Snapshots of Success

 

Economic Empowerment in Ethiopia

Snapshots of Success

There are so many stories to share from our program in Ethiopia.  Here are a few brief snippets of our caregivers successes.

Initially reluctant to participate in the savings group or take a micro loan Dekelech is now using the profit from her vegetable sales to feed her family and allow her school age children to attend school. She is now able to spend more time with her children and was able to leave her demanding job as a day laborer in a flour plant. She now participates in two savings groups and is anxious to receive her 2nd loan so that she can negotiate a better price on the vegetables she buys to sell in the market.

Worknesh has taken two loans. As a result of the loans she has been able to move her family into a better house, is able to provide them with better clothes and to feed them a variety of foods. She is also a member of two savings groups and has been able to save almost $100 USD. This savings is important because the region she lives in has been greatly impacted by the political unrest that has gripped Ethiopia over the last year and this emergency fund has been a lifeline for members of her group.

Tigist used the loan to change her business from brewing a homemade alcohol to selling vegetables. She is using the profit from her business to replace items she lost in a house fire. She is also participating in two savings groups. She plans to buy new furniture like a bed and chair with the profits she generates from the 3rd loan and benefits greatly from the increased cash flow because she saves money several times a month paying in cash instead of buying items at a higher price on credit. She is very happy that her improved business has given her financial independence and has relieved the daily pressure of providing for her children

Debritu, a grandmother, has taken in her disabled grandchild and the trainings and loan have reenergized her life. She used her loan to develop a business selling vegetables and cooking oil. Taking in her grandchild and starting this business has given her a sense of purpose. She is excited to be able to work and provide for her family. She isn’t making as much profit as she could because she sells to some people on credit and they don’t repay her, but she isn’t deterred. “I may be old, I may have some medical problems, but now I will work until the day I die, she told us excitedly.

Alemitu is one of the most successful entrepreneurs we have worked with. She started a jewelry business and has now expanded to making bread as well. She sells her jewelry in bulk to shop owners and is training other women how to make the jewelry as well. She plans to use her 3rd loan to diversify her business again and make kolo, an Ethiopian snack. She has been able to save almost $400 USD since taking the 1st loan.

Alemzewd is an 18 year old child in the program. For 6 months she stopped taking her monthly distribution and instead she used those funds to pay tuition at a sewing school. She has been able to make an impressive variety of items and our local staff member provided her with her own sewing machine as a graduation present.  She has overcome so much and is poised to be self-sufficient now.

Zewdie is another caregiver who has been successful with her businesses. She went some selling charcoal to selling vegetables and spices and even water. She credits the training with improving her business plans and record keeping. She has saved over $350 USD and is looking forward to expanding the volume of her spices when she receives the next loan.

Shitaye has used her two loans to create a diverse business. She sells mobile phone cards and charcoal to generate a profit. With that profit she bought a refrigerator and sells cold milk and soda. Even though she spent almost $400 on the refrigerator she is not done expanding her business. She plans to use the next loan to buy a fryer and hire an employee to cook food with her next loan.

Our next round of loans goes out in May, I can’t wait to add to this list!!

Do you want to be part of this? Consider making a donation to help fund economic empowerment at World Orphans. $30 funds a new loan for a caregiver in Ethiopia. $460 will fund the entire 4 year cycle of loans for a caregiver. $1200 will fund new loans for all 40 women entering the program this year.

Click here to fund micro loans!

***Please scroll down to Select Economic Empowerment Campaign and type Ethiopia Economic Empowerment in Notes on next page****

Want to read the 1st post in this series – Economic Empowerment in Ethiopia?  Click here

Want to read the 2nd post in this series – Cycles of Hope?  Click here

Want to read a success story from last year?  Click here to read Zeritu’s Story

Want to read an overview of World Orphans Economic Empowerment program?  Click here.

 

Cycles of Hope

Cycles of Hope

What happens when a caregiver receives a loan?

This is a summary of what we’ve found. It creates a cycle of hope.

