Mary Sabelker Mayen is a 35-year-old peasant farmer with a family of 13. Mary and her family were displaced from Bor town in Jonglei State to a refugee camp in Yei River State in South Sudan during the SPLM/SPLA-IO conflict in 2016. She farms on government land and does not own any livestock, but her family does some fishing which they use for their food.
Before the Emergency Response Livelihood Project (ERLP), funded by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), came to her community, Mary’s family was struggling to sustain itself, both economically and socially. Mary was unable to provide medication or sufficient food for her family or send her children to school. Despite being a farmer, she had no seeds to plant, let alone the tools to till the land.
The ELRP gave Mary and her family the boost they needed, changing their lives. Through BRAC, Mary received training on basic agronomic practices, a variety of crop and vegetable seeds and a hoe and a maloda to help her till the land. The timing was perfect, as the rain pattern was favorable and her efforts produced high yields.
“This project has been like a savior to our community and my family in particular”, said Mary
Through the support of the project, Mary now produces more than enough to feed her family and can sell the surplus in the market to raise money for school fees, medical bills, payment debts and other home needs. She saves seeds from each planting season, and has been able to improve her and her family’s diets.
“Now that we have our own seeds, our life has improved from the status of IDPs (internally displaced persons) to citizens because we can buy what we don’t have and with the vegetable seeds and sensitisations that we got from BRAC, our health has improved because we eat a more nutritious food,” she added.
Mary plans to invest in agriculture because she has been educated through the project and now sees the potential to increase her income through agriculture. She also hopes to be able to obtain livestock like sheep, goats and even poultry. Mary is very appreciative of FAO and BRAC and the support they gave them, and if they are to continue supporting her community, she pledges to cooperate with them.
