Salufa, Marianne and Sifa live in a country where as women they have little chance to develop themselves. They have all seized the opportunity to try to do that. All three women are part of a savings and loan group in the vast, often inaccessible rural areas around Mongomba, Democratic Republic of Congo. The aim of the groups, according to these women? To be able to provide for themselves.
“It may be that you now eat with a spoon, but never forget that you once ate with your hands”: this is wisdom, hidden in the name of a savings and loan group in DR Congo, translated from Swahili. It means something like: do not forget where you come from. Do not forget where your roots are. There are around 130 of these savings and loan groups in the regions Mongomba and Kasongo, founded with the primary purpose of increasing the ability to provide a livelihood, to improve the economic freedom of participants. An average savings and loan group consists for 95% of women. Once a week they gather to save a small amount of their money, but also to discuss mutual problems and to share experiences on domestic and sexual violence with which a lot of these women have to cope.
Union gives hope
The names of the savings groups are not chosen at random: Nehema (Gracious) and Umojawa Matunami (Union gives hope), speak of the desire for a better future for women in this country that ranks high on the list of most women-unfriendly countries in the world. And that has for many years also suffered from violent conflicts and the associated uncertainty. In DRC peace is always relative.
Arthur Molenaar of CARE Netherlands recently visited the Maniema project in the south of Congo. He says: "Most rural communities in this area are far apart, Kasongo is the largest city in the region. The principle of the savings groups is saving an amount; afterwards you can borrow an amount to start an economic activity. The final product is usually sold on the market in Kasongo. "
Salufa, for example, borrowed 5000 francs from the group, with which she purchased the materials to make soap herself. She sold the soap in the market for 11,000 francs. She paid back 5000 francs to the group, plus ten percent interest. The Groups savings grew; Salufa has made a profit of 5,500 francs. Molenaar: “That’s 'only' 5 Euro’s, but we have to remember that an average family in the DRC has to do with less than half a euro per day!"
From nothing to making profit
The different groups undertake a wide variety of activities. These range from the excavation and filling of fish ponds, buying and selling of clothes, to buying private land for growing beans. Aridjah summarizes: "It is from having nothing to making profit, from having no food, to being able to support your family. The wisdom of many women is brought together this way to strengthen our own independence. Women are more and more becoming the heart of the household. “
Another loan type that is set up by the group is funding people who are in crisis. Marianne borrowed an amount of her group, which enabled her to take care of her sick husband. She says: "I had agreed to pay back the loan by working overtime on the farmland that is managed by our group." The fields, funded by the loans group, are a joined responsibility. The profits go directly into the account of the group, so that more projects can be financed. To avoid "fraud”, each group has an Executive Board that must approve every transaction. Each loan is thus signed by the chairman and secretary of the group and the person who borrows a sum.
Step by step
CARE supports the establishment of the group, explains how a savings and credit system works and provides training. There is no loan; the women invest a small amount that enables the group to finance more and more and larger and larger projects. "The groups make women less dependent on their husbands and at the same time offers them a chance to exchange information with each other, they are freed from the isolation in which they are caught," said Arthur Molenaar. One of the group members adds: "We have the knowledge needed to help ourselves, so we do not have to wait for help. Step by step we expel poverty. "