With permission from Lucy (a World Vision sponsored child) and her family, here is Lucy's story.

Lucy lives with her mother, father, three brothers (aged 22, 18 and 14) and her younger sister (aged 7). The family has lived in poverty for years. Her father became seriously ill four years ago and suffered a stroke. Since then he has been unable to farm and the family's situation has worsened. Before the father's stroke, the family had a large number of crops surrounding the house where they live. They farmed the land and were able to provide some food for the family to eat throughout the year, although there was always some shortage due to drought and sporadic rains. In some years they grew crops of rice, early and late millet, and groundnuts, which the father tended to. On some occasions some of the crops were sold to be able to raise money for schooling, and also to buy some animals to rear.

Lucy's father was seemingly healthy and well, until he had the stroke four years ago. Since then he has been unable to walk without an aid, and does not have feeling in some of his limbs. The elder son had to stop attending school (from Primary 3 level) in order to tend to the crops and farm the land. Since then he has not been able to return to school as the farming demands are too high. The family now has fewer crops than before, less food to eat on a daily basis, and no more goats, only a few piglets and some fowl. Recently a neighbour lent the family two bullocks to help plough the land. These bullocks are currently being kept by the family in their home.

The family eats only two small meals per day, and are unable to make any small amounts money like they were able to previously. One of Lucy's other brothers recently stopped attending an Action Aid Shepherd School because it came to a close. He was too embarrassed to join the local Primary School as he is much older than many of the children there. All the boys in the family help with the farming, whilst Lucy and her younger sister help her mother with the cleaning and house chores. Lucy is currently in Primary 2 and enjoys school, although sustaining her studies is a challenge. She says "because my father is sick and not farming again, he doesn't get the money to buy the books".

Lucy's family share a house that is falling apart. Many of the walls have crumbled and now there are shells where rooms used to be. The roofs leak and so when it rains they are unable to sleep. They have no money to make any repairs to the house and thus suffer during the rainy season. The father explained that he is unable to access the treatment that he requires for his condition and the mother also sometimes suffers from ill-health.

Lucy appears as poor; she has threadbare clothes which she shares with her female sibling, and no sandals to wear to school. She said she often suffers from stomach pains and headaches. Recently she had malaria, but the family did not have the funds to renew her health insurance card and thus they were unable to take her to the hospital.

Lucy tells her story:

"When I wake up, I wash my face, sweep the yard, fetch water, bath and go to school. If there is food in the morning I will eat before I go. At school I like learning, I enjoy every class lesson that we have. At break-times I play with my friends on the seesaws and I play Ampe [clapping game] with my friends. Am best at maths and get my best marks in that subject. After school I fetch water and wash the bowls, I sweep the yard and if my mother is cooking I help her. I want to learn but there are no lights at the house. Sometimes we run to the nearby school that is being built where there are some solar-powered lights so that we can learn. On the days when I don't have school I will go with my mother to the rice farm to help with the farming

Lucy explained that she wants to be a nurse. She says this is because the nurses who treated her when she was sick looked after her well and she wants to do the same for others. It is clear that Lucy's aspirations are lower than they could be, as she has limited knowledge, information or understanding about possible careers. When asked if she could do any job in the world she still said nurse or doctor.

Lucy and her family explained that poverty is the main barrier to Lucy's dream. The family does not have the money to sustain her education. There are also problems with education at the school level, which reflect the levels of poverty in the region. Many schools do not have sufficient classrooms, have limited school desks or mats for children to sit on, the buildings are vulnerable to rain and windstorms. Teacher motivation is low, and attendance of teachers can be a real challenge. The lack of teaching and learning materials and a supportive learning environment (there are often over 80 children per class) also have a negative impact on the learning of children which is reflected in their poor exam results.

There is a water problem in the area, as there is only one working borehole for over 50 houses in the area, which often causes conflict amongst the people. The area is vulnerable to floods, as many farmers, including Lucy's family, grow crops along the banks of the river. They are also at risk of disease; only this year an outbreak of anthrax led to the death of 6 people in the community and a number more needed treatment. Many cattle also died as a result.

Lucy does try hard in class, but she can sometimes be shy, and lacks confidence and self-esteem. She has few role models around her to support and encourage her to reach her dream. He hopes that one day she can achieve her goals and be successful, and support other girls in her situation to overcome the barriers they face and also achieve their dreams.

With love from Ghana,

Emma

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