What if...

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Luzmila held her life and the lives of her children in a fine balance. A single mother to three children in Lima, Peru, she was running a small business selling tamales and looking forward to resuming her studies to become a teacher. Life was not easy, but she was managing.

The pandemic, however, changed everything. During lockdown, she and millions of others in Peru were left without an income and no way to provide for their families. Globally, the number of people without adequate nutrition surged during the pandemic, but the situation was especially dire in Peru, with poverty rates rising exponentially.

“All of the doors that had been open before were closed to me. I became very desperate. It felt like everything was lost,” says Luzmila.

That is, until the support of donors like you and the Community Pots program, helped Luzmila with a more sustainable means of putting food on her family’s table as well as her community. Thanks to you, Luzmila and other women like her are receiving training on food production and farming.

For women like Luzmila, lasting food security is about more than being able to feed her family. It’s about opening doors to new opportunities—and the chance to break the cycle of poverty for good. Thank you for playing a part in stories like Luzmila’s.

Verediana lived in fear, constantly worrying about her future, and wondering if she too would struggle with poverty like her parents before her.

Born in a family of seven, Verediana’s parents provided for their children with a limited income through farming. Attending school was not an option once she became pregnant.

A young single mother with a four-year-old daughter, Verediana was dangerously close to becoming part of an already alarming picture in Tanzania’s Shinyanga region, where 78% of married women aged 15 to 49 years are affected by gender-based violence.

The region also has the highest rate of child marriage (59%), with teenage pregnancies for girls below 18 at 34%.

“To a great extent, women and girls in the area are not decision-makers,” says Verediana. “They are expected to marry early and take care of their families.”

Doing her best to provide for her daughter, Verediana wondered if her dream of pursuing an education and becoming a pharmacist was simply out of reach.

Not wanting to accept this fate, she joined the AGAPE Knowledge Open School (AKOS) and is now completing her secondary education. And none of this would have been possible without the support of donors like you.

Your support allows us to continue sending volunteers to teach at AKOS to help ensure that every girl has access to education for as long as she wants it, and that no child is forced into marriage—ever.

17-year-old Saki stood sweating in a brightly-coloured wedding gown, watching in fear as her soon-to-be husband approached. Saki did not choose to marry this man, who was at least as old as her father. Her parents didn’t necessarily choose the marriage either; though they consented to it out of financial desperation. It was not what Saki’s mother, Salamatou, wanted for her daughter.

Fortunately, Saki was spared from marrying that day, thanks to the hard work of Queens for Peace, an advocacy group in Cameroon. Thanks to donors like you, Saki was able to continue her studies, even completing her high school diploma—something only 48% of Cameroonian girls are able to do.

Unfortunately, for every Saki, there are many girls who are unable to avoid the inhumanity of forced marriage. In Cameroon, 30% of girls between the ages of 15 and 18 are currently married. That’s why we need your help—until no girl is forced into marriage. Anywhere. Ever.

We can’t tell Saki’s story without sharing the story of Queen Moustafa, an advocate who helped keep Saki in school and out of marriage.

Queen Moustafa is a leader with Queens for Peace, an advocacy group working to end the practice of child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) in Cameroon.

By equipping influential women and traditional leaders with the knowledge and skills they can use to educate others, Cuso International and local partners are investing in long-term change that will provide girls and women with more freedom to choose their own path— ultimately improving gender equality in Cameroon for generations to come. This couldn’t be done without the support of our donors.

Queen Moustafa is one of those traditional leaders—and the woman Saki’s mother, Salamatou, turned to in her moment of need. Queen Moustafa was able to secure a financial allowance to pay for Saki’s schooling, which removed the financial pressures that made marriage seem like the only option.

Salamatou credits Queen Moustafa with saving Saki from forced marriage. “I am grateful to Queen Moustafa for adjusting my crown and the crown of my daughter. I hope Saki will grow to be a strong, influential woman like Queen Moustafa one day.”

If you want to adjust the crown of girls and women in Cameroon and everywhere, you’re in the right place. Thank you for being part of stories like these.