By Phil Donnell | Funding Manager
Thousands of Self-help Group (SHG) members do not have access to clean drinking water in their home before they join their group. Many use a community tap or fetch water from a nearby river. However, once they are a group member, dozens have taken a group loan to enable them to pay to have a water tap put on their property or have bought a water tank. Mam’ Dlaldla and Mam’ Hlophe share their experiences.
Mam’ Dladla, a pensioner, is a member of Masibambisane SHG in Rookdale, outside Bergville, formed by USIZO, a Sinamandla partner in KwaZulu-Natal. She is 80 years old and she cannot stop sharing about how being a member of her group has made a positive impact in her life. One of the major benefits she relates is the comfort and freedom of knowing that she has a source where she can access loans for her urgent needs.
She says: “I am an elderly person living on my own as my children have their own families. This means that even some of the basic household chores are too much for my frail body. One of the tasks I could not perform was fetching water from the communal tap since I did not have a tap in my yard. Therefore, I would always rely on some young men in the community to push a wheelbarrow to fetch water for me. This was at a cost as I had to pay R5 per each 20 litre of water delivered.
I then decided that the solution to my water challenge would be to have a tap in my yard. This is where my ‘SHG bank’ came in; I took a loan of R1,000 from my group and added R550 from my pension. Through that loan I was able to pay someone to put this tap in my yard. I then repaid my loan to my group. This is such a relief as I can now access clean water myself at any time instead of relying on other people to fetch it for me; and I save as I now longer pay someone. I am really grateful to this programme”
Mam’ Hlophe of Nkululeko SHG also formed by USIZO in Maswazini Village near Bergville decided to take out a loan from her SHG and purchased a Jojo water tank so that her household could harvest water during the rainy seasons. She says she is grateful to be a member of her SHG which has afforded her the opportunity to bring such a necessity to her home, where she is now in a position to provide clean drinking water that will improve the quality of life for her seven family members.
In 2013 Sinamandla worked in partnership with 12 NGOs who are implementing the SHG Programme in rural local communities in 5 provinces in South Africa. In total, 12 626 SHG members participated in 844 SHGs. By the end of 2013, these SHGs had accrued own income of around R3,2 million from which 59 148 loans amounting to around R12,5 million had been given out to SHG members. Over 80 000 household members are benefitting from having an SHG member in their family.
Many thanks to all our donors, we appreciate your support. Sinamandla continues to work towards reaching its fundraising targets on GlobalGiving so please consider making a new donation in 2014 in order to help Sinamandla promote the SHG project and welcome in thousands more vulnerable women in poor communities to new SHGS in the months ahead.
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