The Bibi ( granny ) project

Bibi Glory is the head of the group and has helped me to start this project.

She was born in 1954, is widowed and has 6 children between the ages of 48 and 24. Her only possession is the house in which she lives (with the youngest daughter) and a small piece of land which is not enough to survive. Despite her poverty, she helps everyone wherever she can. She does not get any support from her family because everyone is very poor and struggling to survive. Sometimes she finds a casual jobs and does hard field work for, if she is lucky, 1 euro a day. A really great  and strong woman ...

Eliashiwarmisa was born in 1948, she is also widowed and raised 5 children. She was bitten in the ankle by a snake 30 years ago and has had an open foot ever since. Also, she never had the money to go to a doctor and so our Bibi Glory has supported her for 30 years. Eliashiwarmisa also has a small house but not enough land to live on. The only support she gets comes from Bibi Glory, who had to struggle hard to raise her own children. They have been best friends for more than 30 years.

Paulina was born in 1966 and raised 6 children between the ages of 16 and 29. Her husband is still alive but, like her, has no job. Both live from field work / casual jobs for often less than 1 euro / day, and her husband had an accident years ago and can`t work hardly. The 2 oldest children also live off casual jobs and cannot support their parents. So Paulina has to feed the whole family almost on her own, which is almost impossible. She says, "if someone in the family is sick, we cannot go to the hospital or the doctor because there is absolutely no money".

Evanester was born in 1981 and has 6 children with her husband, aged 2 1/2 to 19 years. Her husband has no job and, like almost everyone in this remote region, they live off casual jobs, like field work. In addition, there are no grandparents left and the family has no one to look after the children, which does not improve the situation. Evanester complains of ongoing financial problems, no money for food, medical visits, let alone paying the children's school fees.

Neema was born in 1983, is married and also has 6 children. She has to deal with the same problems as described for Evanester. Man without a job, only now and then field work, which is totally poorly paid, no money for electricity, food, doctor visits or school fees. She and her family are in a hopeless position with no prospect of improvement. It is sad but true, I have asked many women and men about their situation and the problems are 90% the same,

no job -> no money -> no future

Ailanga was born in 1978, has 5 children between the ages of 6 and 21 and her husband ran away. She is the daughter of Eliashiwarmisa and also takes care of her as best she can. It is a very big problem to earn money because her mother is also very poor on foot. She dreams of sending her children to school so that this cycle of poverty can finally be broken and for this occasion I am there and will help you to feed yourself and lead a dignified life without living in total poverty to have to.

Pendo was born in 1992, married and has 2 children. Her husband is also unemployed and they live casual jobs. She complains that there is never any money and, like everyone else in the group, she cannot send her children to a doctor or to school. She dreams of a sewing machine but there is no money for it and she has no idea how she and her family will ever get out of this poverty. Pendo is very, very grateful for this project, as is of course everyone involved, and she recognizes the opportunity it contains to improve her current situation.

Evalin was born in 1996, single parent and has 1 child who is 2 years old. When her sister ran away 6 years ago and just left her child there, she had to drop out of school to look after her niece. This was the family's only chance so that the grandma could continue to work in the fields and care for everyone together as best she could. She is a loving and hard-working young woman and wants to be independent. She says, "I don't want a husband or more children, it just makes everything more complicated and more difficult than it already is."

Meriana was born in 1987, she is married and has 3 children. It is like almost everywhere with her too. The man has no job, there is no money for the most basic things such as a doctor's visit or school fees. Her husband does not own any land and so they have to live in an almost rotten house of their mother. It's better than nothing, she says, and so she can give her mother a little help, but financially the situation is simply difficult.

Elivassi is one of 2 men in this project. He was born in 1963 and has 6 children between the ages of 6 and 23. He used to be village leader and lost this job because he belonged to the "wrong" party. Elivassi shares the same fate of poverty as his female group members and tries to escape these poor conditions. He will help us with the leasing the land and support our women with heavier work. He is also very happy to be able to give his family a perspective again soon.

Joseph is the kind of "good soul" from the village. He was born in 1990, is married and the proud father of 2 children ( twins ). He never had the opportunity to go to school and lives from hand to mouth. He finances his family through casual jobs and occasionally rents a motorcycle to transport people and staff for his village and earn a little extra money. When he came for this photo, everyone, really everyone, greeted him warmly because it helps everyone and everywhere without asking and, despite his own poverty, usually doesn't ask for any money.