Kambanda Josephine is a forty-five-year-old married woman, who has six children. She is one of the Self Help Group (SHG) members who have been facilitated by Foxglove through AEE Rwanda to get out of poverty. She has stopped depending on her husband to supply everything needed at home and has become an active contributor to the family welfare.

In her own words, she tells her story, “My life before joining DUSABANE SHG was one defined by grief, hopelessness, and loneliness. I lived in great poverty with my family, and I depended on my husband to provide what we needed at home, yet he too did not earn much from the casual labor that he did for our survival. My poverty-stricken situation denied me a place in society, and I regarded myself to be a social misfit. My husband himself did not respect me, because he considered me as a burden to him. He struggled to meet all the needs for the big family, a fact which subjected him to an unhappy life. There was no joy at all in our home and marriage relationship.”

She adds, “Paying for the children’s schooling and much needed community health insurance “mutuelle de santé” was such a heavy load for my husband. As such, sometimes my children missed-out on school, due to not having the needed scholastic materials and uniforms. We also stayed at home suffering without any medication whenever we would be sick because we could not afford treatment without insurance! My husband was always submerged in stress, and confusion reigned in his head and in the house. All this resulted into mistreatment that would sometimes translate into unjustified quarrels and other manifestations of gender-based violence.”

With a peaceful look on her face, she says “One day, I learnt from the AEE staff about the self-help groups that they were forming in our village to empower the poorest of the poor, more especially women. I was encouraged by one of my friends Jeanne d’Arc Uwimbabazi to join the group, as she too was determined to be a member. We together appreciated the benefits that accrued from being a SHG member, as the AEE Staff had told us what the benefits were.”

Josephine adds, “Shortly after joining the SHG, we started meeting weekly, and I felt a sense of belonging. My loneliness slowly disappeared. We also received various trainings from the AEE field staff, on topics like vision casting, result oriented saving, loan management, and others. The training enabled me to have a changed mindset, and I started believing that I could do something productive, using my own God given potential, and didn’t have to be totally dependent on my husband to supply everything the family needed! I started a small business of selling cabbage, using a loan I got from our group’s saving fund, and I was able to get a small profit. I used part of the profit as savings in the group – Rwf 200 (about $ 0,2) per week, and I used the remaining part to meet a few family needs and to re-invest in my small business. Slowly by slowly my business grew, until I was able to buy a garden in the marshland, where I grew cabbages for sale! I also engaged in keeping animals that mature very quickly including goats, chicken and pigs, whose off springs I sell when they were grown. This has increased my profit, hence improving our economic situation and my contribution to the family needs!”

With a smile on her face, she says, “It’s not only the economic situation that has improved in our home, but also our marriage relationship that was very sour, has turned around, and we are living at peace with each other! I have a smile on my face and so does my husband!”

She also remarks, “Unfortunately, the covid-19 situation in our country affected our business activities as a group, and the welfare of our families. We were however blessed to receive support of 400,000Rwf (about US$ 400), which enabled us to resurrect our businesses. Together with members of my group, we engaged in group farming, mostly growing vegetables like carrots, eggplants and cabbages, and our account has been growing. We currently, have about Rwf 1, 500,000 (about $1,478) on the account! Our personal businesses have also resurrected, and we are so grateful to God who has used AEE Rwanda and her sponsors to get us out of our hopeless poverty situation, to a position of dignity in the community.”

“With the income from farming and the sale of animals and animal products, I’m now able to contribute to the basic needs of the family, including payment of school fees, health insurance, and provision of a balanced diet to my children. The vegetables from our garden and the eggs from the chickens that I rear have served to make my children much healthier than before. I have also lessened my husband’s burden, as he now has supporting hands in meeting the family needs! He is a very happy man and the entire situation in our family has changed. As of now, I have a vision of saving at Rwf 600, 000 (about $660) next year, and I will leave no stone unturned to achieve my goal!”

She ends her story by saying that “My heart is so full of gratitude to AEE Rwanda and all the people that supported her to bring SHGs to our village. My life and the life of my family have been totally transformed, never to be the same again! Thank you very much for transforming my life, the life of my family, and the lives of many other members in our community!”