success stories

SUCCESSFUL STORIES ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION NPA-PCO BREL PROJECT 2022 Income Generating Activity

SUCCESSFUL STORIES ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION NPA-PCO BREL PROJECT 2022 Livestock beneficiary

My name is Helen Nyanakot Marial, I`m 37 years old. I was born and raised in Akot payam of Rumbek East County. I`m married in the neighboring Atiaba payam. I have 6 children and currently doing business within Atiaba payam. I`m very pleased to be among the beneficiaries of this program provided by Peace Corps Organization which is very effective in our community given that it creates a chance of empowering women through being independent financially which isn`t the norm in the culture. We as members of the community formed a group for tea and bread making as was directed by Peace Corps officials so that they could be able to assist each one of us by giving in kind support for the services we provide as well as the ones who also previously did so to continue. We managed to organize ourselves well and the day of distribution we all received equal measures of the in kind support to restock while other to start the business. Most of our members and other outsiders were surprised because no organization has ever been so determined with women offering services like this by providing capital and support for the business. The in kind support provided by Peace Corps staff included wheat flour, baking powder packets of tea bags, sugar Other challenges were avoided since Peace Corps representatives trained us on record keeping and discipline among member before providing us with capital so as to manage ourselves well in future. In addition we were also trained on hygiene and different modes of saving for future development. With hard work, discipline and determination I plan to open a retail shop and eventually a wholesale distribution enterprise. The women of Atiaba are very thankful to the Organization and its representatives for giving us this chance to improve our livelihoods in earning genuine income within the area. We encourage Peace Corps to expand this program more so that youth can become productive citizens among the community. I hope the Organization will continue considering our request next time to put women in more programs to keep us busy while generating income to avoid poverty. To all those who are going to read my story, we thank you, especially the donors and Peace Corps Organization. Thank you. Hellen Nyanakot Marial.

My name is Nyanapin Ater Dier 33 years old. I am widowed with six (6) children. My home is in Mayom boma of Akot payam Rumbek East County. Peace Corps representatives’ selection criterion was done after consultation with the local leaders of Akot payam and we as widows in the community were selected to be among the livestock beneficiaries. Peace Corps representatives came to meet with the community and the local leaders of the boma after one week of registration; I was lucky to be selected among the beneficiaries of the livestock restocking program and was assured that I will be given two (2) livestock, goats or sheep. In the duration of four weeks we were contacted by the representatives to meet again at the usual venue and to my surprise we were provided with the healthy livestock, a sheep and a goat. The livestock both female goat and sheep are currently pregnant and by end of August I expect them to have young ones. I have never been a beneficiary of anything positive in this community since my staying here. I managed to take care of my livestock wellbeing. I was lucky and privileged to be among the 35 beneficiaries in Akot payam because it is hard for one to get the opportunity due to issues such as cultural believes that women are not to have animals at home while the husband is the family head this kind of cultural practice is common in our community. I expect that once the livestock give birth I will keep the young ones up until next year to sell so that I get funds to take my elder 12 year daughter back to school since she is very ambitious with education. The goats can also help me start my own business in the near future when they produce and reached to 6 or 8 goats and I will decided to sell some to help me for the school fees of the rest of the children and other personal issues. I would urge Peace Corps Organization to continue and expand the program as it helps the community directly or indirectly. During the start of the project I had a lot of challenges mostly within the handling of the livestock, some of the challenges are land for grazing to avoid conflict with the immediate neighbors, the issue of administration wanted to take my goats to pay for a fine of which an extended family member had commit a crime but Peace Corps representatives came to my rescue and suggested the livestock remain with me for future monitoring .I hope the Organization will continue and even increased the number of beneficiaries in our boma such that many people have to benefit from this project .Finally, the opportunities that you have given to us which has really changed our life and improved our standard of living I say thank you very much hope you progress successfully. To all those who are going to read my story, this is true about me and I wise this program to continue helping the communities. To the Donors I want to say thank you for great opportunities that you have given to us that have really changed our life and will improved our standard of living with this support. Thank you. Nyanapin Ater Dier

