Accompanying communities to overcome the disadvantaged conditions in which they find themselves, making them protagonists of their own development: this is the “lighthouse” that illuminates the path of all AMU projects. In Burundi, with the project Si può fare (in collaboration with the local partner CASOBU) we discover every day stories of courageous women , who take their lives into their own hands with the precise will to improve them.
Like the women who are part of the Terimberemukenyezi microcredit group, one of the savings and credit groups of Nyarunazi Hill, made up of 46 women. The idea of sharing this experience came to them in 2021, based on a very simple truth: being together is more fruitful than being alone. The meaning of the chosen name is emblematic: Terimbere Mukenyezi , meaning “woman, move forward.”
Emelyne Nizigama is the group’s president: “Being part of a savings and credit group is a strength for us. We constantly need each other; I would not have been able to do it alone.”
A microcredit group means many things to these women: improvement of daily life, of course, but also self-esteem, push to move forward, consolidation of social relationships.
One aspect The management of the social fund and the preparation of the operations register are fundamental to the group’s work.
Accompanied by AMU and CASOBU, the women learned to coordinate and follow the activities of Terimberemukenyezi .
Elisabeth Bayaga has been a member of the group for three years: “Microcredit is a support for my agricultural activity, I sell the products of the land and with the proceeds I repay the loans. I have access to credit because I agreed to pool my savings. In this way I do not have to ask for loans from others who could always refuse them, as has already happened”.
Work planning is also a goal achieved by the women who participate in the group. Marceline Nahingejeje says: ” I was running out of fertilizer for the fields, just when I needed it.
I didn’t even have cattle to get manure. I saw that others were organized. I felt behind and frustrated. I was among the first to ask for credit and that was my salvation, because with that loan I bought fertilizer.
At first only a couple of kilos, but then little by little I was able to afford larger quantities. So, if the season is good I can get food for the whole year”.
The benefits aren’t just those related to daily sustenance. Marceline adds: ” I no longer have to rely only on my husband, I take care of myself.”
