For the first time in eight years, HOPE International is expanding microfinance operations to include another country: Paraguay! The HOPE network will reach Paraguay through a partnership with Diaconía, a microfinance institution with a mission of empowering those living in poverty.
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HOPE International is thrilled to announce a new partnership with Compassion International to equip their local church partners with savings group programs. Read more in this press release:
Each year, HOPE celebrates clients who demonstrate our values of perseverance, compassion, character, and creativity by announcing the Thurman Award winner. Established in honor of HOPE’s first CEO, the Thurman Award celebrates clients who have not only experienced change in their own lives but have also extended that transformation to others in their community. We’re excited to share the story of Sixbert, this year’s runner up for savings group programs!
Living on just $60 each month, Sixbert Nteziryayo struggled to afford rent and other basic needs for his family. After getting behind and missing several rent payments in a row, Sixbert, his wife, and their seven children were evicted from their home in Rwanda. Needing to provide shelter for his family, Sixbert faced the challenge of finding a new way to generate income. Continue Reading…
HOPE recently released its first children’s book, Keza Paints a Bright Future, written by former field journalism fellow Kenny Burkey, who served with HOPE in Rwanda, and former staff member Jill Heisey, who recently co-authored Rooting for Rivals with HOPE’s president and CEO, Peter Greer, and vice president of development, Chris Horst.
Keza Paints a Bright Future follows a young Rwandan girl, Keza, who loves the brilliant colors she sees in hills and fields around her home. More than anything, Keza dreams of joining the other children at school to learn how to read and write. But she and her family are struggling to make ends meet. There’s simply just not enough money saved to buy the blue school uniform that Keza needs to attend school. Continue Reading…
HOPE Intl
Jun 21 2018
HOPE Intl
Stories we love
Each year, HOPE celebrates clients who demonstrate our values of perseverance, compassion, character, and creativity by announcing the Thurman Award winner. Established in honor of HOPE’s first CEO, the Thurman Award celebrates clients who have not only experienced change in their own lives but have also extended that transformation to others in their community. We’re excited to share the story of Peter, this year’s runner up for microfinance institutions!
After a severe case of measles left him blind at age 8, Peter felt he had limited options for his future. In a culture where blindness is highly stigmatized, many blind people are vulnerable to living as beggars. To support their three children, Peter and his wife, Mukanziza—who also lost her sight due to measles as a child—decided to start a business building rental properties.
Prejudiced by his disability, every bank he and Mukaniza approached for a loan turned them down. And that’s when Peter learned of Urwego Bank, HOPE’s microfinance bank in Rwanda.
HOPE Intl
Jun 11 2018
HOPE Intl
Stories we love
In 2009, a group of women in Kirehe, Rwanda, began meeting together. All of them had lost their husbands, but the reason behind their husbands’ absence couldn’t have been more vastly different. Some had lost their husbands as victims of the Rwandan genocide 15 years earlier; others had husbands serving prison sentences as perpetrators of the genocide’s violence. At a time when great fear and hatred existed between ethnic groups, the women’s act of gathering together across ethnic lines was revolutionary.
When their church introduced the savings group program through HOPE International in 2011, the women decided to start saving together, naming their group Abavandimwe, an affectionate Kinyarwandan term for “siblings.” Continue Reading…
