“Click-click-click-click-click” goes Mariamu’s sewing machine. “Life here is not easy,” she explains. “You need to hustle. You need to struggle yourself to make life livable.”
A mother of three in rural Tanzania, Mariamu’s life was once defined by constant struggle. Owning a small tailoring business, she and her husband could barely afford the cost of food for her family. It was ironic that some years she couldn’t even afford proper clothes for her children!
But thanks to donors like you, one day, Mariamu was given the opportunity to join a Village Savings and Loans (VSL) group. What she learned at the group was transformative. “I learned from the experience of other members on how to manage living,” she says. Through the group, she not only gained financial skills, but business and household skills too. With these skills, she slowly began slowly began lifting her family out of poverty.
After one year in the group, she had saved enough to buy two acres of land. In the second year, she was able to build a separate two-room building for her business. “I started with one sewing machine. I later bought a second one and then a third special one which can make different designs […] I have also used some money from the group to buy five pigs.”
The new structure meant that customers no longer had to go into her living room. Not only that, but the second room was built with the aim of training students. Mariamu now has 3 trainees. Within just 3 years her life has completely changed!
“We are living very comfortably compared to before,” she explains. Her children are now able to buy new clothes and attend school without worry—and she is far from the only one. Thanks to donors like you, thousands of women have been able to lift their families out of poverty and see a future of hope.
