Student Spotlight: Caroline
How our new agriculture training program in one of the world’s largest refugee settlements is changing her life
Caroline inspects her maize crop with a ChildVoice caseworker.
As we reported in January, the enhanced agriculture training program we initiated last year in response to a growing hunger crisis within Imvepi Refugee Settlement produced remarkable results. A total of 200 adolescent girls participated. One of those students is Caroline, a South Sudanese refugee whose story we highlighted during our 2022 spring fundraising drive. At the time, she was enduring incredible hardship -- unable to feed either herself or her children.
“The food we receive only lasts us for 10 days [out of a month],” Caroline said of the reduction in relief rations. “After that, survival is a gamble. I don’t have peace at night as my children keep crying out of hunger.”
At one point, her despair was so great that she even considered abandoning her children and running away. It therefore came as no surprise that when the opportunity arose to join our new agriculture training program, Caroline eagerly signed on. Along with training, she received seeds of cow peas, eggplant, sorghum, maize (corn) and simsim (sesame), and planted two acres of land obtained from the host community.
At harvest, her crop yield was more than impressive: 440 pounds of sorghum, over 600 pounds of maize, and more. Selling excess crops allowed her to buy clothes and bedding for her children, renovate her small thatched house, and purchase goats. And she has stored enough cereal grain to last her family
until mid-May.
Caroline plans to put more focus on agriculture so that she can continue to feed her children well. And she plans to continue selling excess harvest in order to purchase more goods for her young family.
“Since I joined farming at ChildVoice, I have realized a lot of changes both in my personal life and my family,” Caroline said. “My children now can have breakfast, lunch and supper with a variety of food stuffs, and I have gained weight. There is total happiness and peace at home! Our house looks new since I managed to renovate, and I no longer worry about the rainy season when it comes. I have four new mattresses and my children no longer struggle for a space to sleep at night. I am very grateful for ChildVoice and the donors. Please send my greetings thanking them for their support!”
While good nutrition and improved economic status are wonderful gifts amid relief reductions, there is another, perhaps even greater blessing our students have received through this program. As one ChildVoice caseworker put it: “There is no better gift that we can give these girls right now than hope.”
Nigeria: Malkohi Community Service and Expanding into Mubi
In March, due to ongoing security concerns amid contested presidential election results in Nigeria, Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri announced the suspension of all non-governmental organization activities in the region until after the elections were over. This included our operations within the Malkohi internally displaced persons camp. Nevertheless, students were able to do their community service activities near the camp, which involved sweeping the grounds and collecting litter. Students were also able to engage in Group Awareness – an activity designed to help students examine individual and collective differences and break down identity barriers.
Meanwhile, our work moves forward in Mubi, a town in the northeastern state of Adamawa where ChildVoice recently began providing programs, including our THRIVE sanitary pad and menstrual health & hygiene curriculum. In March, ChildVoice Nigeria Co-Director David Jomusu visited with the district head of Mubi. David reports that local leaders have expressed great excitement that we have now established a continuous presence in the region.
Welcoming New Leadership
During months of intense work to determine ChildVoice’s near- and long-term needs in a rapidly changing world, the ChildVoice Board identified the need to make some changes to the organization’s administrative structure. As a result, ChildVoice President & CEO Conrad Mandsager offered to transition to a more tightly focused role as Founder and President. Conrad will focus on developing new initiatives, expanding funding sources, and deepening relationships with our major donor network.
Concurrently, this change led to the appointment of a new chief executive officer (CEO). The ChildVoice Board is therefore proud to announce that Nathan Mandsager joins ChildVoice as CEO, effective May 2023. Nathan will focus on leading the US and international teams and staff as well as overseeing operations. We are confident that these newly created roles will result in a powerful capacity upgrade for ChildVoice!
Thank you, donors!
To those who gave to support our agriculture project in Imvepi in 2022, thank you so much! Thanks to donors like you, we raised a total of $143,000 (including a $50,000 match) in December! You made it possible for us to keep this critically important program going.
BE A PARTNER IN HOPE: Want to do more? Turn up the volume on your support by becoming an Amplified monthly donor! childvoice.org/partnerinhope.