Um Saleh lost her husband five years ago. She has replaced her husband as the bread winner in the five-member household – three females, the oldest of whom is 12 years old, and a six-year old boy.

The situation has forced Um Saleh, 40, to be both the mother and father for her children. She struggles to provide for her children relying on livestock and horticulture she inherited from her husband.

Hardship

Um Saleh described her family situation as challenging. Agriculture in al-Muheed areas – Mahweet governorate- is still primitive and rely on rainwater. She grows millet, barely and sorghum in the infertile  terraces on the mountain. The production is so small, it barely covers the cost of buying wheat for six months. Um Saleh has been forced to work in livestock to supplement the needs of her family – even if that meant that her daughters are deprived from school to Sheppard the sheep and goats.

Work Opportunities for Women

PWP's intervention in the area has been in the paving of al-Muheed road within the YECRP. Um Saleh and other women like her have found a life-saver in the subproject. The subproject created daily work for them for several weeks at a reasonable daily wage.

Um Saleh said: "I have worked with a number of women in the area in crushing and transporting crushed stones. We have earned a reasonable income from doing that. The money we made was spent in buying wheat, oil and sugar and other necessary goods".

Um Saleh has praised the initiative by PWP in hiring women labor. People are struggling in these harsh times and are in dire need for any income to support their families.