World Vision’s micro loans breathe life into business dreams and rebuild communities

WORDS NARRELLE HARRIS
PHOTOGRAPHY JERRY GALEA

Thanks to a loan for equipment and training,
Pusadee
Bukkalo and 14 other women from her
village can now support their families through their

shell handicrafts businessPusadee Bukkalo had a dream. It was to support her family and make sure her children could go to school. After her village, Ao Nang in Thailand, was devastated by the 2004 tsunami, this simple dream seemed remote and almost impossible.

Pusadee and her fellow villagers weren’t going to give up that easily, however. They had skills in making jewellery and handicrafts out of the beautiful seashells they gathered near their coastal village. All they needed was someone who believed in them enough to provide the money to begin.

That support and belief came from World Vision and its supporters. As part of the tsunami recovery program, World Vision began to provide small, low-interest loans to people like Pusadee.

The micro-enterprise development (MED) program is aimed at people who would not normally be able to get loans, because they don’t have a regular income or assets. These small loans, often less than AU$100, are invested in materials and training. It might only be enough to buy some chickens or a sewing machine, but it’s amazing what such simple nvestments can achieve.

The raw materials for Saranrat
Khobroop’s broom-making businessPusadee and the other 14 members of the village handicraft group received training and money for materials. Now they’re making a living from the jewellery and handicrafts they sell to tourists. “This livelihood allows us to take care of our children and also do other jobs on the side,” says Pusadee.

The group is repaying the loan, and the program uses the repaid funds and interest to assist other people with their own small businesses. Other communities in Thailand are also benefiting from MED programs.

Schoolkids in Baan Bang

Man love these muffinsIn the village of Baan Pong, Saranrat Khobroop has been able to start a broom-making business with a loan of 4,000 baht (around AU$150). She’s proud that she can now earn enough through her business to provide for her two children.

Over in Baan Bang Man, the community has set up a bakery with their loan. The members of the bakery project have been trained in marketing as well as whipping up breads, cakes and pastries, which are in hot demand at local schools.

Spreading hope

Thailand isn’t the only place in the world where micro-enterprise loans are making a difference. In Cambodia, Mam Ith, a widow, has been able to support herself and her 11-year-old daughter thanks to two small loans. The first bought a sewing machine, allowing her to become a seamstress. With the second, she opened a grocery shop.

Mam Ith’s new business venture is
a grocery shopIn Aceh, Indonesia, Mr Dedek is not only self-sufficient now, he’s also able to give back to his community. Like so many others, he lost his family members to the tsunami. His handicraft business, which had employed 200 people from his village, was also destroyed.

But with a small loan, he has been able to re-establish his business as a co-operative. Of the 60 members of the new group, 20 are fellow tsunami survivors.

“We had ideas and World Vision had a program. Together we are now able to transfer our skills to the community, thanks to World Vision’s funding,” says Mr Dedek.

Paying it forward

The beauty of the MED program is that once it begins, it keeps itself going through the repayment of the loan and interest. Those repaid funds are re-invested, either by expanding existing businesses or by helping other people start their own. Because the program can continually fund itself this way, World Vision’s MED programs are being used to start new programs around the world, making sure more and more people are able to take control of their lives.

The dream of owning a small business is, for some people, the essence of survival. Becoming self-sufficient means that people can feed their families, send their children to school, and afford medical care when it’s needed. For the world’s poorest people, who have no savings and little but their determination to provide for their families, it can take just a small financial assistance, some training and the will to succeed to make the future so much brighter.

About Starkids

Launched in June, StarKids, a Jetstar and World Vision initiative, aims to raise at least AU$3 million over three years for World Vision to fund programs assisting children in Australia and countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. StarKids will raise awareness of the causes and effects of poverty, and how we can all make a difference. For more information visit www.jetstar.com/starkids