11/03/2018
MARGARET RUKWARO MICRO CREDIT SUCCESS STORY-Your Donation to the Saratoga Foundation for Women WorldWide Micro Credit Program Can Launch a Woman’s Life- Donate through PayPal www.saratogafoundation.org
Karibu (welcome): I first met Margaret in 2010 when I started the Micro Credit Program. It was a leap of faith to travel to Kenya alone and through a local contact, meet with soon to become Program Administrator Fredrick Mugo. I interviewed Margaret at the time. She has the poorest of the ten women we met. Very little furniture, few kitchen utensils. I remember her sitting on her old and torn couch with dried mud streaming down her legs. A sad, hopeless composure. After the interview she followed us to other women’s homes where we conducted other interviews. At the end of our meetings she handed me a live chicken through the open car window, which she could not afford.
It took me six months to to raise money for the Micro Credit Program. I had read everything Muhammad Yunus had ever written. He had invented micro credit in 1970s Bangladesh. Margaret received her first loan in January 2011. She used the money to buy a goat to sell the milk. With the proceeds she was able to send her daughter Julia to school. I saw her again in summer 2011 at Mr, Mugo’s home. She was a different woman. She was dressed, I am sure, in second or third hand clothes, but vibrant colors of purple and white. I shall never forget this meeting. As I walked in the the door, she rushed to me, gave me the Kenyan hug, cheek to check on each side and a kiss. Although I did not speak Kikuyu, and she did not speak English, I knew what she was saying.
In 2014, we visited Margaret again. She had purchased four acres of land, was living in a larger home with more furniture. With the proceeds from the first loan, she was able to buy the four acres and cultivate two of them and buy a cow. We gave Margaret a second loan of $350 to buy a water pump to irrigate the entire four acres.
Every year I come to Kenya I visit Margaret. I saw her a few days ago and what i saw was amazing. She has grown vegetables over the entire four acres AND had grown trees which produce tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is found in most perfumes, it’s the bae of the perfume. When the tree matures, a company called Earth Oil Extract Limited-Organic Fair Trace Group comes and cuts down the tree, leaving the base so it continues to sprout. The tree is taken to the factory and the oil is extracted. The company pays by weight. Margaret is paid for the tree tea oil and makes $1000 each year, which is a fortune in Kenya. Her tree production is so successful that the company awarded her two certificates for excellence, in 2016 and 2017. Margaret educates other women how to start a tree tea business.
Margaret grows cabbage, onions ( she pulled one out of the ground to show us), corn, kale, carrots and other vegetables. She also has several cows, calves and two sheep. Margaret’s water pump was not working. I asked her if she needed another loan. She said “yes” and said she would use it to repair the pump and purchase two female goats and one male goat. I handed her 20,000 Kenyan Shillings ($200).
Margaret’s new home is still very poor. She clearly uses the proceeds of the business to buy food, send her children to school, buy medicine and support her business. She is quite prudent. We visited her twice, she is always beaming with a proud smile. And to think, it took six months in the beginning, and a $150 first loan and her hard work and ingenuity to change everything in her life. Everything!
I brought plates, tea cups and spoons for Margaret, as well as clothes for her and her 13 year old daughter Yvonne An added note: when I interview women for micro credit loans, I ask whether they have cats and dogs. Many in Kenya only give their cat/kitten/milk and no water water. I educate them about the importance of feeding them and providing water and that it is required in order to receive a loan. With my personal funds, I bring cat and dog food and show them how to feed them and provide water. It is a slow learning process for people who have little money, but it instills in some the importance of feeding and giving water.
I have never seen the same cat twice, from year to year, when I visit the women. Until I visited Margaret. The tiny adorable orange and white kitten I saw three years ago, was there and healthy, by Kenyan standards. I was amazed. Apparently, everything Margaret does, she does well. I was already impressed by her business acumen and now I was impressed by her care for her cat.
In 2010 when I started teaching people how to care for their cats and dogs, that they have feelings, etc., people laughed. A woman from a US organization criticized me, saying the people do not have enough food to feed themselves. I told her “change happens in a day, and today change starts.” It took all of my courage and conviction, knowing it was right, to continue in this fashion. And to this day, it is part of the micro loan program.
Life here in Kenya, is not easy. Every day is a struggle to survive. Drought, too much rain, can destroy crops. People walk miles everywhere, few have vehicles. School fees are expensive, health care little. And yet, one woman at a time, a simple act of loaning $150 at a time, can, with the right woman, change a family’s life.
Asante Sana (thank you very much);
Lois
