Prone to coups, rebellions and ethnic violence, CAR has been engulfed in conflict for more than twenty years. Amidst the violence and instability, innocent people like Flora are simply trying to survive. But your support is enabling families like hers to achieve so much more.
‘When I was young, I wanted to become a doctor,’ says Flora, now 36 and living in the town of Mbaïki in the Lobaye region. ‘My family was doing well and my father, a teacher, provided all we needed.’
But tragedy struck when her father died, while Flora was still at school. ‘I no longer had anyone to support me and pay my school fees. I had to leave school and got married shortly after.’
While Flora was happy with her loving husband and six children, life was still a struggle. ‘I was not doing well,’ she says. ‘I wasn’t able to take care of my family. I was often sick. I didn’t feel well because we didn't have anything.
‘So I started my own small business. But because I didn’t understand how to run it, it was a struggle. I could not make enough to support my family.’
With her dreams of becoming a doctor lost and without the skills and knowledge to support her family, it seemed the cycle of poverty would be passed to the next generation. But today, Flora says ‘thank you’ for helping her. ‘I am very happy, I can say that I am a complete woman thanks to Tearfund.’
