Last week I returned from visiting Episcopal Relief & Development and NetsforLife® programs in northern Ghana. Now I remember why I do this work!In each village the elders and the women gathered to tell us their stories of lives transformed.
Atewini struck me as an elegant and dignified woman as she stepped to the microphone.
She told me that she was embarrassed that she couldn’t speak English and that she hadn’t finished school. But she wanted me to understand how her life had changed since she joined a program to empower women under the auspices of ADDRO (Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization), our partner in the Diocese of Tamale.
Atewini’s first step was to borrow a small amount (less than $100) from the micro loan program that allowed her to set up a business to parboil rice to sell to fellow villagers. With the profit she made from this business, she was able to buy some farm animals, including some goats, a pig and a cow.
Once the goats had multiplied under her careful husbandry, she sold a few of them to put her children in school. They excelled—they were no longer hungry and could devote time to their studies.
Atewini told me with pride that her eldest child is now attending university and the other is in secondary school.
She is rightly and fiercely proud of what she has been able to accomplish for herself and her family. Her children are now fulfilling and indeed exceeding the dream that she had for herself.
Such wonderful things can be done with so little.
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