Once peace came to Angola in 2002, USAID began reaching out to the people living in areas previously controlled by guerilla forces. One such family is Solomay Epouca and her eight children. After living in poverty for forty-three years, surviving civil war for twenty-seven years, and raising eight children for two decades in the former rebel stronghold of Huambo, Solomay Epouca has hope for a better future. She is one of the fortunate few who has not lost an immediate family member.

Sitting on a pile of bean husks, with her three-year-old daughter on her lap, Solomay says, “Things are a better now. If we can have two successful harvests, I will be able to sell some food and buy some clothes. All we need is a little extra food and seeds so we can become strong and self-sufficient.” Through the USAID-funded program, Solomay and her family have received over 300 pounds of corn, beans, and vegetable oil.

Over 58,000 families in Huambo have benefited from USAID’s program which encourages displaced people to move back to their home villages, where assistance awaits them, and self-reliance is rapidly promoted. When asked about the difference humanitarian assistance makes in her life and how it has provided hope for the future, Solomay simply says, “I don’t have to think about what I will feed my children. Instead, I can think about my children going to school and learning things I don’t know.”