At the beginning of our informal ceremony many of the women shared their personal experiences of how their lives have been forever changed by the simple gift of literacy:
“I am a widow and when I was illiterate, no one would listen to me. Even my own family would ignore me and try to take advantage of me. Now, no one can cheat me, I know my rights and I can read anything!”
“My own children respect me now, they know how hard I have worked. Now they understand why their own education is so important.”
These comments are indicative of the very positive and determined attitudes of all of the women in this group now. Throughout the course of the education component of the program all members of the group regularly contributed to the savings plan. This lead to the group accumulating 36,000 Nepalese rupees (about AU$580.00) in savings prior to graduation! 20,000 rupees of this amount has been lent back to various members of the group who were eager to start their own small businesses. Motivated by the success and ongoing support of last years’ graduates from the program, the women of Gyaneshwor have been moving forward in leaps and bounds.
As at graduation time, 17 of the women in the group were already working together in small groups to run their own shops in the local area selling items such as fruit, vegetables, prayer offerings, incense, snack foods, tea and hot food. This has been possible through small loans from the group savings program and with the guidance and mentorship of women from the previous groups in the program.
One pair of women are running a small shop next to the local temple and they sell various offerings, incense etc for visitors to the temple. They are now making around 14,000 rupees (about AU$226.00) per month. This is a fourfold increase on what they earned previously working as domestic labourers. The small loan they took from the group to start the business was repaid within just 3 months.
A further 3 women from the group have been so motivated by their studies that they have enrolled in formal school in order to complete their School Leaving Certificate (SLC). This is especially impressive as in most cases they will be studying the same material as their own children. One of these women has already completed class 3 in which she came first, and class 4 in which she came fourth, and she is now in class 5. She was the oldest of four children and so had to work to support her family and could not go to school as a child.
Core to the Daisy Chains program is that the women do not repay their loans to Mitrataa but they pay them forward to the next group of women. This creates a wonderful network and sense of camaraderie for the women. The highlight of the graduation ceremony was the Treasurer of the first graduating group handing over to the Treasurer of the new graduates the repayment of their loan amount of 10,000 rupees (about AU$161.00), each one carefully counting out the notes to a huge applause. The Treasurer from the first group commented that she felt relieved that the loan was repaid and was honoured to be supporting the dreams of the new group.
At the conclusion of the ceremony each member of the graduating class was presented with a small gift from MasterCard. The women were so excited by this and touched that people so far away had been supporting them to reach for their dreams.
The strength of the Gyaneshwor group is founded on the mutual support and respect each of the members share, the mentorship of the women from the previous group, and the strength and determination of the members. As a result, it is likely that the main business of the group will be a small credit co-operative for the members. This means each of the members can pursue their own small business interests whilst still benefiting from the moral, logistical and financial support of the group. This model shows a real maturity of the group and the program as a whole and makes an excellent foundation for the sustainability of the program in this locality. As with the previous year, we already have a waiting list for the next group which will start in June.
How amazing to think that less than a year ago, these 24 women were illiterate and now they have accumulated so much money that they are able to run their own small credit union for their own benefit!
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