Before a caregiver receives a loan they join the local savings group and they receive financial education and business training. These two components are every bit as important as the loan. By joining the savings group a foundation of financial management is built and the women enters a community who can provide her with assistance as she builds her business and has partners to live life with. The education and training helps her to understand how to separate her business and family finances, it gives her practical knowledge like how to open a bank account, and how to measure business expenses and profits so that she can adjust her business as the market moves.

Once they receive the loan the influx of cash allows the caregiver to start or improve her business. It immediately results in improved profit margins because the caregiver is able to stop buying inventory on credit and thus no longer has to pay merchants any interest. It also allows her to negotiate a better price because she is buying a larger volume of product. In some cases the caregiver is able to diversify their business or to move into a more profitable product. Increased profits allow them to better withstand changing market conditions or emergencies because they aren’t depending on today’s profit for tommorrow’s meal.

An increased income impacts the women in a variety of ways. The extra income allows them to improve the quality, quantity and variety of food they serve their families. It can allow them to make improvements to their home or to move to a better home or a better business location. It can be used to pay for clothes and school fees. An increased income gives them the ability to save for the future in banks or by joining other savings groups. The ability to save allows them to deal with sickness and emergencies and it also allows them to plan and dream about the future.

Believing they have opportunity in front of them we see increased feelings of dignity, hope, confidence and self-determination. Because they are successfully managing their time and money they begin to believe that they can control what happens in their life instead of navigating from one crisis to the next. They have more confidence in themselves because they are successfully running their business and providing for themselves and their families instead of having to wait for someone else to help them. They begin to make plans for their families and what the next step in their business will be and what it will allow them to do.

In many cases these loans allow women to leave jobs as servants or day laborers. These jobs are physically demanding and require the women to spend many hours each day away from home. By running their own business they are able to be at home with their families more often and allows them to care for and involve their children in the business instead of leaving them to care for themselves. They are able to pass the knowledge they are gaining on to their children and are hopeful this will provide their children with a foundation to be successful on their own. The constant stress caused by extreme poverty is relieved and this often has a profound impact on the atmosphere of the home. Husband and wife relationships improve. Relationships with children improve. With the burden of worry lifted from them they are able to love each other and those around them better.

All of these things work together and when the caregiver is ready to receive the next loan she is healthier, happier, better trained and more confident. We can’t wait to see what our caregivers do as they receive that 2nd, 3rd and 4th phase loans!!!

Do you want to be part of this? Consider making a donation to help fund economic empowerment at World Orphans. $30 funds a new loan for a caregiver in Ethiopia. $460 will fund the entire 4 year cycle of loans for a caregiver. $1200 will fund new loans for all 40 women entering the program this year.

Click here to fund micro loans!

***Please scroll down to Select Economic Empowerment Campaign and type Ethiopia Economic Empowerment in Notes on next page****

Want to read the 1st post in this series – Economic Empowerment in Ethiopia?  Click here

Want to read a success story from last year?  Click here to read Zeritu’s Story

Want to read an overview of World Orphans Economic Empowerment program?  Click here.

 

 

Economic Empowerment in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is a city under constant construction. From my first trip in 2011 to my trip last month the city continues to expand and grow. A new rail system allows for mass transit within the city and stretches to the outlying areas. New luxury hotels and a new headquarters for the African Union dot the skyline. New roads are being built all over and the airport is being expanded and updated. It is filled with the signs of progress, but it also is stricken with poverty and abandoned children.  You can find a $40,000 a night hotel suite, but it is also home to thousands of people living on less than $2 a day.  It has one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, but as more and more people come to the city from the rural areas Urban poverty has been exacerbated and the city contains more people that the economy can support.

World Orphans has 9 church partners in Addis and the surrounding communities. These churches serve approximately 160 families through our home based care (HBC) program. The families are supported by the church receiving a monthly distribution of a staple foods, cooking oil, and hygiene products. This support enables mothers and grandmothers to keep their families together and makes it possible for them survive the bumps in the road society’s most vulnerable are constantly enduring.

