Kamala did not have the opportunity to attend school due to poor economic conditions. Her family struggled even just ensuring they ate at least one meal a day. She got married at the age of fifteen with a man more than half of her age, and who was alcoholic and abusive. Her husband left her after she gave birth to her baby girl.
Being a young single mother, she had to work hard just so she can support her daughter. She worked as a housemaid, washed clothes, cleaned dishes, and did whatever work she was offered. Still, her income wasn’t enough to fulfill their basic needs. But she was determined to give her daughter a proper education so she won’t have to experience the same vicious cycle of poverty.
She eventually learned how to make clothes and continued to work as a domestic helper. After a few years, she was finally able to buy a tailoring machine but still needed to purchase fabric so she could make clothes to sell.
In 2019, she came to know about the My Business, My Freedom program. Using her first micro loan, she was able to start her sewing business, buy an additional sewing machine as well as more clothing items for her shop. As her shop expanded, she was also able to provide employment to a fellow single mom. Now that she’s earning significantly more than what she used to earn working in other people’s homes, she’s more encouraged to expand her business.
The people in her community who used to doubt her and would not entrust her with a loan of even just a thousand rupees (USD 9), now respect and look up to her for exhibiting such courage and hard work. Her daughter now also studies in high school and aspires to become an engineer. This mother and daughter will continue to change not only their world, but also the world around them.
Our Partners
Radha, 16 years old, is one of 5 children in her family. Unfortunately, all of them did not have the opportunity to attend school. The family does not own any land, and their house is built on someone else's property.
Radha's mother works as a wage laborer on other's...
17 SHARES
Ganga Damai joined Shakti Women's group after My Business My Freedom (MBMF) reached her village in Nepal three years ago.
She is 46 years old and has six members in her family. The main source of their family's income before she...
64 SHARES
One of the things we are doing in our microfinance program in the Philippines is getting together through fellowship and meetings of our program's existing members.
Last June 2 marked "Bayan Bayanan Fellowship's" first fellowship meeting. They are the first group formed in their area. One of our existing good payers from...
65 SHARES
Dolores is one of the families we help in the Manila Slum Project, our back to school program in the Philippines. This project aims to assist 200 underprivileged children in Manila slum communities.
When we visited Dolores' home, she was preparing the flowers she would sell in the streets that morning. She...
10 SHARES
Kate and Glenn from Captivating recently visited Manila to check in on our programs in the Philippines.
One of their visits was...
12 SHARES
Aside from providing loans for Filipinos through our microfinance program in the Philippines, one of the things we aim to do is start fellowship groups so we can provide the microfinance beneficiaries the necessary moral and emotional support as they start their small businesses.
We are grateful for this community and...
46 SHARES
