More stories from the Women of New Destiny, as they build a future for their families.
Therese’s Goats
Therese has been a member of New Destiny Women’s Cooperative for many years. Injured during the 1994 Genocide, her eyesight is poor. She has four children who she wishes she could send to school. She used a loan from New Destiny to purchase several goats, in hopes of raising them to breed and sell for meat.
Didasiana’s Sheep
African sheep investment by Didasiana.
Didasiana is a young woman with two children aged 10 and 3, and another is on the way. Her husband left only a short time ago, leaving her to make it alone. She also cares for her mother and younger brother. With a loan from New Destiny Women’s Cooperative she purchased an African sheep. Not as common as goats in Rwanda, the meat brings a higher price at market. This should easily pay back her loan and allow her to reinvest in more livestock.
Beatrice explains her farming plans.
Beatrice: Vision for Growth
Beatrice, a member of the New Destiny Cooperative, dreams of a better life for her children. With a loan of $50, Uwanyirigina Beatrice purchased potatoes, avocados, and plantains in the village. She carried them to market and sold them for a profit.
With those funds she bought beans to plant on a small plot near her house. She grew a crop of beans in a few months and sold them at the market – for an even bigger profit than the vegetable resale. Then she took the profit from the beans and purchased seeds for sorghum and cassava. The plants are half-grown now. Beatrice hopes that each step will yield a larger profit than the last.
Most of her profits are going now to repay her loan and invest in her next step of income generating. She used some of her profits to purchase a goat, rabbits, and guinea pigs. They are all producing well. When the loan is repaid, and her earning is more secure, she looks forward to being able to feed her family and pay for school for her children. She never believed she could reach a place where the basics of life would not be a struggle. But now she expresses hope that she can have stability.
Marie Jose and Joseph with their goats and plantains.
Marie Jose’s Plantains
Marie Jose and Uwamahoro Joseph have 5 children, aged 2 to 13. They do their best to make ends meet, but it’s never easy. They haven’t been able to afford school for their kids, and sometimes they go without food.
Through her membership with New Destiny Women’s Cooperative, Marie Jose sought and received a micro-loan. She purchased a goat to raise for selling at market, and rented a field nearby of plantains. If she cares for them well, they will be a high profit crop in the market. She says income generation will go slowly, with investing in long-term returns like livestock and crops, but she believes in the long run it is the most secure way. Marie Jose’s biggest hope is that she can afford schooling for her children.