With no source of income, each day became a struggle for survival for Ludia and her family. When she couldn\u2019t find food, the children would go into town and scavenge for leftovers in local restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother who stayed in Uganda came to visit me last year,\u201d says Ludia. \u201cHe was deeply touched by what I was going through. He offered to take seven kids with him and I was left with my youngest daughter, Eli. I didn\u2019t have a choice but to let them go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the timely help, Ludia still had Eli to feed. But with no job and a failed harvest, the struggle for food continued. When all hope seemed lost, CARE came knocking at her door.<\/p>\n
Hows CARE helped<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI was chosen by the community to participate in a cash for work project by CARE,\u201d says Ludia, who by then, was one month pregnant. \u201cThis was a big relief as I didn\u2019t have any source of income.\u201d<\/p>\n The project targeted vulnerable people in locations affected by conflict, particularly households headed by women. It supported the households with cash by engaging people to work on road maintenance and rehabilitation services in their communities.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was the first time in years that I have had an income of my own. I knew I had to save some of the money since the project was for three months only,\u201d says Ludia, \u201cSo I joined a\u00a0village savings group<\/a>\u00a0supported by CARE.\u201d<\/p>\n Eight months later, the savings would come handy. Ludia was due for delivery and she used part of her savings to hire a motorcycle taxi to take her to the hospital.<\/p>\n Naming child after CARE<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a quite a distance to the hospital,\u201d she says.\u00a0 \u201cIf I didn\u2019t save some of the money for transport, it would have been difficult for me to walk such a long distance.\u201d<\/p>\n Ludia stayed for a day in the hospital. The next morning, she gave birth to a baby boy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the doctors asked me the name of the child, I told them that he is Care. They looked at me as if they didn\u2019t understand what I said. I told them, yes, his name is Care,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n For the health staff, it was something new for a parent to name her child after an organization. Normally, the family names a child after their father or a relative.<\/p>\n But for Ludia had her reasons for her choice of name.<\/p>\n \u201cCARE helped me in my greatest time of need. I was struggling so much but they came and gave me a job. No one has ever done that for me. So it was befitting that I name my child after the organization,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The future<\/strong><\/p>\n Ludia is now one of the farmers benefitting from CARE\u2019s food security and livelihood project. She is part of a group of farmers who are supported by the organization with things like vegetable and sorghum seeds and farming tools among others.<\/p>\n \u201cSo far, the rains have been good. I have already planted my sorghum and I also have a backyard garden where I planted vegetables,\u201d she says. \u201cIf we continue to have good rains, I am sure to have a good harvest.\u201d<\/p>\n A good harvest means Ludia will have enough to feed her remaining two children. And if she gets extra, she will sell some of her produce to get money to buy basic necessities. For now, Ludia has set her sights on raising and educating Care so that he can help other people in need.<\/p>\n \u201cI want him to go to school and then get a job with CARE,\u201d says Ludia. \u201cI know that if he works with CARE, he will help other people in need.\u201d<\/p>\n Ludia Ajasi is a widow who lives in Odikolong, a small village located in the outskirts of Torit State in South Sudan. She survives by farming a small piece of land behind her house. But for the past few years, her harvest has been bad due to poor rains, which made her struggle to feed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[44,39,4,32,38,2],"tags":[167,168,173,174,169,176,171,170,175],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/care.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/RS45259_IMG_4780_2_web-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYou can help women like Ludia and children like Care! Shop our Gift Catalogue where you can choose from 40+ gifts that help people worldwide lift themselves out of poverty.<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"