Children are the first to suffer at the hands of poverty and Mucojo in Mozambique is amongst the poorest areas you’ll find on the planet. A 17-year long civil war cut off this remote part of Mozambique from its capital Maputo, leaving forgotten tribes fighting for survival.
One in three children do not reach their 5th birthday and food shortages threaten the lives of thousands across the area. Life expectancy is under 38 years and children are far more valuable to use as labour, than to send to school.
The people of Mucojo are accustomed to suffering from a standard of living which is incomprehensible to an outsider. Global Angels is working to help alleviate suffering and transform the community. The Mucojo project was previously known as Nema, which is a local word which means ‘deep joy when suffering ends.’
The project uses a holistic, community-lead approach in its health, education, enterprise and environmental projects to relieve poverty and empower local communities in a sustainable way. The local communities are considered partners rather than beneficiaries, and help to choose, run and plan the projects themselves. Projects are designed to avoid dependence and encourage sustainability, so that the locals can fund them entirely themselves after a few years of support and guidance.
The project’s holistic approach now reaches out to a total of 12 villages within Mozambique, totalling some 24,000 people. The projects cover all of the United Nation’s millennium goals and more, building strong foundations for the sustainable development of each of the villages. The projects are run by local community members and each project has significantly contributed to life in the villages.
