Story: Giving a helping hand

This is the final story that went in a publication. As you can see I've only used some parts of the story. I began the story with what I thought was the strongest pull for the audience who will be reading it - that Sara has lost her parents and had to look after the siblings at the age of 18. In the next paragraph I set the context - where is the story taking place? And why is the story being told. When you look at an interview - what's the most interesting or surprising or shocking thing about it? That is what you should start with as you need to keep the audience interested.


When Sara’s mother died two years ago, Sara was the only person left to look after her six younger brothers and sisters.

Only 18 herself, and with a baby of her own to look after – Sara has a lot of responsibility. But this is not uncommon in Massingir in southern Mozambique, where HIV rates are high and many children are left to fend for themselves.

““My mother died because of AIDS in 2005 and my father died in South Africa seven years ago” explained Sara. “We think he died of AIDS as well. I took care of my mother for three months until she died. She was very sick”.

“We hope to eat three times a day,” said Sara. “But when we are short of food we only eat lunch and dinner. We eat porridge every day; sometimes we eat beans as well. If we have money for a special occasion then we buy fish.”

Sara receives food parcels and help from CAFOD’s partner, CEDES which is working with families in the area providing them with food and school materials.

“It is hard to look after so many children, but the project has helped us eat,” explains Sara. “We’ve been given maize meal, beans, sugar, oil and soap.”

Alda, a volunteer for CEDES, visits the children twice a week. She helps Sara cook and clean and offers the children emotional support.

“These children lost their parents at an early age, so they have no role models,” said Alda. “I show them how to take care of each other, and ask them how they are feeling and I encourage them to talk to me about any problems they have.

“I would like to thank CAFOD supporters for their kindness. Without your support, I could not do my work and the children I help would be left to survive on their own. Please continue to help us.”

When you write a story you should always answer the following questions:
Who is the story about?#
What is the story about?
Where is it?
When is it (in most cases in CAFOD's work we assume the story is happening now - however, you will see below that there are still some references to time - when her parents died, how long she has been looking after her siblings).
Why are you telling the story?

These elements above are important aspects of any story you tell. If you are writing a news story for a newspaper then the first 4 should be answered in the first paragraph. However, with feature writing (which is what we mainly do here) - you can take a bit longer - but its still important to answer this questions near the top of the story. The why normally, but not always, comes last.