Telling the ECSA Story

The battle for equality, for many Shangani women in Zimbabwe Chiredzi, was a lost cause, because the conservative culture did not permit women to lead or have any say at both the community and family level.  Like many women in Guluji village, ward 22 in Chiredzi, Rosie Farai, did not know the potential that she had because she had never been given the opportunity to voice out her ideas.  “Before the project came, my husband did not allow me to make any decisions in the home and I had no assets to my name. We were supposed to be very conservative as women. I had no part in the farming activities. I was supposed to follow what he said.  “I did not own anything, everything was owned by my husband, we had very few livestock and our farming activities were not fruitful because of the hot weather conditions and droughts. The marriage was very hard and painful because we used to fight at times and he would beat me. I think this is common when there is no money in the home,” said Rosie.  In 2

  Françoise Mbweki en plein travail de fabrication d'un masque à Goma. CARE/David Mutua Depuis 2020, la pandémie de COVID-19 a fait des centaines de milliers de victimes, mis à rude épreuve les systèmes de santé et détruit les économies et les moyens de subsistance. La République démocratique du Congo n'a pas été épargnée et, le 6 avril 2020, les villes du pays ont été confinées à la suite de la fermeture des frontières avec les pays voisins.     Cela a eu un effet dévastateur sur le pays. Selon la Banque mondiale, on estime que 73 % des personnes vivent avec moins de 1,90-dollar par jour en RDC. Le confinement a empêché de nombreuses femmes travaillant dans le secteur informel, comme les vendeuses de nourriture, les couturières et les épicières, d'accéder aux marchés où elles s'approvisionnent. Dans le même temps, les experts de la santé ont conseillé à la population de porter des masques pour endiguer la propagation de la maladie. Néanmoins, dans un pays où de n

Badar and his brother Mohamed at their school. CARE/Walter Mawere . Fourteen-year-old Badar is in grade two at Haragwafi primary school which is located in Odweyne village. He was born with his right side of the body paralyzed and his legs too weak to walk. Badar is the oldest son in a family of six, (three boys and three girls). His father provides for the family by carrying out different construction jobs in the community. When he was in grade one, as he could not walk, Badar was homeschooled and his parents had to hire a teacher which was very costly for them, in some cases, they could not afford to hire a teacher leading to Badar missing out on lessons. Badar was identified by a CARE-supported Community Education Committee (CEC) in the community to receive a wheelchair. Through support from the Girls' Education Challenge project, CARE provided a wheelchair for him and this helped him move around a lot easier and he now attends regular school with other children of his age