2009 – Peru – Ebernezer Group (Kiva)

In this Group: Carmen, Nelly , Evelyn, Elisea , Luzel , Rosa , Adrian , Luis Rafael, Ruth Gladys , Carmelo

Ever since he was young, Mr. Adrian has been dedicated to making and selling crafts like woodwind instruments. He started this business 15 years ago, and it has brought him the satisfaction of being able to build part of his house and to provide income for the household costs. He is the president of the Alcancía Comunal EBENEZER group, and is a person who inspires respect much like how the rest of the members are responsible people who make punctual payments.

Nelly is the treasurer of the group, and she has a small store that she has been keeping for more than 5 years. This helped with the tuition prices for her children, and now she realizes that while the situation is very difficult, if she wants to make progress she must continue working

The group's secretary is Elena, a woman who is very dedicated to her work. She makes crochet products which she sells in the market, and she also does large orders, but when she doesn't have orders she sells sweets and candies . Even though she gets few sales, she continues to persevere.

The members all have different kinds of businesses so the loan will be for buying products and inputs that allow them to augment the capital that their work earns.

2009 - Peru - Eulalia (Kiva)

 

Eulalia is a member of Communal Bank Obreras. She is 51 years old, lives with her partner and has 7 children.

She has a shop in a rented location where she sells groceries and vegetables. In the afternoon she also sells salchipollos (a dish of French fries with shredded chicken and hot dogs) in the doorway of her shop. She needs a loan of 1000 soles to purchase rice and sugar. Her dreams are to provide a good education to her children and to improve her business.

2009 - Peru - Ebenezer Group (Kiva)

Ever since he was young, Mr. Adrian has been dedicated to making and selling crafts like woodwind instruments. He started this business 15 years ago, and it has brought him the satisfaction of being able to build part of his house and to provide income for the household costs.

He is the president of the Alcancía Comunal EBENEZER group, and is a person who inspires respect much like how the rest of the members are responsible people who make punctual payments.


Nelly is the treasurer of the group, and she has a small store that she has been keeping for more than 5 years. This helped with the tuition prices for her children, and now she realizes that while the situation is very difficult, if she wants to make progress she must continue working.


The group's secretary is Elena, a woman who is very dedicated to her work. She makes crochet products which she sells in the market, and she also does large orders, but when she doesn't have orders she sells sweets and candies . Even though she gets few sales, she continues to persevere.


The members all have different kinds of businesses so the loan will be for buying products and inputs that allow them to augment the capital that their work earns.

2009 - Bolivia - Evelin Medrano (Kiva)

I recently took up providing small loans via Kiva. I received the following update from one of the areas I supplied loans to. It is reproduced below...

Dear Colin,
This is an update on your loan to Evelin Brandy Almanza Medrano in
Bolivia.

Señorita Evelin B. Salazar Medrano is 19 years old. She is a single
woman and lives at the home of her parents. They live in a dairy-farm
zone not very far away from the city.

This morning, I had the opportunity to stop over at Evelin’s home to
see how this loan cycle has been going for her. Unfortunately, Evelin
was away from the house, but her mother Rosario was able to update me on Evelin’s loan.

With the loan from CIDRE, Evelin purchased a new dairy cow and more cattle feed, such as soy husks, for the livestock. The soy is very much needed, because Cochabamba has been suffering from a drought that has caused cattle feed prices to skyrocket. Evelin’s dairy cows have been doing great in their production, and she has had no trouble making her loan repayments in a timely fashion.

The loan has helped Evelin to grow her earnings, which helps as their
dairy cooperative is currently in the process of purchasing a
‘modulo’ (large, metal milk container and preserver). Evelin is
contributing some of her earnings, along with the other cooperative
members, so that they can purchase this tank. The ‘modulo’ will help
all members of the dairy cooperative preserve their milk and maintain a higher quality of milk when selling to the local dairy company, Pil.

2009 - Ethiopia - Kapisho Kalo

June 2009
Dear Friend,
Hello! Thanks to your support of The Next Step-here in Ethiopia, my family and others in our community are now able to take part in community activities and lead a better life. With the help of Solomon Medahne, from ActionAid, I would like to tell you how this is possible.

My name is Kapisho Kalo and I am 42-years-old. I live in Ufa Kabele, a village abput 470Km south of Addis Ababa, with my
wife and children.

There are two groups of people living in our community; The Kaffa people and the Menja people. I am part of the Menja group, and as such, I used to be excluded from society. We were not seen  as equal.

This made life very difficult. I was forced to build our home in the forest, away from the Kaffa community. My children were discriminated against at school. None of the Kaffa children would sit next to them or play with them.

I collected honey from the forest, but I was not able to sell this at an equal price to the Kaffa's at the markets. We were turned down at the health clinics and not served in places to eat.

