It was still raining heavily when the 16-member Koirala family went to bed on the night of September 19. Just before retiring, Laxmi Koirala silently prayed to the rain gods. Incessant rain at this time of the year only meant two things – flooding and ruined rice fields, just before harvest time.
Moving energetically, she hoists big cans of cooking oil, passing them to women who divide them among themselves, along with the food distributions they’ve received. Sylvie Clermont is dripping with sweat. It is 40°C and today the distribution is taking place in the open, not a shady spot in sight. But the heat isn’t stopping Sylvie. She keeps up a tireless pace. The instructions are clear: to work as fast as possible so the women in the queue don’t have to wait too long in the infernal heat.
Islande Bonne Joseph is sitting in front of me wearing a pretty checked dress, her hair carefully tied back. Her huge smile is warm and heartfelt. Dressed in her Sunday clothes Islande may look timid, but this young woman is anything but. When Hurricane Ike hit Gonaives in Haiti, Islande displayed great courage in leading her neighbours to safety on top of her house as floodwaters rose dangerously high.
Matteo Zulu points out over his fields. They don’t look like much now, still dry and barren from the cold season, but come the rains these fields will flood and become ideal for growing four acres of the best rice you’ve ever tasted. Matteo is a walking profile of success in the Community Markets for Conservation program - COMACO.
The road to Kabiya village, in the eastern province of Zambia, is red and dusty. Tobacco fields stretch off in either direction. Christine Jere sits on the ground outside her mud-and-thatch hut in Kabiya and tells the story of how she nearly died of AIDS.
“I have never experienced such fear as I did in the last few days,” says the very soft-spoken Sarita Devi, a resident of Majura village, in the flooded district of Supaul, Bihar state. “I was full-term pregnant when the waters began to rise.”
The desolation and pain in the eyes of Rihana Kahtun is palpable. I met her in Triveniganj, where she was sitting by the banks of the furious Kosi river, staring vacantly ahead. After a bit of prodding, she shared her encounter with one of the worst floods that India has seen in more than 50 years.
Every morning she wakes up to his frightening face, a look she wants to erase from her memory but one she cannot escape. “He assaulted me with a machete and slashed my ribs before raping me,” she says as she recounts the nightmare she lived through during the Kenya post election violence earlier this year.
Adhul shows every day of his 87 years as he graciously offers Arabic coffee in the comfort of his modest home in the heart of Bayoudeh village
In FY2023, CARE worked around the world, contributing to saving lives, fighting poverty, and increasing social justice.
