Inspired to Make a Change
At long last, there is hope for new growth and prosperous futures in Kajo-Keji
Imagine a young father, 26 years old, and sole breadwinner for his family of 7 members. Imagine how he felt when returning home, after 5 years in a refugee camp, only to find that their home and all their assets had been burned to ashes.
This is David Taban Duku’s story.
As much as David was happy to be back home in Kajo-Keji County, South Sudan, he returned to almost nothing. Forced to flee because of the political unrest in 2016, his time at the refugee camp in Uganda had been difficult. Home again, it seemed his problems exacerbated.
Not only was his family’s home burnt to the ground, but the farms and other valuable household properties were destroyed. Exhausted from the journey, there was nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep upon their arrival. Thankfully, some sympathetic neighbours who had returned earlier to the area, offered a temporary place to sleep and some food to get the family through the laborious days to come.
Stressed under the weight of providing for his family, David lamented, “My children are still young and my wife is pregnant. I am the only breadwinner in the household. This house we are living in does not even belong to us. When we returned from the camp, everything was destroyed, and now, we still don’t have money to rebuild it, as we can’t even afford food.”
For their daily survival, David engaged in casual labour around the village, such as digging, for money to feed his family.
David’s story is only one of many. There are currently thousands of returnees in Kajo-Keji County who face similar difficulties as David.
In support of the vulnerable families, Tearfund is currently implementing a Humanitarian Early Recovery and Development project (HERD), that aims at reducing hunger, improving nutrition, and empowering vulnerable households to lift themselves out of poverty.
Because of your support, David and his family were nominated to receive food assistance as they found their way back to their normal lives. David gives his thanks to Tearfund, as the emergency supplies gave him the gift of time to get back on his feet.
“l got relieved from the pain of seeing my children crying of hunger,” David adds.
Thanks to donors like you, David says he was able to start bush clearing and digging on his own farmland, as he doesn’t have to work on other people’s farms for money to buy food anymore. David says with the harvests, he hopes to be self-reliant in the coming months and be able to sell any surplus to send his children to school.
Thanks to your generosity, not only are families like David’s spared from the hunger crisis, but they are being inspired to make a change for the long term. 1,000 farmer households from among the beneficiaries were provided with intensive agricultural support and extension services to promote sustainable agricultural practices.
At long last, there is hope for new growth and prosperous futures in Kajo-Keji.