ActionAid came to our community and started some activities to help us. They met with all the community and educated us on people's rights. The Kaffa group learnt how we are equal to them.
With this training, the attitudes of everyone in the community began to change. We finally started to become one community!

ActionAid also helped us to improve our incomes. ActionAid purchased modern beehives and taught 45 families, including ours, how to keep bees and produce honey. Over the past year I have been able to earn 1,700 birr (£100).

We started a bee-keeping association to assist each other. This association became a way of learning and we were able to expand by growing coffee, spices and cereal crops.

Things are now becoming much better! I have built a proper home near the Kaffa community, and my neighbours have started inviting me to their community meetings. My children are much
happier at school.

I have also been asked to represent the Menja people in meetings with the local government. This will ensure the Menja people will always be included in important decisions.

On top of all this, I was awarded by the Ethiopian State to become a model farmer. This was a great honour. Before, it was unthinkable that a man from the Menja community would receive such an award. This was one of the happiest days of my life!

Thank you so much for supporting ActionAid through The Next Step. Without your help, our people would not be where they are today. You have made such important changes in our lives.

Kind regards
Kapisho Kalo

PS. Along with this letter, I have sent a photograph of myself with our new beehives, and a photo of me with my wife and my medal.

2009 - Malawi - Caroline Uko

May 2009

Dear friend,

My dream of becoming a lawyer could now be a reality, thanks to your support of ActionAid and The Next Step in Malawi.

Two years ago my dreams were shattered when I found out I was HIV positive. But with ActionAid's help my dream has returned.

My name is Caroline Uko. I'm thirteen years old and I live with my elder sister and her family on the outskirts of Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. With the help of Leo Magombo from ActionAid, I'm happy to tell you my story.

I live with my sister because my mother died of malaria when I was seven. I don't know where my father is; he divorced my mother when I was two.

When I was eleven I had a horrible skin rash. Then my eyes started to hurt and I got malaria and diarrhoea. My health was deteriorating rapidly. I went to the local Mission Hospital where I was advised to take an HIV test. I was very scared but I took the test. I was HIV positive. It was at this time that my family realised my mother had been HIV positive and I had caught the virus when she was pregnant with me.

I thought my life was over. But I was encouraged to take antiretroviral drugs and after one month, I started to feel better. I gained a kilogramme in weight and started feeling well enough to go back to school.

But I didn't see the point in going back to school. Surely my journey to become a lawyer was ended. Surely I would die soon! This was when ActionAid arrived in my life and gave me hope.

ActionAid works with a youth group called 'Tin Pamodzi', which means We Are Together. The group offers support and counselling to children like me who are HIV positive. There are 31 of us aged between five and 17. We meet together regularly and with the support of our counsellors we share our experiences and challenges and encourage each other to live our lives fully.

Joining this group turned my life around. Our counsellors and guest speakers give us talks on nutrition, healthy and positive living, first aid, discrimination and fighting stigma. I've learnt about the importance of nutrition to improve my immunity and I've learnt how to make nutritious meals from local foods like Soya and milk.

When we meet we are given a nutritious meal and afterwards we play games like football or netball to keep us physically fit. We are also given two kg of Multivitamin meal every week to boost our immunity.

Recently, we had a brilliant talk about career development and the importance of continuing our education by Mrs Mpinganjira, my favourite counsellor. She restored my hopes and dreams of becoming a renowned lawyer.

I'm now healthy and happy and no longer scared of the future. I'm studying in grade seven at Mvunguti Primary School and hope to pass my exams next year and continue my studies at Mlanda Girl's Secondary School and then University.

I am grateful for your tremendous support of ActionAid and The Next Step. It has changed my life and renewed my dreams. I now have a life to live. Thank you!

Best wishes Caroline Uko

PS. I have sent you two photos of me to show you how healthy and happy I am. I hope you like them.

2009 - Malawi - Margaret Masese

 

Mulibwanji [Greetings] from Malawi. My name is Margaret Masese. I am 47 years old and live with my husband and seven children in Thambani village in the Mwanza district of Malawi. I have been asked by Richard Chimwendo of ActionAid to tell you how your support of The Next Step has changed my life.

My husband owns an acre of land which I used to grow food to feed our family. Each year, I managed to harvest 750kg of maize, which was hardly enough to feed my family for seven months. For the other five months I would travel 20km, over the border into Mozambique, to find work as a daily farm labourer. My wages alone weren't enough, so I was forced to take my three eldest children to work with me. This meant that each year they lost five months of their education.

