Impact of Livelihood Program on Lucy Audu Yerima

Lucy Audu Yerima

Lucy Audu Yerima lives in Pompomari by-pass in Maiduguri. She was displaced from Baga local government to the Maiduguri metropolis by the insurgents. She was married but could not bear children for her husband due to some medical issues, so she adopted 3 children from the orphanage home. She engaged herself in selling knitting and sewing,, which she used to take care of the children without the help of her husband. Coming to Maiduguri from the Baga Local government area, they were received at the TVC camp and stayed for a period of 2 years.

After the closure of the camp, fortunately, a good Samaritan gave them a room. Lucy was finding it challenging to care for the children at that time because she had nothing left. One day, an organization visited their area and heard her story in the community, and they referred her to AUN.

She was enrolled in the UNHCR/AUN Livelihood Program and was trained under the micro business component (Wrapper Selling). After successfully completing the training, she was empowered with a startup capital of 80,000 nairas transferred into her Bank account opened by AUN; she started the business selling wrappers but later diversified to selling beverages, hiring wheelbarrows to people when needed, and selling pepper soup. Below are her achievements and successes:

She bought a plot of land worth three hundred and five thousand naira [305,000]
She bought a fridge at the rate of one hundred and ten thousand naira [110,000]
She purchased two pushes at the rate of forty thousand naira [40,000]
She bought two bags of millet at the price of 20,000 naira which she stored and will be sold later
She bought a wardrobe at the rate of 80,000 naira
She was able to enroll one of her adopted sons in private school, and the fees cost 60,000 naira
She has a savings of 46000 naira as of July

Challenges: