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Success Story
USAID cash donations
help the poorest families
to live through the
winter
Donations Help Poor Survive The Winter
Photo: Mercy Corps Int
Moikhonm Zukurova and her children.
“I want to give my great
gratitude to USAID for the
support. My family will never
forget this,” said Moikhon
Zukurova.
Moikhon Zukurova is a 50-year-old woman who lives with her 75-
year-old husband, their five children, and the disabled 25-year-old
son of her husband in the Rash region of Tajikistan. The family lives
in a small mud house that leaks during each rain and is very drafty.
They have a small household plot where they grow potatoes and
vegetables, but due to lack of irrigation and very high temperatures
during the summer, the harvest is often very poor.
The family lives on pensions the government provides to Zukurova’s
husband and his disabled son. This money is far from being able to
provide for even the minimal needs of the large family. Most of the
money is spent on the treatment and medication for the disabled
son, while the family’s other needs, including the health of the five
younger children, are often not met.
Zukurova’s husband is the caretaker of the village community
center and occasionally, he is able to bring home the leftover food
from community events. Once in a while, their neighbors share
some food with the family. To survive the winter, Zukurova sold the
family’s only cow and bought food and fi rewood. But the money was
not enough to repair their house.
When USAID came to Zukurova’s community offering small
amounts of cash assistance to the most vulnerable households, the
villagers identified her family to be among the poorest.
Zukurova was delighted to hear that USAID was planning to provide
one time cash-assistance to vulnerable households. “Before, I was
thinking that there is no one who can take care of poor families,”
she said. “But, in the meeting I heard that there are some countries
that are able to support the poor people during emergency
situations.”
USAID accepted the village vote, and, upon the receipt of the
supporting documents from the family, provided $250 to Zukurova.
“I want to give my great gratitude to the American people and to
USAID for their support and care of the vulnerable,” said Zukurova.
She planned to use the money to buy food, clothes for her children,
and to pay back the loan she took out to try and patch the leaks in
her house before the winter. “It is a great assistance to my family,
because I’ve never received anything like that from anybody,” said
Zukurova. “My family will never forget this.”
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