Telling the ECSA Story

Families in the Chivi district of southern Zimbabwe rely on farming crops and raising animals in order to survive. Women often perform the bulk of these duties as well as looking after children and their household. Consecutive years of drought have made these tasks extremely challenging. In 2013, with your generous support, CARE started working with families to overcome nutrition and agriculture challenges. CARE teaches men and boys the importance of sharing the workload with women and girls in order to increase their crop yields, and improve their family’s resilience during lean seasons. With many hands making light work, sharing these duties also makes happier families. CARE taught Naphert (right) and Eleginia (left) to farm traditional vegetables which are well suited to the dry conditions. By working together, the couple are able to harvest enough to eat three times a day and even have surplus to sell at the market. Naphert explains: “The money w

Three women sit together on the pew like seats of a waiting room in a village health centre. Despite it being midday, the clinic in the province of Kasai Oriental has no electricity and seasonal thunderstorms have left the room dark and gloomy. The women chat while their children play on the dusty floor at their feet. When a small woman slips quietly through the door, they barely raise their eyes. Dressed in a faded green t-shirt and blue and white skirt, Grace is grateful they have barely acknowledged her presence. Six months ago, Grace was raped. The mother of two was on her way to sell bananas at the weekly market in a neighbouring town. There’s little by way of public transport in this part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the journey is made by foot, so long that it involves an overnight stay in a village along the way. Grace made the journey once a month, each market day netting her a profit of USD7.50, enough to feed her children. Grace was beaten and raped

By David Bisimwa, Emergency Coordinator, CARE DRC. David  Bisimwa, Emergency Coordinator, CARE DRC @CARE 2017/Carey Wagner   What’s the first thing that comes in to your mind when you hear the word “Congo”? If I had to guess, I’d say it’s conflict, violence, and poverty. I’m Congolese. I’ve lived here all my life and I’m sorry to say that you’re not very far from the truth. There’s a lot of suffering here, but you probably haven’t heard a great deal about it in the news lately. So it’s no surprise to me that DRC is again featured in CARE International’s Suffering in Silence report. Let me fill you in. We Congolese have witnessed so much violence in so many places, that few of us can remember a life without it. For many Congolese, violence is now the norm. Thousands of people have been slaughtered, killed. Close family members, your brother or your aunt, and afterwards it looks like nothing has happened. Life goes on. It’s been happening for so long now that sometime