Story By Takara Morgan, CARE Australia
Published in Because You CARE, 2017 Winter / Spring Edition

I have just returned from Vietnam, where I met someone I’d like to tell you about. Her name is Hom. She farms pigs and rice to support herself and her 13 year-old son.

She is 31 – the same age as me.

Hom became a single mother six years ago after divorcing her husband because he had a drug problem. She’s from an ethnic group and doesn’t speak the national language, Vietnamese, so I had to talk to her through two translators. The language barriers and remoteness means she does not get information she needs to improve her farming or access government services. She can’t get a loan due to her low income.

Hom was trapped in a cycle of disadvantage.

In many ways I could relate to Hom: my parents also divorced when I was young and I grew up in a single-parent household. We were quite poor growing up, but, unlike Hom, I had the chance to go to school and university, save my money in a bank, take a than, and get a job in a workplace that protects my rights.

I’m so pleased to be able to tell you that CARE has helped Hom have some of these same opportunities. She has joined a CARE savings group, which helps her save money and take loans to improve her business. With these loans, she has bought a pig, which produced piglets she can sell for income. She has also been able to buy a bicycle for her son so he can travel to school. She has learnt how to increase her rice production by planting her crops in line with the changing weather patterns. She has also been able to establish a good social network that will help her meet her and her son’s needs.

We may be in different parts of the world and facing different challenges, but we are the same in more ways than we are different.

CARE’s amazing donors are helping people like Home to increase their income so they can support their children. In the project I have visited in Vietnam, there are 3,175 people who are part of savings groups and changing their lives for the better. That’s pretty powerful!

Thank you for your support – from our project participants and from me. I love working for CARE and seeing first-hand how our work can change lives. I have seen the impact your generous donations are making to poor and marginalised women and their families.

No one wants to be left behind: you, me, or people we are supporting overseas. We all want the best for our families. Our ongoing support enables CARE to continue working with women and their communities to ensure everyone has that chance. Thank you!

About CARE in Vietnam

We ensure long-term positive change for marginalised group, especially women.

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We work with the disaster affected communities to reduce long-term vulnerability to disaster and to assist in times of crisis.

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CARE International in Vietnam produces a variety of publications to share our experience and research.

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