Celebrating Lydia’s progress
Your support has changed Lydia’s & Nelly’s stories
Two years ago, we shared Lydia’s story with you. Providing for her family was a daily struggle. But she used a micro-loan in 2013 to purchase a sewing machine and start a sewing business and things got a little bit better. And after another micro-loan in 2014, she was able to purchase fabrics for re-sale. She became a “one-stop-shop” so her customers could purchase fabric from her and commission her to make their clothes, rather than going to two different places for the services. Lydia was using her profits to feed and clothe her two daughters, and pay school fees for the older girl. She had hopes of expanding her fabric trading business to sell other products as well.
Today, Lydia is making progress toward her dreams. Lydia has expanded her petty trading business, in hopes of increasing income so she can better provide for her daughters – particularly as her older daughter enters her teenage years and junior high and high school fees loom. Nelly, now 4 1/2, started school in Beposo last year, and will enter Kindergarten 2 this fall. Lydia takes great pride in seeing her daughters get an education.
Like other traders, Lydia sets off very early each morning to walk from village to village to sell her products, or to take them to market on market days. She tries to be the first person there so she can get the most customers since there are many other petty traders selling similar products.
Because she sets off so early, Lydia doesn’t have time to prepare breakfast for the girls before school. If she made breakfast each morning, and took the time to fetch water, fetch firewood, boil the water, and prepare the porridge, she would miss out on the sales that put dinner on the table at night.
Lydia shared that Self-Help has been very very good to her, and she really appreciates it. In addition to micro-loans, she is grateful to Self-Help for supporting the start of a new school in Beposo. It is near enough that Nelly can easily walk to it each morning, and thanks to Self-Help, Nelly gets a hot breakfast first thing in the morning, even though Lydia has already left the house. Life as a petty trader isn’t easy, but for her children, it’s worth it.
