By Sister Marilyn Lacey | Executive Director
This quarter Mercy Beyond Borders enrolled 60 refugee women from South Sudan into our Micro-Enterprise program in the UN camps along the Uganda/South Sudan border . They have formed 4 groups of 15 women each and are now demonstrating their cohesion and commitment to the program by contributing monthly savings into their group's common fund. As each new member qualifies for her $200 loan, she launches her business.
What a difference that bit of capital makes in her life and the lives of her dependents (many of the refugee women are caring for dependents (orphaned or elderly) above and beyond their own children. No bank would ever give a loan to such women who are nonliterate, have no business experience, and lack collateral. But thanks to YOU, Mercy Beyond Borders does!
Despite the restrictions imposed by COVID, the women have already started businesses such as hair-weaving, baking, wholesale to retail roadside kiosks, money-lending, and soap-making.
In this photo, refugee mom GJ shares that she is proud to be an entrepreneur She used her loan to purchase large bowls and cooking pots, utensils, flour, oil and salt, She and her children bake fresh biscuits every morning and sell them in the open marketplace. Gune smiles broadly as she explains, "Now, with my profit, I can purchase better food for my children and they can study well in school.. Befiore, with the UN rations only, we were always hungry. "
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By Sr. Marilyn Lacey, RSM | Executive Director
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