WOMEN SUPPORT

• We establish the system of microfinace to encourage women to make investments and start their own small business to generate income.
• By giving a small loan to individuals, the community helps their members to finance small projects within cycled chain of loans.  

Stella´s husband left one day to look for a job and never returned back. Culturally, she is not allowed to re-marry, so she stays alone with her three children, renting a small muddy house in Bwayi. On days when there is a demand for seasonal workers, she walks 10 km to pack bags with maize. Those days she is lucky to earn 1,5 dollar and buy some food for her family. She hopes to have a small piece of land where she could do her own farming, and consequently sell the harvest. 

Renting half an acre of land around Bwayi for one year costs 100 US$, seeds for one season cost 20 US$. 

Jerudah is a 76 years old grandmother. She lives with two of her grandchildren in a small house. The children are about to start their primary school education, however, due to Jerudah’s financial difficulties and inability to afford to buy their uniforms, they may not be able to enroll. Meanwhile, the small boys work as cow-herders, being paid around 5 cents per day. Despite Jerudah´s age, she works at wealthy farmers´ land where she carries bags loaded with maize for 30 or 40 cents/day. She is grateful to have a job but she would prefer to do fish farming nearby her house which would enable her to feed her children with fish and get additional profit from fish sale. 

The cost for constructing a small fishing pond supplied with tilapia fingerlings built with the help of neighbours would be less than 80 US$. 

Felicita lives with three of her grandchildren. She has no land but she helps at our demonstration garden where she gets some vegetable for her family. If there is an opportunity, she works for 1 dollar per day harvesting maize, weeding or digging. However, this job is never guaranteed. She hopes to open a small street stall where she could sell basic food items such as sugar and salt. The income from the sales would allow her to send her children to school. 

Starting a small business (constructing a stall, buying basic inventory) would cost about 60 US$.  

Rosemary is a widow who takes care of five grandchildren. To be able to feed them and pay their school fees, she does farming. She hopes to have organic seeds so that she can plant more variety of vegetable. In the future, she imagines herself opening a small food stall with fried fish and chips in the local village market street. 

20 $US is a cost of local organic seeds of khunde, suja, pumpkin and murere vegetable for one season. Starting street food stall requires costs of 50 US$. 

Joyce rents a small house of 10m² where she lives with her three children. She depends on seasonal work to buy food, basic household items, and to pay rent as well as school fees for her children. She hopes to have a plot of land where she could farm and thus become less dependent on seasonal jobs. 

For 100 $US Joyce can rent half an acre of land near the village for one year. Seeds of water melon for one season would cost 10$US.  

Mary lives in a small hut with three of her grandchildren. One of them, a 12-year-old girl Bellinda, helps her grandmother by working as a coffee picker for 60 cents/day. In order for Mary to be able to sustain her family throughout the year, she needs a regular income she can rely on. Mary would love to buy a cow that would not only guarantee daily fresh milk for her grandchildren, it would also enable her to get additional income from sale of milk in the community. 

Buying a milk cow costs about 250 US$.