By Cecile Rossi | Fundraising volunteer
Women living in conflict-affected areas struggle everyday to support their families. CRC's delivering of micro-finance to women in the DRC has helped many of them build a business, aquire their independence and strive for a life where they don't have to fear the next day.
This is the story of Beatrice. Beatrice is 25 years old. She is from Mamove, a village about 35 km from Mavivi in Eastern DRC.
In Mamove, Beatrice’s family had to struggle every day to survive. Her husband, Mustafa, did not have a job. Beatrice was the breadwinner: she would grow products on her small plot of land, which she would then sell. Her income was not only restricted, but heavily reliant on weather conditions, crops growing, and the market. At best, she would make two dollars to feed herself, her husband and her three children.
She constantly worried about the the next day and whether she'd make enough to survive.
One day, the militia started fighting in her village, Beatrice, her husband, and her three children had no choice but to leave their home and go to the nearest town, Mavivi.
In Mavivi, she heard from her new friends that women gathered in a home to receive help from a local organisation, CRC. She decided to go and see if they could help her.
She received three loans from CRC; one of $150 and the two of $100. With this money, she started making and selling doughnuts. The business did well and soon she opened her own cafe. Now she makes eight dollars per day. She has bought a mobile, new clothes for her children, and is paying for the older two to go to school, which she could not afford before.
Thanks to CRC’s micro-finance project, Beatrice was able to build a business and make enough money to survive.
Beatrice has now got longer term ambitions. She wants to diversify her business and buy land for her husband to work on, and then perhaps buy a motorbike to transport goods to Beni to expand her business.
Thank you for your generous support. It has been essential to Beatrice's success, and helped so many other families survive the conflict in DRC.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
