wfn.org | Micro-enterprise in Africa

[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

June 6, 2001
Beth Hawn
Mennonite Board of Missions
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

June 6, 2001

Micro-enterprise strengthens African churches and communities

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM)  Biatrice Djossou, who scored the highest on
the oral exam at the end of a two-year health education program,
lost her toddler to malnutrition a week later because she didnt
have the pennies needed to enrich the childs corn porridge with
even the cheapest protein.

Biatrice knew that her 12-month-old needed to have ground peanuts
or minnow flour in his porridge if he were to remain healthy
after she weaned him.  However, her husband was unemployed.  This
incident unmasked the complexity of malnutrition for Raphakl
Edou, the director of community health at Bethesda Health Center
in Cotonou, Benin.  Realizing that health has an economic
component, he began a job creation/community bank program in
1996.

Two contributions from North American donors last year, totaling
150,000 U.S. dollars, have made possible grants to Mennonite
Board Missions partners in seven African countries.  In West
Africa, part of the donation went to local organizations that
manage micro-loans.

Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) has long
recognized the connection between economics and wholeness.  MEDA
brings nearly 60 years of experience in micro-enterprise
development to a growing collaboration with MBM.

During the past decade, MBM has facilitated the establishment of
community banks and micro-enterprise development as part of the
whole gospel for a broken world in countries where MEDA is not
operating.

The donors desire to strengthen the economic status of
individuals so they in turn can strengthen their churches and
communities, said Vicki Jennings, MBM special assistant to the
president for the development office.

In Benin, three MBM partners received grants to reinforce
already-existing community banks. One recipient was Bethesdas
department of community health, which has given loans worth
$410,000 in the past five years and has become internationally
known as a defender of human rights.

Bethesdas grant from MBM funds a pilot program designed to
improve the hygiene of food sold to schoolchildren.  School
cafeterias consist of women selling porridge, fish sauce,
doughnuts, peanuts and gari (manioc flour) in front of
educational establishments.  Open sewers stagnate alongside the
stands while clouds of flies swarm overhead.

Thirty women received loans of $70 to expand and diversify their
food production.  The beneficiaries attend training seminars in
nutrition, food-handling hygiene, and marketing skills, which
help to improve the quality of the schoolchildrens food.  Edous
staff makes biweekly visits to the cooks in their kitchens.

Grants also augmented the services of community banks that serve
two other Beninese populations, the southern lake-dwellers and
the farmers in the center of the country.  The banks make up one
component of holistic development projects that belong to the
network of MBM partners in Benin.

A year after the MBM grants infused increased vitality into the
community banks, Phil Lindell Detweiler, MBMs country
representative in Benin, says, There is definite success.  The
banks are functioning properly, women are getting loans, and they
are generating income.

Community banks provide hope for women who were previously forced
to borrow money with interest rates of 40-100 percent over a
six-month period.  They report with joy about how they have been
able to pay school fees so their children are able to complete an
entire academic year.

In addition to expanding their businesses, many of the women have
begun savings accounts.  This credit has washed away my shame,
says Bertine Hounnon, a member of the In God There is Increase
community bank.

Claudine Gangbe was pregnant and had two sons when she took out a
loan of $40 from the community bank of Glazoui, a village located
in central Benin.  She operates as an intermediary, buying
produce directly from farmers and selling it to market women.
Her expanded financial capacity enabled her to register her
teenager in high school and to take her 4-year-old to the
hospital when he fell ill.

Unfortunately, the younger boy died despite medical attention.
However, Gangbes misfortune didnt thwart her dedication in
paying back the loan.  She had only two reimbursements left when
she began to hemorrhage and, though Gangbe spent all her
remaining money on heath care, she lost her baby.  Her grief was
eased, however, by the other women in her solidarity group who
took a collection to make one of her loan payments when it came
due.

Though Gangbe has experienced much suffering, she faces the
future with hope because of the potential that she sees in her
sons high-school education and the possibilities that the
community bank opens up for her business.

In Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo, MBM grants helped the Anabaptist
and Mennonite churches to establish nongovernmental organizations
that will create and govern the community banks, based on Benins
experience.  This is different from past initiatives in that it
is not simply assistance to individuals   The [solidarity] group
is responsible for the repayment of the entire loan, thus
increasing  accountability, said Steve Wiebe-Johnson,
coordinator for MBM activities in West Africa.

In other countries, the donations made funds available for:
7 Christian Health Association of Liberias Trauma Healing and
Reconciliation program.
7 Entrepreneurial innovations in Senegal.
7 Youth ministry through education, employment, health and
recreational opportunities in three South African congregations.

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Lynda Hollinger-Janzen      PHOTOS AVAILABLE