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The generous support of the Irish people has helped keep children from vulnerable communities in school
Digna (right) from La Confianza, a farming cooperative in north Honduras appeared on the Trócaire Lent box when she was 5 in 2011. Photo: Jeannie O'Brien
For the past 50 years, Trócaire with support from the Irish public and Irish Aid has helped children in the most vulnerable communities to access quality education and attain functional levels of literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills.
As Trócaire marks our 50th anniversary, we look back at some of the children who featured on the Trócaire Lenten box, and see how the generosity of the Irish people has helped them to stay in school and help build a better future for them and their families.
Josiane Umumarashavu who was the face of Trocaire’s 2004 Lenten Appeal. Josiane is photographed here in 2010 during her final year in school. Photo: Hu O' Reilly.
Josiane Umumarashavu appeared on the Trócaire box in 2004 when she was 12 years’ old.
In 1994, Josiane lost her father, sister and two brothers in the Genocide against the Tutsi. Her memories of that devastating time include being forced to flee her home in search of a safe place, and crying for the doll she had left behind.
In 2004, Trócaire featured Rwanda in its annual Lent campaign. Josiane’s mother was struggling to provide for her three young children in the aftermath of the Genocide – and Josiane ended up featuring on more than one million Trócaire boxes that reached homes across Ireland.
(L) Josiane on the 2004 Trócaire box.
(R) Josiane today in 2023
Thanks to donations from the public during the 2004 Lenten Appeal, Josiane and her family, along with thousands of others, received support which helped improve their lives, and in particular supported farming. This meant they could feed their families, earn an income and continue to attend school.
Today, 18 years later, Josiane (31) is now married with two children and lives in Kigali City in Rwanda. Josiane said she still looks at the Trócaire box from 2004 to remind herself of how far she has come and how generous the Irish public was. She says she is forever grateful that she was able to finish her schooling and attend university.
After graduating with a qualification in business management and accounting, Josiane now works as a Finance Assistant in Trócaire’s office in Rwanda.
Carlos Humberto Amador (father), Digna and Carmen Amador (mother) sitting in their garden in 2019. Photo: Giulia Vuillermoz
In 2011, the Trócaire box featured Digna when she was five years’ old. Digna is from La Confianza, in the Aguan Valley in Honduras. That year’s Lent campaign highlighted her community’s struggle to stay on their land.
Living in La Confianza has always been a challenge for the community, and still is today. Poverty is widespread and families struggle to earn money to provide food, clothes, school stationery and healthcare to their children.
More than a decade later, Digna now 17, is in her final year of education in Tegucigalpa. Trócaire partner FSAR (Fundación San Alonso Rodriguez) is continuing to support Digna with school materials and personal support. This is a great achievement for Digna, as in Honduras more than a third of children are currently not in school.
Trócaire and FSAR are also continuing to provide legal advice and to strengthen farmers´ groups in the Aguan Valley.
María Angelica Cuc Teyul (aged 9) alongside her mother, Adela outside their home in Parana in the Polochic Valley in northern Guatemala. Photo: Mark Stedman
María Angelica Cuc Teyul from Guatemala appeared on the Trócaire box in 2019 when she was nine years’ old.
Working as small farmers in the community of Parana in the Polochic Valley, María’s family were violently evicted from this area – their ancestral homeland – in 2011. As a small child, she and her family watched as their home was burned down by a private security firm, accompanied by state forces.
María and her family returned to their land in 2015 and, with the help of Trócaire and our local partners CUC (Committee for Peasant Unity), the community had a temporary legal assurance ruling to protect them.
Following the 2019 Lenten Campaign, Trócaire with funding from the Irish public and Irish Aid, distributed nine bulls to the community. Today, families are also being supported with small family gardens, as well as storm and flood preparedness training. The community is also hoping to use income generated by the bulls to build a new water project in the area.
María Angelica Cuc Teyul alongside her mother and father in 2022 in Parana in the Polochic Valley in northern Guatemala. Photo: Trócaire
Today, María who is now 13, still lives on the land with her family. She is doing well in school and is in 6th grade. She hopes she will finish her primary level of schooling next year, however due to economic factors, it is very challenging for families to keep their children in school and the nearest school is also very far away (6km) from the community.
María’s community also lives in constant fear that they will be evicted from their lands by sugar cane companies. Trócaire is continuing to support these communities to ensure their land rights are protected.
No Matter and Forward walking to school in Zimbabwe Photo Credit: Cynthia R Matonhodze
The Irish public were introduced to siblings No Matter and Forward when they appeared on the Trócaire Lenten Box in 2022. Their mother Thandekile Ncube from Matobo District in Southern Zimbabwe was struggling to provide for her family due to the effects of climate change on their community and the passing of her husband Donovan to Covid-19.
Thanks to the support of the Irish people during the 2022 Lenten Appeal, Trócaire and partner organisation Caritas Bulawayo have been working closely with communities in the Matobo district. This included setting up and managing a community garden with an agroecology learning centre and a seedbank as well as working with families who have been affected by market and business closures, and restrictions on movement during the prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns.
Today, No Matter and Forward are still in school and are doing well. Forward is now 9 and in Grade 3 and No Matter is 12 and in Grade 7. Thandekile hopes she will be able to keep the children in school despite the rising cost of school fees.
Her determination to create a good life for her children is evident in her choice of names for them. Their names, Nomatter and Forward, are a daily reminder that despite the challenges the family faces, they will continue to remain positive and look towards a brighter future.
Thandekile said she and local farmers are continuing to cultivate maize, groundnuts, and some small grains (sesame, millet). She has also diversified her income through the harvesting of Mopane worms, a sought after, protein-rich food source common in the area.
Willow and Nasteha Mahat at school in Somalia Photo: Joy Obuya/Trócaire.
This year’s Trócaire Box tells the story of one Somali family who are struggling to survive. Ambiyo, her husband Mahat, and their eight young children are among hundreds of thousands of Somalis forced to flee their homes due to a fourth consecutive year of drought which has ravaged the country.
After their crops failed and the last of their goats died their only option was to leave or stay and face starvation and death. After walking for three days, they arrived at a camp for displaced people with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Ambiyo was pregnant when she arrived at the camp and when she was giving birth, she experienced serious complications. She was taken to the nearby health centre run by Trόcaire where she and the baby received life-saving treatment. Trócaire runs all of the health services in the Gedo district of Somalia. In recent months the number of young children presenting with malnutrition has trebled, and there is growing pressure on the services.
Ambiyo’s biggest wish is for a better life for her family and for her children to get an education.
“Most of all I want my children’s lives to be better. I want them to go to school and to have a good education. I did not go to school and my husband did not go to school. I am happy to be in Luuq as we are near the health services so if my children get sick, they will get help. It is good to be here where we have supports. Being here gives me hope.”
Mahat echoes his wife’s wish for their children to have an education.
“Before we met Trócaire life was very tough for us here. We had nothing in our hands. We would send our daughter Willow to wash clothes for people to try and raise money. The little money she would get we used for our food. We had to put food on the table. She would also go and search for firewood to sell so we could buy food. Our daughter did those chores as I could not get a job. There was no work for me at all, I tried every day. So, I had to get my daughter to work. This broke my heart. I am the father and the head of the household and it is I who should be earning money. Our daughter should be in school getting an education. My biggest wish for all of my children is they get an education.”
