A Day in the Life of Anneta - #International Day of Rural Women 2021

Anneta Ayuru Aliga, 52 years old, is a widow, and mother of six children. Anneta takes care of her seven grandchildren in Mugali Payam located in Eastern Equatorial. Annetta was in the refugee camp in Uganda but returned to her village in 2009 and thereafter in 2010 lost her husband leaving her a huge responsibility of taking care of their grandchildren single handedly.

“The toughest time in my life was when my husband died, leaving me with seven orphaned grandchildren. My day starts with preparing breakfast, followed by fetching water, cooking, bathing the children then attend to my income generating activities like fetching firewood and burning charcoal, and during the dry season my main source of income is cutting grass for sale.” Annetta says as she explains her typical day.

Anneta in her farm 

Besides being a farmer, Anneta completed senior three and acquired skills in sewing table clothes and bed sheets from Juba and Gulu Uganda. Her skill set earned her a job as a Hygiene Health Promoter at the Mugali Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) where she worked for five years. When her contract ended, she now relies on agriculture, selling firewood and charcoal to support her family and cater for their school fees, medical and other basic needs.  

Anneta seen in the picture with her goats. Photo by Bunia Lily/CARE

In 2015, Anneta joined CARE’s feed program under FEED I project and she was introduced to village savings (VSLA) to easily get a loan and pay back with interest to start up a small businesses to support her family. “I learnt about CARE’s project between 2015-2017. I received farm tools, seeds, and trainings. We were also trained on good agriculture practices to improve our farming which sustained us during the 2016-2017 crisis. The different trainings gave me confidence to take a leadership role in the community. I have also learnt about GBV and reporting of cases for psychosocial support and I have learnt about early warning systems that help us prepare for disasters. The projects helped me to provide for my family during the COVID-19 Pandemic and I am able to support my family through farming. I also managed to purchase two goats from my savings.”

Anneta's extra IGA is selling charcoal

Anneta is currently concentrating on her farming and hopes to better the lives of her grandchildren by getting employment at the Payam or in a health facility as a cleaner. In addition, she also hopes to take farming to another level. “My plan is to practice modern agriculture using tractors and ox-ploughs to do commercial farming. I will continue to be a member of the VSLA. Perhaps in future I will get a loan from the group and explore more opportunities. International Rural Women’s Day is important because mostly International Women’s Day Celebration is conducted in the towns and rural women are left behind, so this day is about celebrating the achievements and recognition of rural women."

About FEED Project

FEED II (Fortifying Equality and Economic Diversification for Resilience) is a women’s empowerment initiative which works through food security and livelihood platforms throughout seven states and 21 counties in South Sudan. The project is a consortium of three organizations, World Vision, CARE and War Child Canada. The project seeks to reduce inequalities between women and men, particularly when it comes to accessing and controlling food security resources, through increasing the participation of women and men in managing threats to their food security, improving the use of female-friendly agricultural and business practices that promote income generation and natural resource management, and finally through cultivating equal and safe environments for women to participate in leadership.