Severina Sengo, animal and seed beneficiary, Ekunha Municipality

I spoke to Severina (34) in Chava village, Ekunha Municipality, Huambo Province. She is pictured with her four children: Miguel (16), Emilia (8) – holding goat, Angelina (7) wearing a blue sweater and Horacio (3) wearing a green T-Shirt. She spoke about her involvement in the Seed Multiplication and Animal Distribution schemes which are part of the overall Concern Food Security programme in Huambo province.                              

"I am a widow. My husband was a soldier and fought in the war for many years. But in 2000 he became ill and died.

Things became very difficult after he died. When he was alive he would visit us and bring money. Now I have to raise my family on my own. I don’t expect to get a pension from the government.

I have four children. Miguel is sixteen, Emilia is eight, Angelina is seven and Horacio is three.

We live off the land and from whatever money I can get from making charcoal. I have two small plots of land which provide me with the main maize harvest as well as two nakas (riverside plots) which provide me with vegetables during the dry season.

Last year I received 10kg of maize seed and 8kg of bean seed from Concern. If I hadn’t received this seed I don’t know how I would have afforded it as I had no money.

Unfortunately this years harvest was very bad. At first the rains were steady and the maize crop was doing well. However, just as the cobs were appearing the rains became too much. There was very little sun and too much rain so the maize cobs never had a chance to develop.

I only harvested 30kg of maize this year (just over half a bag). On a good year I would harvest seven or eight bags. I also planted bean seed which Concern gave me but that crop was completely destroyed by the rains.  

In June 2003 I received a male and female goat from Concern. The female gave birth to two kids in May (2004). Unfortunately one of the kids died but overall the programme is really encouraging. We will give the kid to another poor family in the village to help them start off but in future all the offspring will be ours. It’s important to extend the programme to as many poor people in this community as possible.

We suffered so much during the war. Most people have very little but peace gives us the opportunity to rebuild our lives. The more people that get involved in the seed bank and animal distribution programme the better. It is good for everyone if the community is doing well.

In future when our goat gives birth I hope to sell the offspring at the market which will bring in money to look after my family. More goats also mean more manure for the fields so hopefully this will help me produce a better crop. In our culture we do not drink the milk from animals. Receiving these goats has been such a bonus in our lives and I think that this will help us to become more secure in the future.

Two of my children have been going to school since last year. They go five days a week and the government provide the education free of charge.

We get our water from the nearby river. The water is clean and clear. It flows all year and never makes people sick 

We have no access to healthcare in this community. There is free healthcare in Akunha but it is too far to walk and I cannot afford transport.

Malaria is the biggest health problem in this area. My children get it regularly, sometimes all of them have it at the same time. Children in this community die from all sorts of illnesses but malaria is definitely the biggest killer. I have not lost any of my children but I have been fortunate.

Horacio, my youngest, has a cough and a fever at the moment. I will not take him for treatment as it is too far away but I am not too worried about his condition.

In this community we heard of HIV but we don’t understand it or know what it is. I heard of a man who moved to another village from Benguela (coastal city). He died from this disease and his wife is now contaminated. I have heard stories like this but I have never seen anyone who has HIV.

Nothing is being done to prevent HIV and there is no information about it.

I don’t know if HIV is a problem in this community, as I said our main health problem is malaria.”

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