New hope for Fatim thanks to the GERF food aid program (Global Emergency Response Fund)

Fatim and her entire family fled the armed violence in Torou, within the Bankass circle.  

Now settled in Koro with her six children, four boys and two girls. She must adapt to the pace of city life. In Koro, she pounds millet, does laundry, and sells gravel to provide for her family. Her 65-year-old husband suffers from high blood pressure and is in another city for medical treatment.  Her eldest son is currently at an artisanal gold mining site.

At 48 years old, every morning, Fatim makes breakfast for her children before taking her empty bucket to look for laundry or other household chores in the neighborhoods of Koro. Her main concern is ensuring her children eat in the morning and evening, especially her youngest daughter, who is a 12-year-old student in the 4th grade of primary school. 

Fatim can only count on herself. Her two sons living with her in Koro do not bring in much. They have just started learning mechanics to become motorcycle repairers. As apprentices, they can barely bring home 500 FCFA = 0.89 Dollar US a day to their mother.

Fatim suffered through the past months of August and September. Without a stock of food rations, everything she earned was completely swallowed by the cooking pot. She could not pay the rent for her home: 

"Despite all my efforts, I couldn't prevent it. It was very hard. sometimes, if I couldn't find laundry to do, I would go cut grass to sell to livestock herders,"  Fatim said.

Now, Fatim has a chance to get back on her feet. Her daily efforts will now allow her to pay off her monthly rent debt. Thanks to the World Vision Global Emergency Rapid Fund Food Assistance Project, Fatim has received food rations that will help her bounce back. The supplies she received consisted of a 50 kg bag of rice, a 25 kg bag of beans, a 5-liter jug of oil, salt, sugar, and 20 packets of pasta. This assistance reached 100 internally displaced households and three extremely vulnerable households.

For now, while this assistance is far from solving all the challenges faced by internally displaced people, it allows many women like Fatim to bounce back while waiting for better days.

"I won't have to buy food for more than a month. I will be able to save money, which will allow me to cover my daughter's school fees and my rent. Frankly, I am impressed by the good quality of the food, especially the beans," Fatim said with a smile.