Cherida George belongs to one of HOPE’s first savings groups in Haiti, “Let Us Get Together.” The wife of a local pastor, Cherida helps support their family of ten by selling rice and corn. Joining a savings group and saving $2.52 each week enabled Cherida to purchase more rice and corn when market prices were lower, enabling her to resell larger quantities when prices were higher. Cherida looks forward to her group’s upcoming second savings cycle. “I am very happy to be a part of the group because the group taught us how to come together and save and support each other,” she says. “When we put our money together, people could have enough to start a business.”
![Before Eveness Mulungu joined the Walusungu (“mercy”) savings group through our church partner in Malawi, she faced days where she and her family ate animal feed because they couldn’t afford human food. But that changed when she joined the savings group. Eveness used her first group loan of about $1.70 (U.S.) to start a business selling doughnuts and beans.
“By the end of my first cycle I made $140 (U.S.),” Eveness shared. “My life is no longer the same now; [I] was regarded as no one in the community. ... This was the first time in my life that I ever touched and owned big money like this!”
Pictured: Eveness, with her husband in front of their piggery—a third successful business that she operates.](https://blog.hopeinternational.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)