Page 8 - EMBRACE Book

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Gaudence, Rwanda
“I have eight children. I’m married, but my husband left me.
My two youngest children are six years old. They’re twins.
They were three years old when EMBRACE began.
If EMBRACE hadn’t come here, I’m sure that one of my twins
would have died. When EMBRACE arrived, one of the twins
was severely malnourished. I knew she wasn’t doing well but
I didn’t know what I could do.
Photo: © 2018 ADRA | Michael Kirkby
When EMBRACE came, I went to the cooking demonstrations
and growth monitoring. This motivated me to attend the
EMBRACE group to learn all I could.
Before EMBRACE, all I cooked was potatoes because that’s
what I grew. I would cook them with beans. And that’s all I
would feed to my children. But after EMBRACE, there has
been a change. I try to take care of my children using the
advice I get from EMBRACE. I learned about the three food
groups: energy, protection, and construction. Even though I
don’t have a high standard of living, I try to give at least two
of the food groups two times a day. In the morning I make
my children a porridge of maize, sorghum, and soybeans,
then I feed them lunch and dinner.
Because my child was malnourished, I was invited to the PD
Hearth sessions. I went for 12 days. They taught us about
good nutrition, a balanced diet, and how to cook with this
knowledge. They also taught us about hygiene. I learned that
a balanced diet has to go along with hygiene. They also gave
us some seeds of vegetables that we could grow at home so
that we could continue to prepare a balanced diet for our
children.
Through EMBRACE, I also learned about permaculture. I
applied it at home and now I have my own kitchen garden.
Whenever I visit others, if they aren’t growing a kitchen Photo: © 2019 ADRA | Frank Spangler
garden, I offer to teach them what I’ve learned. I will with. It’s very difficult for me and others to save up that
continue to help other people. I don’t want to be alone with much. The bank is so far away. To go every day to deposit 500
this knowledge; I have to share it with others. or 200 francs, I’d be losing time and it’s difficult. In our
group, you can deposit even just 50 francs.
I received a cow through EMBRACE, as well. This has been
wonderful. This cow provides milk for my children and I’ve used a loan already to buy two sheep. I hope to build my
manure for my kitchen garden. EMBRACE gave me training herd and increase my income.
on how to properly care for the cow. I plan to someday build
up my herd to improve my livelihood. I can’t express my feelings about EMBRACE. It has given me
training in different things: nutrition, vegetable cultivation, a
I also received a water tank from EMBRACE. It helps me with cow, a water tank. The whole package relates to good
hygiene, sanitation, and gardening. Before I learned about nutrition, and I have it all right here. You can see that I am
the importance of these things, I used to live dirty every day. surrounded by fruits and vegetables. EMBRACE has done so
EMBRACE taught me about the main times to wash our much for me and I want to thank everyone for giving me this
hands, to make and use tippy taps, and to keep my children support.
clean. My family’s hygiene has improved, especially
regarding hand washing. We’re able to wash our hands I want to thank the Canadian people, especially the minister
frequently and easily thanks to our tippy tap. of Global Affairs Canada, for helping us. As I said, if
EMBRACE had not come, one of my children would’ve
I knew before that living without good hygiene was not good. already died because of malnutrition and a lack of hygiene. I
But EMBRACE helped me understand the critical importance want to thank the Government of Canada for sending the
of hygiene and the relation between hygiene and nutrition. EMBRACE team. I also want to thank the EMBRACE team.”
My children are healthier now. Before, they got sick from a
lack of hygiene. But now that I understand about hygiene
and sanitation and nutrition, the children are no longer sick.
They are well-nourished, clean, and they don’t get sick as
often.
I am a part of the savings and loans group set up by
EMBRACE.
It is very good to be part of a bank. Life is easier with the
group. I have access to resources easily and utilize them
without any problem or difficulties. It’s built on trust in each
other as we are neighbours and we know each other.
It’s difficult with a traditional bank because you have to go
there with papers you get from the government and you
have to give collateral. In order to open a traditional bank
account, you have to put in 1,000 Rwandan francs to begin
Photo: © 2019 ADRA | Frank Spangler