By Gretchen H. Lange | Director of Development
For years, Mr. Poopalapillai struggled to support his family and CERI foster child as a fisherman. Mrs. Kirupamani dreamed that if she could only be self-employed, she might help ease the burden off her husband’s shoulders. And so she enrolled in Children’s Emergency Relief International’s (CERI) Microfinance Program. This allowed her to obtain a small business loan of LKR 10,000.00 (Sri Lankan Rupees), equivalent to approximately $75 USD. With these funds, Mrs. Kirupamani was able to help her husband purchase fishing equipment. After settling the loan promptly and within the specified time period, Mrs. Kirupamani obtained another loan of LKR 15,000.00 (approx. $113 USD) to start a poultry farm.
The venture was so successful, the proceeds managed to cover all of the family’s expenses, including the children’s school costs and the family’s tithes. Mrs. Kirupamani even had funds left over for savings. On occasion she even earns enough money to provide a meal to the children in her village church Sunday school class. The women of the village tell Mrs. Kirupamani how grateful they are to CERI for their involvement in her success. Mrs. Kirupamani’s family used to depend on others even for the smallest expenses, but now the family has delicious food, the perfect home, and Mrs. Kirupamani is able to afford all of her children’s education expenses. She believes the sky is the limit! Mrs. Kirupamani remembers a saying of her mother’s: Victors are really just failures who refuse to give up. “I will never give up. Jesus has blessed me! Presently I have 32 hens, 47 goats, and two cows.”
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