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Saying Yes

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September 6th, 2011 Post date

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The following blog post was written by Timothy Hall, Africa Regional Field Specialist for VisionFund International.

On my final day in Rwanda, I attended a wedding. Weddings in this part of the world are a blend of the traditional and the modern. The celebrations begin in the morning with negotiations between the two families’ representatives to determine the bride’s price–which is expressed in cows. (In this case, the groom’s family ‘purchased’ the bride for 8 cows.) There are dancers, drums, and traditional costumes throughout. This is followed by lunch, and then progresses to a church where the ceremony is much closer to a typical Western wedding–complete with a white gown, attendants, candles, and a priest.

The bride was a young woman who worked for one of VisionFund’s microfinance banks, translating and posting information for World Vision Micro. I assumed the man representing her in the negotiations was her father and I asked a friend if this was the case. “No,” he told me, “I don’t think she has any parents left.”

Tempering the joy at this occasion was the memory, etched in the mind of every Rwandan, of the ferocious killing of the 1994 genocide, during which as many as a million lives were ended. The bride and groom were pre-teens at the time, and it is statistically impossible that there was anyone (aside from myself) at the wedding who did not personally witness a murder or other act of extreme violence.

As easy as it would be to succumb to despair, these two young Rwandans, and many like them, are forging ahead on their own; they do not have the support and advice of parents, and they are starting a family in a place where the life expectancy is 52 for women, and 49 for men, and 60% live below the poverty line.

Yet in spite of these sobering realities, we must recognize the miraculous in the micro, rather than just the macro: a couple who chooses to start a family in a region torn by war and poverty, a family who is able to afford education for their children, or a woman with a sewing machine who can now give a job to one of her neighbors.

Writing during the waning days of World War II, German pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about Christians getting married in time of war:

“It was always very clear to me that a person could take this step as a Christian truly only from within a very strong faith and on the basis of grace. For here in the midst of the final destruction of all things, one desires to build; in the midst of a life lived from hour to hour and from day to day, one desires a future; in the midst of being driven out from the earth, one desires a bit of space; in the midst of widespread misery, one desires some happiness. And the overwhelming thing is that God says yes to this strange longing.”

We take steps like this–marriage, or doing what we can to give to those less fortunate- not because we think they will magically solve the world’s problems, but because God gives us the opportunity to worship him in these ways.

Categorized in: Field Partners, Rwanda, VisionFund

Josephine: From Depression to Life (Part II)

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January 13th, 2011 Post date

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This is Part II of “Josephine: From Depression to Life”

: Now Josephine is the largest food supplier for several public institutions in Rwanda.

Josephine started selling other people’s goods and would earn a commission when she sold them well. She ran that kind of business for two years until she couldn’t get people to give her what to sell. Then, Josephine decided that she was going to start with the little she had earned and sell her personal goods. “I started with 5000frw (approximately USD $9). I bought clothes for children and sold them on retail. It did not make a large profit, but I could get what to buy food and soap for me and my two daughters,” said Josephine.

She went on with the cloth selling business until she was able to cater for all family basic needs. Josephine said that she started interacting with other business people to know which strategies they used to make their businesses boom. That’s when she heard of loans. “They told me that they get loans from banks, but with a guarantee such as house, plot of land or car so that it can be sold off in case they fail to pay. I thought that was not my place because I did not have any of those assets,” disclosed Josephine.

“Later, I heard a friend talk about World Vision’s Microfinance Institution and she said it was not as demanding as these other banks. She said that we needed to get together in a group and then present what we want to do,” revealed Josephine. “It sounded a deal to me and I knew God was yet to answer my prayers,” she added.

Josephine and her colleagues went to a widow’s association and presented their case. The association agreed to stand for them at Vision Finance (World Vision’s Microfinance Institution in Rwanda) so that they could receive loans. Vision Finance explained to them how it works, how they recover money, how much they loan, and also helped them understand how they can use the loans effectively. “They gave us 60,000frw (approx $110) each, I borrowed another 60,000frw from my brother then went to Uganda to buy clothes on wholesale,” explained Josephine. I made 200,000frw (approx $350) as profit from the first round of loan,” affirmed Josephine.

She said that she went back for another round of loan, and they gave it to her because she repaid her loan on time. Josephine said that she used some of her profits to buy windows and door frames for a house which she later bought. “My business kept growing that I was able to raise money to buy this very house from the proprietor,” said Josephine. I actually shifted from group loans to individual loans; they gave me a loan of 1.5million frw ($2000). I really wanted to enter new heights in business, and I surely did,” smilingly, she affirmed.

Josephine said that she gives credit to Vision Finance who apart from giving loans, also taught her how to save and to be faithful. She said that because she had saved a lot of money she now had enough capital to move to another business of her dream. She started supplying food to higher institutions of learning. Josephine is the biggest supplier of food to the National University of Rwanda (NUR), Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), and Kigali Health Institute (KHI). She also supplies to other public institutions on order.

When we visited her business site at KIST, we found her off-loading a truck of bananas for the school. She said that she had a day before taken food to the National University of Rwanda.

How do you feel at this level? “I never imagined I would be here, I am so thankful to God and to Vision Finance. I am so excited,” Josephine responded. She said that she now earns 1.5million frw as profit a month.

“My life has not only changed in terms of being able to take care of physical needs, but I am also a happy woman, satisfied, and spreading the good news that Vision Finance can be a long lasting solution to poverty alleviation. I now pay school fees for my eldest daughter at University. My youngest is in high school on my sponsorship too. I have other orphans in my house that I take care of too. I have renovated this house; see how it is all shinning.”

