Impacting Lives in Santa – Story of transformation
My name is Loing Lucy, a native of Ndjong village in Santa Subdivision. I am 46 years old and a widow of with 06 children, my late husband being a victim of the ongoing armed conflict in the North West and the South West Regions of Cameroon. I had been in gardening activities for many years before the crises and it was our main source of livelihood. At the peak of the crisis in 2021 and the surge of armed confrontations made my husband and I to reduce our farms and other activities which gave us extra income. With the intensity of the crisis, males in my community were targeted by the military whenever they were attacked by the Non-State Armed Groups (NSAGs). Those who were not willing to enroll as NSAG fighters were perceived by them as traitors. There were several cases where young men, boys and girls were forcefully enrolled in armed groups or given the option to make regular financial payments to support the NSAGs. As the situation worsened, my cousin offered us the option to move out to Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon, where he had been residing for about 15 years. My husband was reluctant to the idea and as fate had it, he was caught up with bullets in a crossfire between NSAGs and State forces and later died of the wounds. My exit from the village could no more be delayed.
When I arrived Yaoundé initially, I started assisting my cousin with his own business where he and the wife were operating – a roadside restaurant. With their 03 children, they were still ready to take in 07 of us. For the first 05 months the children and I supported the restaurant work from where all the children and adults ate, relying mostly on the unsold food at the close of the business day. The feeding challenges only added to the overcrowding in a 02 rooms house. As time went on, we tried to expand and diversify the business to include selling of raw food stuff. Initially it yielded some gains, but when prices of goods increased as a result of covid-19 pandemic and transportations increased, the profits dropped due to increased costs. Our shelter challenges also became unbearable when the landlord indicated he could no longer tolerate the overcrowding in the house because it was weighing on his toilet and water facilities. After 01 year 04 months in the Yaoundé, when the pressure from my cousin’s landlord persisted, we evaluated the situation and returning home was the best option. However, my relatives contributed some money to support our return home. We went back to one of our old farms and started at very small scale due to limited capital. We could feed minimally, and I reconnected with our village savings and loans (VSL) group where we had been members before I left the village.
When SIRDEP came around and announced the project to promote household income for 100 Returnees and vulnerable community members, to be funded by CWRD, I was initially skeptical because I had suffered several frustrations in the past where we had been profiled for assistance which never came. During the profiling by SIRDEP, I opted to do gardening of which I had good experience. SIRDEP staff inspected our farm spaces and supported us with farm inputs including watering cans, sprayer, bags of manure and cabbage seeds. I expanded the size of the garden by three. With the sensitization SIRDEP staff gave us on gardening, my cabbage plants picked up and matured smoothly. I obtained a loan from my VSL group and bought 03 piglets. The droppings from there enabled me to have organic manure all through the farming cycle.
Through the project, I have improved my knowledge on new gardening techniques and access to improved seedlings. Within 04 months, I have had my first cabbage harvests which gave me profits of about 70000frs (about $160). 03 of my children have been out of school for the past two years due to insufficient means. By September 2023 I am very confident that all will go back to school from the income of cabbage sales. By then at least 02 of my pigs would have farrowed and will be an additional source of income for the family basket. Specifically, our family welfare has improved in terms of eating more and quality meals. We have been able to acquire more household assets like beddings and mattrasses. Our human dignity and self-confidence have increased, and we relate better with our neighbors now because we are no more a concern for them for food and other support. Our courage to be resilient and face adverse conditions has grown with this experience as I have come to believe that there is always hope with God where there seems to be no hope. This support came unexpectedly and has rekindled our dreams for a better life. Knowing that CWRD is a faith-based organization, portrays the love of God at work for the poor and needy. I am preparing to pass on this gift from CWRD to the next set of farmers in our VSL group so that they can also taste of the goodness of the Lord.
Lucy is a beneficiary of the project “Promoting household income for 100 Returnees and vulnerable community members in Santa sub-division” that we are implementing with support from CWRD
