Mama Jude, 27 years old, is a single mum of 5 children who lives in a rural community in Nigeria where she only had access to primary education.
At the age of 14, she was forced by her father to get married. As she had no choice, she followed his wish, and off she was to her husband’s house.
Her Husband Johnny does menial jobs to survive every day. He lives in a small hut in the community. He also joins his friends to farm and taps palm wine for sales.
Johnny was doing okay when there was only his wife and three children. But after another two children were born, daily life became a struggle.
With no public primary school available, the costs of sending all children to private schools in the community were surreal. One day, he said to himself “Johnny, look at you man, you cannot take care of your family and you call yourself a man? what are you doing? Is it not better for you to leave, go to a place alone to re-start your life?”.
Only a few days later he packed a bag and left his family. Now Mama Jude had the responsibility of taking care of herself and the children. She wanted to ensure that all her children would have access to quality education. She took to the selling of firewood and several other day jobs. Each morning she woke up, headed to the bush to cut down trees and move them to her compound. There she would leave them dry for some days. This tough work would at least bring N5000 (13us$) per week and could keep the family alive.
One good day an NGO showed up in the village advocating for trees to be respected and saved. They spoke passionately about the importance of trees within the eco-system. Mama Jude who was listening quietly got infuriated after having listened to them talk for about 10 minutes. She said to herself- “Why? Why do these people want to take my means of livelihood away from me? They are talking about saving trees, do they know how much these trees have helped me and my children? Do they know how much I earn?.
And then she said out loud: “What kind of nonsense is this?”
Suddenly, all eyes in the room looked at her. The facilitator of the gathering however kept her cool and asked her to share her concerns.
And then mama Jude started to share her story, of the value that the trees had for her, of how cutting trees had been saving her and her children from going to bed hungry.
The facilitator calmed Mama Jude down and explained that the NGO did come to the community with a plan to not only save the trees but also to provide support for the women who were cutting them. She explained about the possibility to get small loans to start up a business and get training for the same. “Hmmm!’ Sighed Mama Jude, then she said — “I hope you people are for real; we have seen other people here in the past who had big words and promises for us, but in the end, it was all hot air…” The facilitator gave her examples of other women in other villages and guaranteed her that they came with the best of intentions. Mama Jude was not really convinced yet and said that she needed some time to think about the offer.
The next day she went into the forest again to fetch more firewood to sell. She said to herself- “Before they take my means of livelihood away from me, let me make as much money as I can”. Every day for the rest of the month she fetched as much wood as she could.
Then the facilitator of the NGO returned, ready to give out loans to those who have shown interest in the program. Mama Jude, who had shown her interest grudgingly was one of the beneficiaries of the project. After 3 days of intensive training on business management, she was handed the loan to start her provisions shop.
With the money, she mentioned that she would establish a small shop, buy biscuits, sweets, and some groceries to be sold there.
The NGO agreed to her plan, granted the loan, and said that they will be monitoring her. Mama Jude was dedicated to stop cutting trees to make money through the shop instead.
The first month goes by, some money came in and Mama Jude was happy.
However, after the third month, she noticed that her income was getting less and after doing the calculations and having the deadline for repayment of the loan coming up soon, she knew she had to work a bit harder to make it.
She managed to push through and returned the loan in time.
“Finally, now I am free from the loan, so let me focus on my business”. It seemed like fresh air and change had come for a moment. But then came the Seventh month the entire income was a meager N7000. She started to panic, what was going on?
She thought back of the time that she used to sell firewood bringing in N5000 per week, N20,000 every month! But I made a promise that I will not go back to cutting trees. But I need the money”
When after nine months the situation did not improve, mama Jude decided to add selling firewood in her shop as well. This increased the monthly income in such a way that she not only could provide food for her children but even pay the school fees. This was her dream; all her children should be in school so that they will not end up like her. Well, it also meant the end of the drive to save the environment.
So, what happened. All went well, till some other women noticed that Mama Jude was doing okay and within a short time 4 other women opened a shop selling the same items.
So the competition caused a reduction in revenue for Mama Jude… and she started to cut trees again!
So here is my question for you my dear social change-makers:
“What is the most sustainable way for organizations to deal with issues like this?”.
Yes, we all know that climate change is real, however, poverty is a reality for many people, and HUNGER is felt FIRST!
So, what can be done to improve livelihoods and at the same time save the environment? What can be done differently? It is time to rethink approaches that did not work! Any suggestions and ideas are welcome!