Josephine added that she has helped many women who were depressed by explaining to them that a small loan from Vision Finance plus believing in God can totally transform someone’s life. Households in her neighborhood are proud of her efforts. We found one of her neighbors at a small juncture as we were going back and I asked if she could tell us about Josephine in three phrases. “Josephine’s story is a challenge to all of us in this community. She has a compassionate heart for fellow women who are still poor. She a hard working mother,” affirmed Rose, a mother of 4 children in Josephine’s community.

During our phone interview with Josephine’s eldest daughter, Judith, she confirmed that she was proud of her mother. “We certainly have gone through a lot with our mother, but I have never seen a resilient woman like her. She is such a strong and focused mother. Without her, we wouldn’t be in school,” said Judith who was at school during our visit.

Josephine says she gives all credit to Vision Finance. “Many microfinance institutions give loans, but there is something unique about Vision Finance; they give you money, they teach how to effectively use it, and they pray for your work. It is such a wonderful blessing,” disclosed Josephine. Among the women she helped is her neighbor who has managed to build her own house too.

Josephine says that her desire is to see all poor Rwandans get out of poverty and live a happy life. She says that she still wants to go higher in business. “I now want to go further to bigger markets in some of those western countries and China. I also want to buy my own vehicles to help my business affairs,” stated Josephine.

Categorized in: Entrepreneurs, Rwanda, Success Stories

Josephine: From Depression to Life (Part I)

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January 10th, 2011 Post date

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Meet Josephine from Rwanda and be encouraged by yet another inspirational microfinance Success Story!

Josephine Gahongayire became a refugee when she was just 3 years old.

Soft-spoken, Josephine Gahongayire, 51, was born in Bugesera, eastern Rwanda. She became a refugee when she was just 3 years old. Many Rwandans, mostly Tutsi, fled to neighboring countries in 1959 when they were being hunted down to death by a Hutu extremist regime. “We fled to Uganda via Congo; it was a long and terrible experience. My father separated with my mother as we were running. Since then, we never saw him again,” said Josephine.

“Uganda was a new and foreign experience altogether. My mother struggled so much to raise 5 children on just street vending. She really fought to see us survive and go to school,” recounted Josephine.

As Josephine recounts her past, tears roll on her cheeks. “You will excuse me, I never get to hold my tears whenever I talk about my life experience,” said Josephine as she sighs.

“While in Uganda, I later got married to a man whom we had fled together, life seemed to be getting a little bit better then. He was a hard working man, and he loved me and our children,” narrates Josephine.

Josephine said that she could always pray to God that she would find enough finances to help her mother and her siblings as she was the eldest. “I never got a chance to go beyond form 2 in high school, but I so wished I could help my young sisters and brother to have a better future through education, unfortunately I couldn’t,” said Josephine

In 1990, Rwandans who had fled to Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Congo organized an army to overthrow a genocidal regime in Rwanda. “My husband told me that he wanted to be part of the liberation struggle, he therefore joined the army and left,” said Josephine. He would always send us messages that he is fine, but things were never easy for me,” she added.

Josephine said that she was so broken by the sudden death of her two daughters, and she had to go through it alone. “My other two daughters and I had to pull ourselves together and fight on, it was so difficult,” stated Josephine

Before she could establish herself well from that loss, she got news from Rwanda that her husband had been shot dead in the struggle. “It sounded like drama at first, I couldn’t believe it. But after hours I felt like collapsing,” recounts Josephine. “I am so thankful to God Almighty that He was very close to me when I didn’t have anyone, anything to lean on at that time. If it wasn’t for God’s grace, I had planned to commit suicide,” she disclosed.

Most Rwandan refugees began returning home in 1995 after the genocide of 1994, that’s when Josephine and her two daughters also decided they would return to Rwanda. “I felt good I was going to my home country, but I was also down in the dumps inside because I didn’t know where to start,” revealed Josephine.

She said that what was bothering her was the education of her daughters even if she didn’t know where they would live and what they would eat.

“I really cared less about food and shelter, what was on my mind was education for Judith my first born and Doreen my second born,” said Josephine. “Life was so hard when we arrived here; we didn’t have where to live and what to eat, just like I had anticipated,” she disclosed. She said that as she was moving around, she saw an empty house in a one bushy place in Kimironko, one of the sectors of capital Kigali. It was demolished during the genocide but not completely torn down. “I went ahead and booked it for a night, and eventually stayed four more days,” said Josephine.

In 1995, after the genocide there were lots of houses whose owners had fled, died or just abandoned, even though most of them were in bad form.

“I felt some kind of relief when no one came to throw me out of that house even though it didn’t have windows, doors and the roof was leaking,” said Josephine.

The government in partnership with UNHCR was providing food and plastic tents to people because it was a time of crisis in the country. Josephine said that she started looking around to see if she could see any survivor in their family and she later found one of her brothers who had survived with his wife and children. “He did not have a job too, but I asked him to help me find schools for my children. My eldest daughter was 10 while the youngest was 5,” said Josephine. “My brother helped me and they eventually started going to school. I then got courage to look around for what I can do to survive,” she said.

This was a turning point.

Part II is coming soon! Stay tuned to see how Josephine rebuilt her life with the help of World Vision.

Categorized in: Field Partners, Rwanda, Success Stories, World Vision