saving for change

It has been a while since I updated on me personally! It has been a joy following and participating in the work of World Vision and reporting to all of you back in the States what is going down here in Gemena.

But there have been some exciting developments in my work, and I see God opening doors left and right.  Three weeks ago, my colleague and friend, Timothy Mambo and I started a training in partnership with World Vision, the Congolese Covenant Church (CEUM) and the Congolese Free Church (CECU) and the Catholic Church to form savings groups that teach women how to save, loan, and payback loans with interest in order to improve the lives and household economies.  It is a 6 week training, and only half way though women are eager to start savings groups, even before we finish the formation! This is really cool to see, because it shows me that we are teaching something that people are eager to learn and put into practice.  And this means when I leave after a year, these groups are likely to continue working and growing and helping women lift themselves out of extreme poverty. 

"Saving for Change" Training session.  Look at those ladies write! 

For those of you interested, here is the run down of what a “Savings Group” is:  15 – 25 women decide to meet weekly and start saving money that they will use to grow their small businesses.  They elect a President, Treasurer, etc., they decide how much they want to save, interest they will pay on loans taken out, and amounts to pay for fines when people are late or miss meetings.  They will decide together how long their loan periods will be and to whom they will offer a loan.  Additionally, these groups will serve as a platform to teach women about health, money management and growing their businesses.  Groups will also commit to social goals in order to improve their communities (ex. commit to use of mosquito nets in their homes, improve water purifying practices, planting moringa trees for improved health, etc.) After a year of saving, all the money is distributed evenly to each member and they start the cycle again.

We chose this program because people don’t have banks yet in Gemena, and teaching women the basic principles of savings and money management before microfinance institutions come to this area is a perfect way to get people ready to handle larger loan amounts if they choose.

Savings groups are planting the seed to an improved future for Gemena, and I am thrilled to be part of a program that has seen so much success in other rural isolated communities across Africa.

So pray for Mambo and I as we train 12 women to start these groups in neighborhoods across Gemena.  And pray for these 12 brave, strong, intelligent and driven women who will be the agents of economic change for so many women this year and in the years to come.