A hard day’s work for those living in poverty

Posted on October 19, 2011 by admin

By Shanxi Omoniyi, CFCA web editor and writer

I recently had the privilege of traveling to Chile on a CFCA mission awareness trip, and while there I met a woman who put my idea of “a hard day’s work” to shame.

Luisa, mother of a CFCA sponsored child, works in the vineyards in Chile

Luisa, mother of a CFCA sponsored child, is a seasonal vineyard worker in Chile.

Her name is Luisa, and she’s the mother of Javier, a child sponsored through CFCA.

She’s a seasonal vineyard worker, needed only in times of pruning and harvesting.

She started work Oct. 10 and will finish in mid-April, leaving home at 7 a.m. and returning around 6 p.m.

It can take her 20-30 minutes to walk from one side of the vineyard to the other.

Payment for her pains depends on how many boxes she can pick during harvest time or the hours she works when pruning.

If she picks about 100 boxes (each box weighing about 25 pounds), she can make approximately 17,000 pesos ($30 US) a day. Read more

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Sep 15 2009

Maria sells newspapers in El Salvador

Posted on September 15, 2009 by admin

What kind of job would you do if your life depended on it? Would you dive to the bottom of a river to collect sand? Pound rocks into gravel? Chop sugar cane in the hot sun?

Maria, the mother of two sponsored children, sells newspapers on a busy street corner in Santa Ana, El Salvador, to support her family. She earns $4.50 a day, not enough to cover expenses.

CFCA sponsorship helps fill the gap between what she earns and what she needs not just to survive, but to get ahead. She receives health care and food provisions for her family. Sponsorship support also enables Maria to provide an education for her children in the hope that they can break the cycle of poverty.

That’s why Maria continues to brave rush-hour traffic, blazing heat and pounding rain to sell newspapers.