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| Interview with Domitille's parents |
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 Triphonie is 43. She lives with her husband, 46-year-old Frodouald, and six children near Butare in Rwanda. Their children are 23-year-old Claudine; Illuminee (22), Anaclet (14), Violette (12), Domitille (6) and Irene (5). The family live on under €1.07 per day for a family of 8.Triphonie is a beneficiary of a partner of Trócaire’s called COCOF. This group, which is a bit like our Credit Unions, works with families to provide them with small sums of money in the form of loans based on the family’s savings. COCOF has run a basket-weaving group with 50 of the poorest women in the community since August 2007. Triphonie is now part of that group. In her garden, two sheds house cows. She doesn’t own one of them; she simply rents the space to a neighbour. She gets to keep the manure to fertilise her crops and some milk to drink and sell. Through a government programme for the extreme poor, she received another cow. It shares the kitchen area, where she cooks on firewood. The cow is pregnant again, the programme stated she had to give the first calf to a neighbour, when it gives birth again she can keep that calf. She manages to grow cassava (a root vegetable), peanuts, beans and sorghum (a grain) on her 30-metre plot. Interview with Triphonie, Domitille’s Mum How difficult it is for people to survive here if they are poor? Triphonie : Most people try to start some small business to make money. When our house was about to collapse my daughter got a loan and we used it to keep our roof. How do you pay it back? Triphonie: My husband makes bricks that we try to sell and when we milk the cow we sell some. When did you join COCOF? Triphonie : Myself and my husband managed to get the money together. (In 2007, when she joined Cocof, she didn’t know anything about business. She watched and learned and started to weave baskets which she sells to supplement her income. She’s also taking courses to learn how to read and write as she never went to school. This means she will be able to put together proposals for future loans. ) How important are the social elements of the group? Triphonie: Since I joined the group I am really improving my skills. Now I can weave and am learning how I can make other improvements through small loans. The social aspect, coming together with others, is very important. We learn to become self-reliant and about how to start a business. Now I can help my family; buying food and medicine and clothes. I don’t have to rely on my husband all the time. How does your husband contribute to the household? Triphonie : He makes bricks. When coffee and sorghum are harvested, he buys a small amount and then travels to other towns to try to sell it for a profit. If he spends 180 RF he will get ten per cent more when he sells it. Has there ever been a time when your children didn’t have enough to eat? Triphonie : From time to time this happens. I try my best but when it does happen, I look for something to give them. If I can get a kilo of flour I will divide it among the children. It happens. I try to deal with it. Have you and your husband gone without food to make sure your children have enough? Triphonie: I will take very little food. How does it make you feel when your children are hungry? Triphonie: Helpless. I am a good Christian. I pray and believe that God will help. Have you had malnutrition in your family? Triphonie: So far I am really trying my best but sometimes it happens. If I get sick I can’t produce any food and take care of my family, then they become malnourished. What are your hopes for your children in the future? Triphonie : My wish is that they will go as far as they can, academically. Financially, we don’t have enough means to pay for books and uniforms for everyone. I pray to God for help. Where do you get your water? Is it clean? Triphonie : There is a well close by, and we can get water there for washing or cooking. For clean drinking water, we have to go to a borehole about 5 kilometres away. We then have to queue for a long time and there’s no guarantee we will get any water. Where and how do you cook? (Triphonie pointed to a nearby area.) I use firewood and grass to light a fire. What do you do when it gets dark? (There is no electricity – only six per cent of Rwandans have electricity.). Triphonie: We can’t afford much kerosene (sold in litres) so we buy enough for 2-3 days at a time. Are the children able to do their homework? Triphonie: Not at home, there is no light and they have no time. They do it at school. What are the most important things in your life? Triponie: Prayer. I have a problem I pray and there’s always a solution. This interview was carried out with Frodouald and Triphonie, father and mother of Domatille. Tell me about your life here... Triphonie: We are happy that we are here. We just try to have a good life here but the problem of poverty is a hindrance to any progress we can have here. We don’t have enough to eat; we are not secure (foodwise). How do you earn an income/ get by? Frodouald: Normally my life was just getting informal loans from friends. With that money I would buy raw coffee beans locally. But this is no longer allowed as there is a formal coffee washing system run by the government. I can’t buy coffee from the community anymore. With this money I could pay health insurance, pay for school, for food, equipment and save some, not much but some. Now this has stopped my only source of income is the cow we keep that isn’t even mine. I’m keeping it for someone else. I get some of the milk to sell it to earn some money. I make bricks for people on a daily basis and get paid daily or I work on someone’s field to get paid at the end of the day just for my family to survive another day. You have some land – tell me about this? Frodouald: We have a small piece of land. It’s very far from here. I find it hard to get from here to there. So it doesn’t get manure often to fertilise it and it is less fertile than it should be. How far is it away? Frodouald: It’s 2 km away. I once tried to carry the manure to it but it was much too heavy and I failed. The amount needed to fertilise the field is much too heavy to carry. Do you store your harvests? How long do they last? Frodouald: We don’t store any harvest. We take it from the field and consume it straight away. Do you ever go without food? Do you have enough food? Frodouald: For us as parents we frequently go without enough food. As soon as we get, for example, one kilo of flour we give it to our kids because we don’t want to see them crying. We suffer but we try to endure. How do you feel in your mind and physically when you are hungry like this? Does it worry you/ frustrate you when you are working very hard to get enough food? Frodouald: We feel this lack of internal security. We don’t feel at ease at all. We feel a bit lucky because at least we one child spends a day at school where they are fed but that’s just one out of five kids (of school going age). How important is education for your children for you? Frodouald: We’re convinced that education is very important. It’s number one. So the last two born also go to nursery which is compulsory. Have there ever been times when you’ve gone without eating so you can feed your kids? Frodouald: We usually have two meals but we as parents usually just eat at dinner, so the kids can eat two meals (lunch and dinner). This is not enough food for us but we have to do this as our children must eat first. What kind of food do you eat? Frodouald: Our diet is cassava paste as it’s cheap. Sometimes we have it with a soya soup or we grind the cassava leaves. Many people have beans with their meal but we can’t afford this. How do you cope and work with so little food? Frodouald: For some weeks we don’t feel strong enough to work. But I have to try because I have to work. I have no choice. Can you see a way out of the situation? Triphonie: It is inevitable that we are worried about the future. But we are Christian and we are confident that God is here to help. This keeps our morale high, knowing that God is there. What do you dream of? Triphonie: We are optimistic that many people are being more open. We had a workshop from the association that told us to save 200f per month. Every member saves the 200f and when they save this it goes to one family in turn. The one who gets the money can buy for a pig or a goat to breed. Triphonie: The only problem is how long it will take to get this. It may be 3 – 4 years as there’s lots of families. But we would like to grow dried cassava to sell. Triphonie: (finishing) I am very grateful for you coming. Now God is doing another miracle. He is the answer to any problem. I am confident. I know you will be back now. This is because of God. God is the answer to any problem. Seeing you here now with the food and toys for the kids I know this is God answering us. God bless you always… |
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