses are next to each other and the camp is crowded,” says Mary who saw that “people avoided each other when fetching water.” Without assistance medicine was hard to find and for old people “going to the hospital carried a fear of catching coronavirus there,” but for Mary hunger was the worst. She feared going outside the camp to try to find some food or money and didn’t know what to do to protect against COVID-19, “let’s not greet, let’s not stay close together,” is what she heard communication vehicles say on the streets. 

Read the full story: https://www.ageinternational.org.uk

María Morales

Location: Ibarra – Ecuador

The soil is dusty and dry but the corn is tall and splendid; a sepia-colored forest amid which María Morales, with expert hands, harvests her own maize. María cannot rely on the unpredictable rain to water her crops; at times the rain might not come for weeks. Without water María’s plants wither, her animals go hungry, and she is left with no way to make a living. 

The arrival of a new pipeline brought more than just water to Maria’s plot. Besides ensuring the survival of her crops and animals the biggest satisfaction for María was seeing her children through high-school. The eldest of them even being admitted to university.

Full Story for: LendwithCare

Joaquin Mariguire

Location: Beira – Mozambique

“Once I got there I saw all the  devastation. I came to realize that I had absolutely nothing left. All my harvest was spoiled, the water was covering everything,” recalls Joaquin Mariguire. He remembers that the family did everything to salvage some of the harvest: “Picking up from here and there, me and my family scavenged for bits of harvest we could save from the water and that could help us have something to eat. But for the next two days we only survived by eating coconuts.”

With help from the donation of seeds the Mariguire family got immediately to work their land. Joaquin says, “I feel very happy because without these seeds we would have had many problems. But these donated seeds have helped so much. I can even say that these seeds have prevented hunger.”

Full story for: World Vision

Sister Martha

Location: St Luke’s Hospital – Zambia

Sister Martha drags the chair from behind her desk to sit side by side. She arrived at St Luke’s Hospital in Mpanshiya, Zambia in 2004 – well before there was light. The previous Sister Head of St. Luke’s had started a quest to bring light to the hospital up until her retirement. When Sister Martha joined St. Luke’s as Head of the Hospital she took it upon herself to continue with her life’s project; and after finding support from different organizations talks finally began on how to bring stable light to St. Luke’s.  

    “It was very difficult. For years we depended on petrol and diesel. But we could only use it for a short period of time. We would turn on the small engines at 19 hours and let them work until 22 hours. That’s it,” says Sister Martha. Yet, Hospitals are places of endless action and bustle, teeming with movement and always awake – always lit. How, then, could St. Luke’s Hospital operate without any light at night?

Full story for: LendWithCare/SolarAid