2008 - Stories of Women Who Have Received Loans from Power of Love

Clera Chimfwembe

Being a 52 year-old widow with seven children, Clera has seen difficult times. Prior to joining the Power of Love micro loans program, she worked sporadically selling vegetables like beans and kapenta, but found that often she had to stop selling because she couldn't earn enough money to purchase the necessary inventory items. POL’s loans have helped her purchase and sell more consistently, and she credits the improvement in her business methods to the training received from POL. Clera’s new business is selling “chitenge” cloth, a traditional garment for African women. This is a brightly colored length of material wrapped around the waist as a skirt or a dress. Women also use the “chitenge” cloth to carry an infant on their backs, wrapping it around the baby, then over their shoulder and under the other, knotting it at the front.

As a result of the loan and her business doing well, Clera says that she is able to feed her children three meals a day and now has two children in school. Clera hopes to expand her business even further. Her ambition is to earn enough money to build a two-room house, so that she would no longer have to rent space as she does now.

Lydia Khondowe

A widow at 52, Lydia has supported her six children by selling tomatoes, but sometimes it wasn't enough to allow her to put enough food on the table. The Power of Love micro loans program has helped her improve her business and increase her profits. Training, support, and micro loans provided by POL have taught Lydia to make her business more profitable by adding more variety to her products. She now sells a much larger variety of vegetables, in addition to cooking oil and eggs. As a result of the loan, according to Lydia, she is able to feed her children every day. Also, Lydia says that she is independent as she no longer needs to seek help from her relatives in order to pay fees for her three children who are still in school.

Lydia has been making her repayments on time, but feels that she needs another loan from POL for her to become completely independent financially. Lydia’s plans for the future include investing in a two-room addition to her house, so that she can rent that space and have a steady source of income.

Project Team

Alka Subramanian, Project Director, San Diego, CA,  USA, alkapower@gmail.com

Felix Mwale, Project Coordinator, Lusaka, Zambia

Esther Shumba, Associate Trainer and Project Coordinator, Lusaka, Zambia