JAMII BORA TRUST - CLIENT SUCCESS STORY

Susan Wangui

Jamii Bora Trust Client
Age: 30, Single
Children: One daughter, 9 and one son, 13
Hometown: Nairobi, Kenya
Loan History: 3rd loan, $110
Business: Clothes mending and sales

Susan grew up in a poor, rural area of Kenya. She was the only one of her siblings to attend school but was forced to drop out after fourth grade when her family could no longer afford the school fees. Her parents kicked her out when she became pregnant at 17. Hoping to find work, Susan and her infant son moved to Nairobi, where she married and had a daughter. Her husband left her when they learned she was HIV-positive. Unable to find work and with no means to support her two small children, Susan ended up in prostitution.

Susan learned about Jamii Bora, a Nairobi-based microfinance institution, from neighbors in her slum. She completed their business training, which improved her business skills and gave her the confidence to begin her clothes mending and sales business. Jamii Bora’s microfinance services enabled her to quit prostitution and move her family from a shack in their crime- and disease-ridden slum into a safer house. Susan sometimes struggles to pay the higher rent and occasionally must skip meals, but feels that her children’s safety justifies the difficulties. Their house has a floor, running water, a waterproof roof and locking door—all luxuries they did not have previously.

With each increasing loan, Susan buys more raw materials in bulk at lower costs, thus increasing her business’s profitability. She is convinced she would not be alive without Jamii Bora’s medical insurance and access to HIV medication, and can’t imagine what would become of her children, as there is no one else to care for them. Susan has savings for the first time and is striving to earn enough to ensure her children’s educations so they can break free from the chains of poverty.