Jacky and her husband where abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) during the conflict. They were both in captivity for more than 5 years, where they suffered through horrific conditions before they were able to escape and make their way back home.
However, when they returned home they continued to struggle. Jacky and her husband had no means to support the family they wanted to start. They were one of the first group members to join THRIVEGulu when we began our work in 2009. Now they host their group’s meeting in their compound each week and have become very active in all our activities. “Through my group’s savings and loan activities, my husband and I combine our investments together, through which we were able to buy the land we now live on. We’re proud to have built a three-room house which we are all living in,” she explains. They now have four children, and they are living happily at their home in Anywang village. Jacky prides herself as an example of how women can succeed despite challenges.
Not only is this land a place to call home, now it’s also an important income generating opportunity. Jacky explained to us that every growing season, she is able to increase the land she cultivates, with support from the group’s savings and loan, her husband’s efforts, and the money earned from the preceding harvest. “This year alone I have cultivated an acre of maize, and 2 acre of rice” she says.
Now she wants to rent out her land to others in her community to use. “In the village, our life is based on farming. So, if a woman like me has tenants that can help in my agriculture fields comprising of hectares, I consider that an achievement,” she says while showing us around her 1-acre maize garden.
“I am confident that my children shall not suffer like I have. That is what my husband and I agreed when we returned from the conflict.” She says she will never turn her back on her group because it was through working with the group that they were able to grow stronger and recover together. When she compares where they are now to the time they returned home from captivity, she is very proud; these days she doesn’t lack anything for her family.
