Savings Group: Persia's Life-Changing Opportunity

By Agatha Mali, Communications, Zambia

"My life would not be as it is now if not for the savings group and the many trainings I received from World Vision," says Persia.

For years, 56-year-old Persia of Kanchomba village in the Southern Province of Zambia faced daily struggles to provide for her family. Together with her husband Olaf, 64, their main source of income came from the small amount of maize they grew on their piece of land, which was used for home consumption and partly for sale.

In 2015, World Vision conducted a series of training sessions in Persia’s community, and she had an opportunity to learn about the Saving for Transformation model, which is designed to empower people with financial literacy and the importance of saving.

"After going through the training by World Vision, I knew that my financial doors were going to be opened and that would be the end of my many challenges," says Persia.

In the same year, Persia, along with other men and women, formed a savings group called Tugwashane (Let us help each other) Savings Group. With the little money she earned from odd jobs, she channeled it into her savings.

Despite doubts about whether the savings group would succeed, Persia was dedicated and hopeful that the initiative would work in her favor. Her commitment and involvement in the group encouraged other members to continue saving.

At the end of the cycle, the group managed to save K25,000.00, and Persia received her share of K6,500.00, which she used to buy some goats and chickens. "I used the money I received from the share-out to buy goats and chickens. I knew that once the goats multiplied and were sold, they would bring more income to my household," she said.

Inspired, the Tugwashane Savings Group was motivated to continue with the savings activities. Some members opened grocery stores, while others ventured into farming. Persia’s goats continued to multiply, and she was able to sell some of them to "Munachi," a cooperative that buys goats from local livestock farmers for resale and meat processing.

With interest in saving by the group members, Tugwashane Savings Group now runs a miller and the income earned from the sales is added to the savings which has also helped the group to earn profitable interests in their saving. 

In 2018, Persia obtained a loan of K10,000.00 from VisionFund which she used to expand her livestock farming and increase her savings with the group.

"The goats were giving me a good profit, so I decided to increase their number. I got a loan that I used to buy more goats, and I used part of the money to add to my savings so that I could have more money during the share-out," says Persia with a smile.

Since the training, Persia’s life has transformed, and the savings group has significantly contributed to the well-being of her and her family. With the knowledge she gained, Persia can now manage her household finances, unlike in the past when she had little understood of financial literacy.

"We used to struggle with meals in the past, but now our story is different. We now manage to have all three meals of the day, I am grateful to World Vision for bringing knowledge and transformation to my life and that of the whole community" she says.

Witnessing the benefits of savings and how it has transformed Persia’s life, she was selected as the group chairperson so as to inspire and motivate other group members.