Micro loans provide vision

Monday, February 13, 2017
“Micro loans I have taken from Vision Fund the last seven years, have made my life worthwhile and built a bright future for my children,” said
 
Yadashi Bayera (40), a client at Chitu Vision Fund Branch. Yadashi is a single mother who lives with her 4 children in Meti Walga village in south west Ethiopia. Yadashi’s 12 year marriage tragically ended in 2008 when her husband abandoned the young family. Pregnant with her youngest daughter, the bewildered mother took custody of her three children and was forced to become the breadwinner. 
 
“The experience was kind of [like] taking a bull by the horns,” she said. Unable to pay fees to keep her 8 year old son Melaku in school, life became even more difficult after she delivered her baby girl. Her relatives shared some grains with her but only for one season. She lost heart and started to cry, cursing herself and feeling pity. The children were starving and so was she. In order to make ends meet, she sold her farming ox and a cow.
 
The family was close to falling apart when someone told her about Vision Fund. When she had nothing left to sell, she went to Vision Fund, a micro finance institution that works to empower needy women in Wonchi Area Program through long and short term loans. She was given the green light to join a group and started attending training organized by World Vision. Yadashi learned about business management and saving. Yadashi took her first loan for $86 and bought three sheep. She fattened them for six months and then sold them for $164 making a profit of $78. “That opened the way for me,” Yadashi remembers.
 
As Yadashi saw progress, she envisioned a business expansion and took more loans. Yadashi bought a pregnant heifer for $109 and utilized the remaining money for home consumption. With a small income and food for her family, her children began to excel in their education. She bought a kerosene lamp
for each of them and they woke up at mid night to study through the night. Today her oldest son, Melaku is a top Honor Student in the district. His sisters Aster (12) and Lidya (10) stood first in their
class.
 
Asked what the secret behind such achievements is, Yadashi said, her prayers, continuous support and advice
have played a major role. ”I do not want my children to be illiterate and poor and Vision Fund has helped me
live up to such expectation,” she said.
 
Melaku, now in the 10th grade, has a keen interest to become a medical doctor. He wants to conduct research
and discover vaccinations against incurable disease like HIV/AIDS. His sisters would like to become
university professors and support underprivileged students. Yadashi believes that the Vision Fund has given
her children such incredible visions.
 
Yadashi continues to run her business. She now has oxen to work her farm land and cows to provide milk
for the family, she bought fertilizers and Melaku plows the family land after class. Thanks to the training from
Vision Fund, Yadashi and her children have enough food to last throughout the year.