Akook is forty years old and a mother of eight children. Abandoned by her husband, Akook was the only breadwinner in her family and struggled to provide food, medical care, clothing, and education for her children. Life was hard in her remote village in South Sudan.
Micro-savings and Loans Stimulate Business
After attending business training and joining a savings group, Akook received her first loan of $7.50. It was enough for her to start a new business growing and selling a variety of vegetables as well as planting tobacco in the field next to her house. Akook cultivated her new crops and began to harvest and sell at a market in a neighboring village.
Through her farming business, Akook now earns 2,800 South Sudanese Pounds each week (about $35). She has been able to employ two women from her village as well as her elder daughter to help in farming and in selling in the villages.
With her profits, Akook purchased a goat for her children and has sent two of her sons and one of her daughters to school. She has also been able to provide healthier meals for her children.
“The [savings group] is my life”, Akook says smiling. “My husband has come back and now he lives with me. I am happy.”
How Savings Groups Work
Five Talents’ Country Coordinator, John Chol, explains the power of community savings in the villages like Akook’s:
“When a savings group is established in the community, a group of 10 to 20 members who trust themselves come together to [save]. They put their savings as agreed in the meeting and benefit from the loans within a short period of time. Financial assets are easily created in the remote areas through the program. As trainings on business skills and spiritual transformation are conducted during meetings, community members begin to realize their potential and how to develop their local economy at the grassroots level.
This is a very important program as it inculcates the culture of savings among the community members, and better coexistence is promoted in the community as leadership skills and conflict resolution are among the topics discussed during meetings by the group members, hence free trading for local products is developed.”