All of the mother’s in our program are widows – either by death or abandonment they have been left to care for their children on their own. 75% of the women served were not members of the church when they entered the program.   Not all the families are Christians, some of them believe in nothing, others are Muslim.  Many of them were hopeless and alone- contemplating suicide or even attempting to take their own life sometimes precedes entering the program.  They have no one working for them and sometimes they even have people actively working against them.   Some of the stories just take your breath away. On my most recent trip I sat with a family going through an incredibly heartbreaking situation dealing with the death of a caregiver and an attempted land grab at the same time – it was all I could do to not break into tears as I looked into the faces of those children.   This all changes when they enter the HBC program and this article could easily be about the impact that simply being a part of the HBC program has on these women and their families.

How their lives are transformed by the care of the local church…
How the members of the church care for them and love them…
How the members of the groups care for one another in both the ups and downs of life…
How profoundly the tangible assistance provided to them monthly relieves the immense day to day burden of survival they carry…

But that is not what this story is about because of churches and staff in Ethiopia wasn’t satisfied with just helping them survive. They wanted more than that for these women and their children and an economic empowerment program was born in 2015. Each group received business and personal finance training and formed a savings group where they come together to encourage each other to save as much as they can for emergencies or for the long term needs of their families.  After the savings groups were formed micro loans began in 2016.

We’ve developed a 4 cycle micro loan program. The caregivers will receive approximately $30, $60, $125 and $250 loans.  They use to loan to start or improve a business they use to care for their families.   To be eligible for the next loan they must pay back the previous one completely. The goal is that at the end of this 4 year cycle the families will be self-sufficient and not need our assistance anymore. These small loans have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. As I type this we are approaching the end of our 2nd cycle of loans. 20 caregivers have now received two loans, 25 women have received one loan and in May we will make a 3rd set of loans – the first 20 caregivers will receive a 3rd loan, the next 25 will receive their 2nd loan and a new group of 40 women will receive their 1st loan. Several women have been so successful with the loans that they have already voluntarily given up their spot in the HBC program because they no longer need any assistance. Our repayment rates are unbelievable – about 97% of the loans have been repaid fully and the only defaults were due to an advance case of leprosy, death or leaving the program completely.

However, Economic Empowerment isn’t just about numbers and ledgers. It’s about people. It’s about relief. It’s about hope. It’s about opportunity. It’s about dignity. It’s about dreaming. I’m so thankful to have been able to sit with these women twice in the last year and hear their stories. When you look in the faces of these women you can see the harsh realities of life for the poorest of the poor in the developing world, but look closer and you can see joy and you see courage, resilience and determination. The world doesn’t care about these people, but someone does. These women are loved by their creator and his heart breaks over the way his creation has been twisted to create systems where people live in opulence and luxury while others struggle just to survive. We are trying to create new systems – systems where those who have more than enough share just a little to help those who don’t have enough. The dedicated members of our World Orphans Ethiopia staff, the church pastors and the home based care coordinators are training, equipping, and caring for these women and it’s working. They’ve created a community together and within this community these women are being empowered with very small micro loans and the results have been phenomenal. Over the next few weeks I’m going to share some of the individual stories of these women and their experiences with these loans. The results are simply amazing.

These women have turned small loans into life change. They’ve gained hope and confidence and changed the environment in their homes. They are leaving behind brutally demanding jobs as day laborers and striking out of their own. They are sending their kids to school, they are providing more nutritious food to eat, they are purchasing life saving medicines, they are overcoming disasters and surviving lost income due to political unrest. They are caring for each other and dreaming about the future. They are learning lessons from failures and capitalizing on their successes. We are just two cycles into the program and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the families.

Do you want to be part of this? Consider making a donation to help fund economic empowerment at World Orphans. $30 funds a new loan for a caregiver in Ethiopia. $460 will fund the entire 4 year cycle of loans for a caregiver. $1200 will fund new loans for all 40 women entering the program this year.

Click here to fund micro loans!

***Please scroll down to Select Economic Empowerment Campaign and type Ethiopia Economic Empowerment in Notes on next page****

Want to read a success story from last year?  Click here to read Zeritu’s Story

Want to read an overview of World Orphans Economic Empowerment program?  Click here.