Success story on vegetable production extension 2023

My name is Priscilla Ayen Malual, born in Pacong payam of Rumbek East County in Lakes state. I am 36 years old married in Aduel payam having 6 children living with 4 nieces and nephews, so in total my house hold consist of 12 people. My husband does not have stable income so I was pleased to be selected as a beneficiary for vegetable seeds this year in Aduel boma of Aduel payam. Peace Corps managed to select beneficiaries from the community without bias or favoring from vulnerable members. The local leaders and administrators were involved. We formed a group of 20 members from our boma to give people who might be having challenges during cultivation or harvesting for assistance in addition to the training we received from Peace Corps representatives on business plans and saving while economizing on impulse buying The team received vegetable seeds of collards, cabbage, carrots, sweet pepper, eggplants, watermelon, okra, tomatoes, amaranths and onions, with each beneficiary receiving equal portions. As some of the vegetables are new to us Peace Corps staff trained us on cultivating method for each of them and we manage well due to training. Currently being the sole income earner in the family I have to put in extra effort to meet the daily requirements of my family members as a result I’m keen on vegetable production as the main source of income. I began vegetable production in 2012 but due to inconsistent source of getting vegetable seeds and insecurity within the County it was always a challenge for me to maintain the business The challenges I have faced while and after cultivation is the delay of rainfall. Livestock is also a major factor since we have to constantly prevent them especially the goats from consuming the vegetation and so someone has to keep watch throughout that period. We’ve tried fencing but the domestic ones prove to be stubborn due to lack of grass for them to eat and so I would kindly request Peace Corps Organization to consider providing us with tools such as watering cans, hoes and dig more water wells for us to expand this vegetable production to double the number of beneficiaries to reduce the issue of community members begging and people start working on their gardens for food. Now peace has come to our community and many people are opting to cultivate. Peace Corps Organization provided our group with vegetable seeds each and for sure it has changed the lifestyle in my home. Since receiving the different varieties of seeds which germinate very fast I am now able to feed my home with different kinds of meals and my children are capable of going to school on time, rarely lacking school fees and clothing. Our group use shallow water well which in turn helps out since sometimes the weather isn’t favorable and have problems with water points which are far from our gardens. In addition to the domestic use I’m now able to save some of the money got daily. On a good day I can earn up to 8000 pounds and on a normal day sales goes down to 4000 pounds averaging 6000 per day, but due to my large family it is impossible for me to achieve my goals as all my income goes to maintain my family, I only get to save around 5% of the average earnings. My ambition is to be an entrepreneur and buy the vegetable products in large quantities for distribution in Rumbek town, but for now I’m thankful for reducing my household’s poverty level, I know with the education of my children they’ll grow to get better opportunities in life. With this statement I appreciate Peace Corps family and wish them expansion of this project to have impact on most of the vulnerable people in the community. Thanks; Priscilla Ayen Malual

My name is Mary Awau Dut; I’m 36 years of age born in Aduel payam. I’m married in Akot payam of Rumbek East County. I am a mother of five children but unfortunately 2 of them passed on remaining with three, two girls and one boy. My husband is a soldier with the army and is deployed very far from us. Peace Corps formed groups of village saving and loans associations within Akot payam and their representatives in consultation with the local community carefully selected active and genuine income earners within the area who were willing to join the unit for registration. Fortunately being a popular hard working woman, I was one of the members selected. I am now a member of Akur Magar village savings and loans association which was formed in 2022 and frankly I have benefited a lot from the group. I am currently in the hotel service industry, owning one within the market center of Akot payam, my services include cooking and offering catering services during ceremonies like weddings and thanks giving concluding that it is my main source of income, initially I was a vegetable vendor but due to delayed rainfall I decided to commit all my resources to hotel. I had some domestic challenges like school fees which I had to loan from our group to facilitate the same and was very pleased with the interest rate which is at 10% monthly, in return I had to put more effort in my work to service the loan so that I can be favored for borrowing again when in need. My children sometimes help me when not in school with small errands especially during holidays Presently we contribute 1,000 pounds weekly , 4,000 pounds monthly totaling to 48,000 annually and the interest earned after loan repayment is invested in buying of ground nuts from individual farmers, hoarding then later when rains will begin we shall sell them at a higher price earning more to for the group. In future we plan to increase our contribution to 2,000 per week to maximize on our investment plan. Peace Corps representative had sessions of training us on the management, economizing and investing our savings as a group and procedures of handing out loans and so we thank them much since we have never had any disagreement amongst ourselves on issues finance. We also created welfare within the group for petty cash incase if any requirements and we put in 100 pounds aside for it. Consequently we experience some general challenges like high prices of commodities which eventually makes it difficult for saving as most income goes for daily domestic intake. In conclusion I would like to personally thank Peace Corps Org. for its consciousness with creating awareness for us women since we are always segregated as weak in the community, I urge them to continue with the great work and spread out the program across the region. Many thanks from Mary Awau Dut

