Raising at Family Twice

In the West, most 71-year-olds have raised their families and are enjoying retirement. But in many African countries, the elderly continue to care for young families. Candice Jaques tells the story of one.

Seventy-one-year-old Manuel, a rural subsistence farmer from the African country of Mozambique, has so far raised twelve children.

For part of that time, Manuel and his family lived through a seventeen year civil war, which forced him into the city where he found it even more difficult to earn an income. When he returned to his land just out of Massinga to continue caring for his family, he found that old farming techniques no longer worked and that he had forgotten many of his skills.

Meanwhile, his only daughter to remain at home had three children, and he again found himself providing for a young family. When a severe drought hit his region, Manuel became very worried. And it was at this time that the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) started working in his community.

“Before ADRA came, we were all worried about the drought,” explains Manuel. “We had nothing. But ADRA gave us seeds and taught us skills, and now I am happy.”

ADRA’s work in Manuel’s community began in August 2004, providing agriculture and health education as part of its Southern Africa Food Security and AIDS Response Initiative. Activities within this project include teaching communities about soil conservation, correct sowing techniques, malaria prevention and HIV education, among other things.

Through Community-Based Organisations, ADRA has taught Manuel and his neighbours many skills, such as how to increase soil nutrition by ploughing vegetation back into it and the correct spacing for various crops to allow for more efficient use of land. From these techniques and others, Manuel’s crops are of a better quality than before and he is producing higher yields.

Manuel is pleased to see his grandchildren enjoying better health and a more varied diet because of what he now knows about agriculture. Plus, with increased yields, Manuel is selling the surplus crops and earning an income to provide educational supplies and medical care for his grandchildren.

“Raising my own children was more difficult than it is now, because since then I’ve learned new things,” Manuel says. “My grandchildren have a brighter future because of ADRA.”

Manuel is not the only grandparent in Africa raising a young family, but he is one of the few who sees better things ahead for his grandchildren. There are many other elderly people who struggle to care for young children (often because their parents have passed away from preventable illnesses), and don’t have the hope Manuel does. Your support of ADRA can change that reality, and enable it to further its work in helping those in need.