Mr. KOLO IPANGA, from the Kamonia health zone, in the KAMABONZA health area, is 38 years old and married to Mrs. Nadine KOLO; Father of 5 children: NGALULA KOLO, 17-year-old daughter; HUPOWO KOLO 14-year-old son; MPUYI LIPASA KOLO 8-year-old son; Mamie KOLO 6-year-old girl and Lyly KOLO 1-year-old girl.
They are beneficiaries of the BUREKA Project in the food distribution sector; VSLA and Agriculture because they are from the village of Muasamba in KAMABONZA: When the war came to our village, we were forced to flee into the forest with our families. As a result of our displacement, we left all our belongings in our homes, and the armed groups pursuing us destroyed the doors and took everything we owned. Life became bitter after our return, and even finding food became difficult; with my children, we sometimes slept without even having anything to eat; we were living a life of suffering.
We didn’t have access to good seeds and didn’t know how to sow in order, so we sowed in disorder and production was very low; in a 0.5-hectare field of maize and cowpea seedlings after long and arduous work.
We only harvested two basins of maize and one basin of cowpea; I was disappointed that farming was not assisting me in better supporting my family.
ADRA provided us with identification when he first arrived in the community and, at one point, several food distributions; he brought us corn, oil, beans, and salt.
Nothing is better than farming; After a while, ADRA brought us maize, cowpeas, vegetable seeds, and agricultural tools. To assist us in improving our agricultural activities that were not performing well.
Thanks to ADRA, we now know how to seed in rows, weed at the appropriate times, rotate our crops, and clear the forests from around our fields to fight pests and other illnesses.
We have applied these training to our respective fields. I used strategies I had acquired from ADRA’s lessons in my 0.5-hectare field. Today I harvest between one and two bags of cowpeas and more than 4.5 bags of maize. This excellent production provides food for my family for many months, part of which I sell to earn money to deposit weekly in VSLAs and pay my children’s school fees, and another part of which I save for next season’s seed. Right now, I have food at home, and my family and I eat more than twice a day.
In this regard, I am truly grateful for ADRA’s assistance in my life and in the lives of my family; I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving us from death, and we ask you not to abandon us, to continue to assist us because we are not yet fully recovered.