For those living on the vulnerable edge of poverty, just one unforeseen health crisis can set back their progress toward financial stability. The security they’ve worked so hard for can vanish in a moment.
For Cristina Benitez in Paraguay, selling homemade empanadas, sandwiches, and more to her neighbors on weekends was a bustling and effective means of providing for her family. A mother of seven children, she and her husband dreamed of supporting their kids through school so they could secure good jobs. Continue Reading…
![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)