With your support, Biraturaba sets up savings groups in Burundi
With Biraturaba's savings groups, Flora, Albert, Chantal and many others take control of their lives in no time.
Feb 10 2021
2 minutes
Doing your utmost and getting a degree, only to be unemployed. We wouldn't wish it on anyone. And yet it is a daily reality in Burundi. Youth unemployment is immense. And that for the simple reason that there is no work. Some, out of sheer desperation, seek their living in prostitution or with a violent rebel group.
Fortunately, more and more people can escape thanks to a SILC group. A savings bank, so to speak. People can register there for a year. At the weekly meeting, everyone contributes what they can and everything is carefully recorded. After 3 months, people can apply for credit. The group decides together who gets credit and who doesn't. The credit is repaid with interest in less than a year. At the end of the year, the profit is divided.
Kaneza Flora is one of them
“As a woman it is extra difficult to provide an income. I was always dependent on my husband. He could not always give me enough money to buy food. But then I found the savings group. With my credit I have bought children's clothes to sell. That brought in so much money that I was able to open a shop with backpacks and shoes in the city center. Now I feel respected by the whole community, and I help other women with tips and sometimes even credit to be able to participate in a savings bank."
11.11.11-partner Biraturaba sets up these savings groupsThey look for a responsible person, whom they train to lead the group. They help organize the meetings and help bring people together. Biraturaba knew this already 648 savings groups to establish. And they have absolutely no intention of stopping. With united forces, the people of Burundi can give themselves a better future.
Witness also the story of Iraqi Chantal en Duwamungu Albert. Thanks to the savings group, Chantal started growing and selling vegetables. Today, her business is flourishing like never before and her family is doing well. Albert, in turn, managed to open his own bakery with extra credit from the savings bank.