Success story on VSLA

Peace Corps gave out the different seeds as follows – kale (sukuma wiki), jews melon (kudhra), spider plant and okra seeds, each of the beneficiaries got equal portions and they followed up with extensive 2 days training of how to cultivate and nature the vegetation as all of us were new to such foreign seeds. With the help of the training acquired from the Organization representatives most of us managed to cultivate and harvest within 3 months of planting. Having a large size of land to cultivate I managed to plant the different seeds on a one acre land which is vast for vegetable production. The harvest period came and I reaped what I sow and I can say that the vegetable has really changed my life in a positive way because I am now able to feed my family as well as provide other basic needs. I sell most of the vegetable to the community especially the kale (sukuma wiki) which highly consumed by people in the restaurants by the roadside and also bought for consumption in the households. I sold the vegetation and bought puoltry in which are multiplying at an amazing rate and I plan to start poultry rearing in future for the sale of eggs and the chicken as well. I am currently doing business from farming which is a rare case in our community where most of us are cattle keepers and hardly understood anything on vegetable production until the time Peace Corps Organization came to share the knowledge. I am very happy to have been a beneficiary of the program as it all began as a small thing and now I am planning to start a poultry rearing business as well as selling of different kinds of vegetation so I may conclude that my situation is a grass to grace experience because Peace Corps Organization has elevated my household and most of the members of our welfare group and the community in general. With the training that we have gained I have very small losses since the vegetation is perishable but even the waste that comes with the work I still take back for my chicken to consume and so making the losses very minimal. The challenges I have faced while and after cultivation is the delay of rainfall and the constant flooding as our land is generally flat. Livestock is also a major factor since we have to constantly prevent them especially the goats from consuming the vegetation and so someone has to keep watch throughout that period. I would kindly request Peace Corps Organization to consider providing us with tools such as water cans, hoes and gumboots and to expand this vegetable production to double the number of beneficiaries to reduce the issue of community members begging and people start working on their gardens for food. People are willing to work but getting the seeds for plantation is a big problem. I wish to thank the Organization on behalf of the group and the community and encourage them to consider our plea for next time this program is implemented. To the Donors I want to say thank you for great opportunities that you have given to us which has really changed our life and improved our life style Thank you. Jale Dut Mayindi

SUCCESSFUL STORIES ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION NPA BREL 2022 PROJECT Vegetable Beneficiary

My name is Jale Dut Mayindi 35 years old; I am dinka born in Amongpiny in Rumbek Centre County and married with seven (7) children to a Dinka man of Rumbek East County in Aduel boma of Aduel Payam. The women in Aduel formed an association group in 2021 that caters for the welfare of our community in terms of farming within the area and ever since we were waiting and hoping on any organization to give us support of any kind to facilitate our project. Luckily we got information that a program was to be implemented by Peace Corps Organization where they were registering people from the community on receiving vegetable seeds and livestock, being the chairlady of the group I strongly suggested for all the members be registered as beneficiaries of the seeds as our major source of income is farming. The group members all met with the stakeholders on the day of the registration and proceeded to register individually since everyone had different numbers of dependents in the households. Peace Corps Organization representatives brought us different types of seeds the following meeting where they did verification of the numbers of the beneficiaries as well.

SUCCESSFUL STORIES ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION NPA-PCO BREL PROJECT 2022

My name is Thon Madul 33 years old. I am married with six (6) children. My home is in Aduel boma in Aduel payam of Rumbek East County. In February 2021, a meeting was called by our go leader and the Chief, and in the meeting, the agenda was that Peace Corps Organization has come and wants to help people in our payam especially women, youth, IDPs, Returnees and the host community persons to beregistered and trained on farming activities especially growing of vegetables of different types and re-stocking of small livestock goats/sheep, when I got the information I forwarded my name to the administration and luckily I was among the few beneficiaries selected for livestock restocking program. I got two (2) healthy goats which I`m thankful to Peace Corps Organization. So far the two have produced two each and currently I`m having 6 goats in total. My plan is to wait for them to reach 8 so that I exchange with a calf or a heifer. The market exchange is 3 goats are exchanged with one calf alternatively 5 goats are usually changed with one heifer, so I`m still weighing my options. I consider having a cow since for my sake it’s more productive compared to goats as for our culture as cattle keepers. Peace Corps representatives gave me an opportunity to plan ahead for my future as well as for my family. We never owned any livestock before so I`m lucky to break the norm of poverty within our home and with hard work I believe I`ll manage to develop and own a herd one day. The livestock both female have since produced one each and the sheep is due for a second one by December; I am great full for the program since I have never been a beneficiary of anything positive in this community since my staying here. I managed to take care of my livestock wellbeing. I was lucky and privileged to be among the 10 beneficiaries in Akot payam because it is hard for one to get the opportunity due to issues such as cultural believes that women are not to have animals at home while the husband is the family head this kind of cultural practice is common in our community. The goats can also help me start my own business in the near future when they produce and reached to 6 or 8 goats and I will decided to sell some to help me for the school fees of my children and other personal issues. I would urge Peace Corps Organization to continue and expand the program as it helps the community directly or indirectly. During the start of the project I had a lot of challenges mostly within the handling of the livestock; some of the challenges are land for grazing to avoid conflict with the immediate neighbors, security for the goats as the livestock are prone to getting stolen. I hope the Organization will continue and even increased the number of beneficiaries in our boma such that many people have to benefit from this project .Finally, the opportunities that you have given to us which has really changed our life and improved our standard of living I say thank you very much hope you progress successfully To all those who are going to read my story, this is true about me and I wise this program to continue helping the communities. To the Donors I want to say thank you for great opportunities that you have given to us that have really changed our life and will improved our standard of living with this support. Thank you. Thon Madul.