Joyce’s Story: Rebuilding Life after horror

When Joyce James husband and her father were both shot dead the same day during the unrest in Maridi, in Sudan in 2014, she was left to raise three children alone. “That was the end of life for me and my children,” she recalls. For years she struggled to feed them, pay school fees, and keep her small market stall running. Selling whatever foods she could cook, the income was never enough.

In 2017, everything changed. Through a livelihoods project through a CWS funded partner in the region at the time (Maridi Service Agency), Joyce received 25,000 SSP (around NZ$335) and training in small business management. With this support, she shifted from buying single basins of produce to purchasing in bulk—two sacks of groundnuts, five basins of simsim—and even stocking goods for future scarcity to increase her profit.

Today, Joyce stands proudly in the market, her stall full and her children thriving. “I can now comfortably pay school fees, medical bills, and look after my children with the money from my business,” she says.

MSA’s support didn’t just strengthen Joyce’s livelihood—it restored her hope.