In Burundi, World Relief’s Savings for Life™ program empowers the most vulnerable in communities that lack access to even the most basic financial services. Savings helps the world’s poorest, who have shown tremendous capacity and willingness to save, build and protect their financial assets in climates where financial institutions can’t serve them.One of the members, Judith Niyonzima, shares how the program has affected her and her family’s lives:
My name is Judith NIYONZIMA. I am 40 years old and live in Makamba province. I am married and have 6 children. Two of them are in secondary school.
I am currently the president of a village savings and loans association called Tugirumwete to which I joined in April 2011. Before joining the association, we were living in bad conditions. Our house was covered with grass, and our children hardly got school fees. It was also very impossible to get 20,000 BIF [approximately $12 USD] in the house. It was also difficult to have our children treated when sick.
When I joined the group, life became improved. In fact we saved our money, got credit and made a small business. This makes our family happy. If someone (a member) gets a problem, we help him/her with the social fund. We talk together as members of an association and study HIV/AIDS. At the beginning, my husband could not understand because he was not accustomed to seeing a woman supporting the household.
But at the sharing out [of the money], he became very interested and decided himself to join another association of the area. Now, we have built our house covered with iron sheets.
Learn more how Savings for Life™ is impacting women like Judith Niyonzima. Check out the post on Malawi’s Savings for Life™ program by a US Church Partner.