Finding Financial Stability and Quality Time Together

Lumo lives with her parents and her 10-year-old son. She divorced her husband when their son was just eight years old, and she now continues raising her son alone. He is now attending the local primary school and Lumo is so proud of her son. Her mother has been sick for a long time and medicine and treatment is costly for her. As such, her father has to stay home to take care of her mother and her son while Lumo goes out to find work to generate income for the family. She often goes to dig caterpillar fungus where she earns around 5,000 yuan  (1,000 AUD) a year. She also tries to find other temporary jobs when it’s not the caterpillar season. Meanwhile, her father farms at home to provide for their daily food. Whenever they harvest more, they also sell some of the crops which adds to the family income. In a year, they earn about a total of 9,000 yuan (1,800 AUD) – which is still not enough to cover for all the expenses for a family of four.

She was delighted when she got the chance to breed pigs through the Pigs for Poverty Program.

Project manager Carrie (right) talking with Lumo during her project visit

“I am knowledgeable in raising pigs and have really wanted to start doing so even before I learned about this program. However, I knew it would cost a lot and I was afraid of taking loans from other people. But because of your support, as well as the support of my father, I was encouraged and determined to do this. I am looking forward to raising the pigs well and have enough income to cover our family’s needs. Even better, I’ll get to spend more time at home to look after my child and my parents. Because I had to work, I had very little chance of attending my son’s activities at school and I know it makes him sad too. But from now on, we’ll be able to spend more time together while raising the pigs, and my son is very excited about it too. Thank you very much for supporting my family!”

If you want to be part of ending poverty for one family and help provide a sustainable future, US$180 provides training, program management & support, and 2 quality breeding sows to get them started.