It was frustrating not being able to produce enough food and having to migrate with my children to find work. But I faced many challenges growing food; not enough land or rainfall, and a lack of seeds and fertilisers. Fertiliser is one of the biggest expenses and is getting more expensive all the time. Four months ago, one bag cost 5,695 Kwacha [£25] but now it costs 10,685 Kwacha [£47].

Other women in this area were facing the same challenges, and one day some of us decided that we needed to work together to overcome our problems. We had heard on the radio about irrigation farming and decided that was what we needed to do. To achieve this we needed to work together on a large plot of land, rather than individually farming small plots. We formed ourselves into a farming group and called ourselves the Namitembo Irrigation Scheme. We started off with 24 members but now we have over 100. We approached the village headman to ask him for a large plot of land to start our scheme. He gave us 10 hectares.

Together we cleared the land ready for planting and dug channels to allow water to flow from the hills 1km away. This would be our irrigation system. Without wasting any time, I started preparing my share of the land, two acres, and planted maize and vegetables. In that first year, I managed to harvest 1,350kg of maize, almost double my previous yields. However, this was mainly due to having more land. I still faced challenges with water and fertiliser. Although we had channelled water down from the hills, I still had to carry it from the channels to my crops, which was time consuming. I also still had the problem of the ever increasing cost of fertiliser.

At this time, ActionAid started working in our area and were impressed with our efforts to increase food production. They offered to help us overcome our challenges. They provided pipes, cement and a pump to allow water to be pumped to the whole plot of land. They also provided fertiliser. I received four bags, which was a great help to me. To reduce our reliance on fertilisers and to reduce our farming costs they taught us how to make manure from natural waste.

Their help made a huge difference. My next harvest was 2,500kg of maize. I kept 1,500kg to feed my family, which I managed to do for the whole year. The rest I was able to sell to buy clothes for my children, school fees for my two children at secondary school and other food items and household necessities. I have even managed to install a solar panel system on my house. We now have electricity, which means my children can do their homework even when it's dark.

It is your support of ActionAid and The Next Step that has enabled women like me to feed their families all year round. Thanks to you I no longer have to migrate to find work or stop my children from going to school.

Warm regards Margaret Masese

 

PS. I have sent you two photos. One is of me helping to lay irrigation pipes, and the other is of me tending my crops. I hope you like them.

2009 - Ethiopia - Tarikua Gebrewold

April 2009 Dear Friend,

Hello, my name is Tarikua Gebrewold. I am 18, and was born and. brought up in Kebele 17 of Nazareth town, about 100km from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tsega Assefa from ActionAid has helped me to write this letter to you today, I hear you are a supporter of The Next Step, so I would love to tell you how you have helped me, my family and so many others.

My family didn't have a permanent source of income. My mother, Ehite, is our bread winner as our father is not with us anymore. She spent most of her life in the market; selling food items at a vending stall, overburdened^-to sustain the life of her six children including me. She used to have to borrow coins from different people to buy bread. We were leading a life of abject poverty confined in a small room depending on an uncertain income.

Some ten years ago, ActionAid and its partner, Vision Organisation for Community Development, started a project in Nazareth to help poor and vulnerable people. Kebele 17 was among the five project areas in the town. A non formal education school was set up in 1997 to provide basic education for those who did not get the opportunity to go to school, and I was one of these people! I never thought I would have the opportunity to go to school; my mother is too poor to provide basic necessities let alone education.

Unlike the formal education system, these schools are flexible; which meant I could go to class but also, help my mother at market. I was provided with text books and stationary materials, and staff from ActionAid were always supervising and encouraging all the children in the school.

I attended the school for three years, and then because of my outstanding performance I joined grade five in a formal primary school. This was the happiest moment of my life. One of the things that made me happy and encouraged me to keep up the hard work was the admiration and respect I got from people in my neighbourhood.

With support from ActionAid I am currently in the second year of 'vocational school studying to be an electrician. I use to be afraid of getting a shock whenever I touched an electric switch, but now I've developed skills and people in my neighbourhood call me to fix switches. I have reached a level I have never dreamt of reaching. After finishing my training, I am confident that I.will generate an income with the skills I have acquired to help my mum.

My brother, Sisay is 25 and he has also been involved in ActionAid's good work. He took part in a one year catering course and is now working in Adama Ras hotel here in Nazareth.

My mother has also improved her income thanks to ActionAid. She is a member of a saving and credit group which is part of a union.. The union owns a two storey shopping mall which is rented out..The money my mum is earning from the market, and the share she gets from rent of the mall means she can buy household goods and also feed all of her children. Soon we will move into a better house.

Without your support of The Next Step all of this is unthinkable. I am now looking forward to a bright future. Thank you for making such important changes in our lives.

Regards,

Tarikua Gebrewold

P. S. Along with this letter, I have included photographs of myself and my mother, Ehite and my brother Sisay.