| Driving Miss Alice
by Laura Hill, CARE Australia's Media Advisor
Alice Ronald Phiri dreams of owning a car.
‘I am fascinated by cars and I am so happy when I am riding in one that I want one of my own. I don’t know how much they cost, but I will try to buy one.’
A group of women sitting around Alice nod enthusiastically and smile with encouragement. They are part of a CARE Village Savings and Loan (VS&L) group in Malawi that began in 2004. Each week the women attend a meeting and contribute a small amount of their savings to a fund from which they can eventually borrow.
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© Josh Estey/CARE
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Walk in Susan's Shoes
by Amelia Poxon, CARE Australia's Communications Coordinator
Picture a family of seven, living in a small thatch-roofed hut in drought-prone southern Zimbabwe. The only access they have to water is a river, which is six kilometres away.
This is the problem that 52-year-old Susan Magura used to battle.
Her solution? Walking for four and a half hours while carting heavy water containers – every single day.
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© Josh Estey/CARE
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PNG: Birth attendants offer hope
by Blossum Gilmour, Mamayo Health Project Manager
Where did you give birth?
In my family’s coffee garden.
Who assisted you?
No one.
This is how a conversation started between CARE PNG staff and a new mother in rural Papua New Guinea. CARE had agreed to help the provincial government assess the support available to pregnant women and new mothers, and while the conversation above was common, the reasons why women were alone in the bush while giving birth are as individual as the women themselves.
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© Josh Estey/CARE
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Breaking down barriers in Vietnam
by Christina Munzer, CARE Australia’s Asia & Pacific Coordinator
I’ve recently come back from a trip to the Delta region of Vietnam and I am hopeful. Through dedicated local partners and funding from donors like AusAID, CARE is reaching the most vulnerable communities with development assistance.
Thanh and his family come to mind. Thanh is 26, with a bright face. He has what could be described as cerebral palsy but this has not been medically confirmed. Working through local Women’s Union and Commune People’s Committee members, CARE has been providing crucial water, sanitation and hygiene support to vulnerable households that lie scattered across the Delta.
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© Christina Munzer/CARE
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Not just a divorcee
by Amelia Poxon, CARE Australia's Communications Coordinator
Divorce can have social stigmas attached to it in countries all over the world. In Ethiopia, it can also leave women trapped in poverty.
Young girls in rural Ethiopia have limited opportunities to access education and are often married as young as 15 years of age. Their sole task is then to care for their husband’s household and their family.
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© Josh Estey/CARE
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The first female vet
by Georgie Sacks, CARE Australia's Communications Officer
In her isolated village in Laos’s mountainous and under-developed north, 23-year-old Si has seen a great deal of positive change in the past few years – and wherever possible, she actively helps create it. ‘Before, it was hard to access our village as there was no track. But now there is a road.’ Si was one of the villager’s who helped build the much-needed road through a CARE cash-for-work initiative that gave her the rare opportunity here for paid work. Like the majority of women from poor communities around the world, when given the chance to earn an income she invested it in her family’s future.
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© Josh Estey/CARE
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A mother, a farmer, a leader
by Amelia Poxon, CARE Australia's Communications Coordinator
First and foremost, Arminda Pererira is a mother. She has six children between the ages of four and 17 and spends the majority of her day caring for her large family.
Three years ago, Arminda also became a farmer. She is a member of a women’s farmer group which is one of many CARE has facilitated to support families in Timor Leste. The groups learn how to grow their own crops, improve their diet, sell surplus crops for a profit and store and share their seeds for the next season.
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© Josh Estey/CARE
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Education beyond the classroom in Cambodia
by Amelia Poxon, CARE Communications Coordinator
At just 22 years-of-age, Soun Dyna last went to school 14 years ago. Her family did not have the money to pay for school fees, so she and her seven brothers and sisters only made it as far as grade two or three. As an adult, Dyna felt destined to a life of working as a domestic servant or shelling crabs in her small hometown in Cambodia.
Thankfully, her life took a different course when she participated in CARE’s WE BLOOM program, which is providing opportunities for young people who did not finish school to gain the skills and confidence to enter the workforce.
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© Josh Estey/CARE
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