Day 4 -Back to Batima

Written by: Heidi Kittredge

Where Do I Start?

We visited with the preschoolers at Batima Child Hope Center and shared, “Can Jesus Really Hear My Prayers?”

We learned that only 7 of the 20 children have sponsors. The Center cannot afford to feed the children lunch every day until all 20 children are sponsored. These children only receive one meal a day.

We then visited with the tailor cooperative group. This group also received a savings bonus. Today we witnessed our partner and leader of Africa Hope Initiatives, Bishop Theophile’s oversight over the savings bonus as well as teaching the women to become a stronger cooperative group.

The tailor cooperative is a bit different than other cooperative groups. They share responsibilities and as such any bonus monies benefit the cooperative as a whole.

It may take a month or more to earn income as income is not received until a clothing order is complete. Other cooperatives that sell fruits, vegetables or second hand clothes receive income daily.

The tailor group used the savings bonus to start small individual businesses to supplement their personal savings.

Although each one of the women increased their personal savings and the cooperative group as a whole increased its savings, the women were asked to think about how they can work together as a group to strengthen the “tailor”cooperative as a whole. See, if several women in the group do well individually but others do not then they could potentially fail as a tailor cooperative group.

These women are extremely talented and learn from each other. They were receptive to the guidance they received and agreed that will be the new path going forward.

Tailor Cooperative Group

Thresie made my beautiful dress!

Finally, we had an opportunity to visit one of the small businesses from yesterday’s small business group. Sylvie was jobless last year. The savings bonus allowed her to share space with another small business owner and sell homemade doughnuts.

Thank you Sylive for the delicious doughnuts!

The resiliency of these women inspires me to continue my efforts to share their stories and grow Africa Women’s Hope Initiatives.