The better life Adama hopes for her grandchildren in CAR

Adama would like to be able to send all three of her grandchildren to school and see them achieve their dreams and thrive. But, like many people in the world right now, Adama and her family are living far from their home, having been forced to run from violent conflict.

They left with nothing. In an instant, a life that was comfortable and a place that was home became a distant and painful memory.

This is Adama’s story

‘My name is Adama. I’m 50 years old. I am a widow and mother of six children. I live with three of my grandchildren.

‘I lost my husband during the crisis [the conflict in Central African Republic]. We ran away from a violent attack and we were separated. I learned later that he was shot by the rebel groups.

‘We walked and walked. We stayed in the forest and ate wild fruit and drank water from rivers – that’s how we survived. We couldn’t even bathe. We suffered a lot, especially the children. Some people died along the way because of lack of food and water, and when people got sick, there was no medicine.’

In the end, Adama and her family walked 250 km to escape the violence. It took them a month, on foot, to reach a village in Ouaka where they and around 80 other households from their community found shelter. The village chief had compassion and gave them a piece of land to live on.

‘I was able to build a hut with the help of other women. We collected straw and wood together and supported each other to build our own homes. I live in this hut with my three grandchildren. Since the conflict, their mother is missing.

‘Life is not easy. Every day I have to move around and seek work. If I find someone on a construction site or on a farm, I ask for work. If the person accepts, then I will work for them, and that will mean that we have enough food for the day.

‘So, I do small jobs and my sons look after livestock for other people so they can provide for their families. We get a little bit of money from these jobs, but it is not enough.

‘Before this violent crisis, we lived well. We had our livestock, which was a great provider for us. We could get milk, meat and butter to sell and earn money to buy the other things we needed.

‘Today, it's the opposite.

‘Before, we had more than 100 cattle, 50 goats and so many chickens that I can’t even remember the number. Now there's nothing left.

‘If Tearfund hadn’t been there for us, we wouldn't have been alive.’

‘Thanks to Tearfund [with funding from the World Food Programme], we now get food regularly. Life is a bit better and the children have something to eat. We used to have many cases of malnutrition, but since we’ve been receiving food and advice from Tearfund staff, we no longer have a problem with malnutrition.

‘Tearfund gives us food every month: we receive food such as rice, cereals, oils, salt, sardines and milk, which helps our family a lot. Our condition and the children's nutrition has very much improved.

‘When we receive food, I try to manage it well, and then I can add a few items from my small jobs and I sustain the family. When we have the means, we drink tea with milk in the morning and then we eat at night.

‘Since Tearfund started running training for us in our community and encouraged us to work together in groups, we’ve decided to learn to grow crops and we were able to purchase a field (approximately half a hectare) where we have planted white beans. Now, we’re waiting to harvest them.

‘Once we harvest, we’ll keep some beans for our families and the rest is intended for sale at markets. In this area, the people do a lot of farming, so we had to learn. For me, I prefer looking after animals because even if you are old and tired, you can take care of them, whereas agriculture always requires physical strength to work the ground.

‘I hope that in the future I can get some animals to keep, even goats or chickens. We lack everything here. We don't have good mats, blankets or cooking pots. I would be ashamed to show you the pot I use for cooking and my house is always leaking. When it’s raining, we can’t sleep.

‘We don’t have soap and it’s hard to send children to school. Only one of them goes to school now and I haven’t paid the school fees.

‘We’re in this state because of the conflict. When we had to leave our home, we left everything behind to stay alive.

‘I used to think about the past a lot and I would get sick often. When I thought about my husband and the things we used to have, I would look at our situation now and feel desperate. I used to go to the hospital a lot, but after some counselling, I am trying to move forward and do my best to provide for my grandchildren.

‘There is no other choice. Our goal is to get out of poverty.

‘When we think about our future, we worry because of the ongoing conflict. Because of it, our children went hungry and were in bad health. And now, we have nothing to help us give them a better future.

‘But, we are going to stay here, since it is safe.

‘At least here we are at peace. No one bothers us or hurts us. Our only concern is our financial difficulties and the many things that we don’t have.

‘And in this community, we try to share. If I have something, I will share it with my neighbour, and if they have something, they will share it with me.

‘Every day I pray to God, I pray for strength and good health so that I can take care of my family.

‘Please pray for my family, for my children who are trying to make ends meet in different locations, may they have a better future. Pray for my grandchildren so they can go to school, have opportunities and be able to live better in the future. Pray for protection and good health for me and my family.

‘We are thankful to Tearfund and we pray to God to give Tearfund the strength, wisdom and intelligence to continue to help people.’

Tearfund has been working in CAR for just over ten years. During this time, our supporters have enabled us to serve hundreds of thousands of people, helping them to transform their lives and restore some hope in a country shaken by years of conflict and poverty.

This has included:

• food and humanitarian aid distributed during emergencies;
• more than 10,000 women empowered and equipped to provide for their families;
• clean water, life-saving training in good hygiene practices and access to sanitation provided to around 200,000 people;
• farmers equipped with knowledge and tools to improve their ability to produce enough food, sustainably, for their communities.