Women's Self-Help Group Grabs Their Future by the Horns!
Women's Self-Help Groups have genuinely made a positive impact on the lives of many women in the communities we serve. Recently, we shared Etanish's story and how her group supported her when her husband needed emergency medical care. During our visit this past February, we met another Women's Self-Help Group, and a woman named Itagu shared her story with us.
Itagu shares how joinining her local women’s self-help group changed her life.
Itagu, a soft-spoken single mother of three daughters, shared her story about the life-changing support she received from her Women's Self-Help Group. Itagu struggled to support her family on her income. She learned about her local woman's group, joined, and the women in her group immediately stepped up to help her, gifting her money to supplement her small income. With that money, she purchased food for herself and her daughters. The group also decided to pay for her daughters' school expenses and helped her secure a home for her and her daughters to live comfortably. As Itagu spoke, her gratitude was palpable- despair was now replaced with a sense of hope and possibility for herself and her three daughters.
Itagu's well-organized group of twenty members was established five years ago. The group meets weekly and is a beacon of support and strength to members.
Itagu and 15 members of her Women's Self-Help Group show off two of their beautiful cows
To date, some of Itagu's group's accomplishments include:
Purchasing and rearing 11 goats for members a year ago and then selling them to buy four cows.
Support several members to start small businesses growing and selling ginger, a highly valued cash crop.
The group has two active savings accounts that members contribute to weekly.
14 women have taken loans from the group savings to build better homes for their families
This group supports two orphaned children in the community by purchasing school supplies and clothing.
Itagu's group, like many other women's groups, is a lifeline to some of the most vulnerable women in the communities we serve. Over the next three years, we will create 20 new groups each year, support established groups, and strengthen the larger association of women's groups.