published in Poverty on November 17, 2018

‘We suffer so much’

Francine lives in Burundi, one of the poorest countries on earth. Listen to her, and you’ll hear the agony in her eyes…

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“Three of my children died in childbirth.  Now I can no longer work. I cannot cultivate or do hardly anything.

We are very poor, and often have nothing to eat.  Many times I must sleep without eating.

My children are hungry. 

I am breast-feeding the youngest,
but there is nothing there.

Our house is in debt. My husband has fled to Tanzania to try and get work to help the family.  But the people who we owe money have come to take my plot of land. 

I have three children alive, but one is very ill.

I have eye problems and so does my four year old child.  I do not have enough medicine.  I cannot even go and work to get money.

We are suffering so much.

I pray the generous people can give some money
to get food to help me feed my children.

For this I would be grateful.

If I could get help to buy a goat or cow, then I could get money to have enough to eat. I would like some containers for water. 

My house was burnt with a fire, so now I am living with my mother-in-law. I would like some iron to cover the house, so the rain doesn’t come in.

I am thankful for my mother-in-law because she is the one who gives me some help. But she is also poor. “

 

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