Emile and Moza are husband and wife. They live in Buenzy, the popular neighborhood in the center of the economic capital Bujumbura, in Burundi. He is a mechanic, she embroiders fabrics. Both are part of the Duterintambwe microcredit group, supported by the AMU project Si può fare! together with the local counterpart CASOBU.
Emile and Moza are a couple who have always worked to improve their living conditions. Initiative and commitment have never been lacking. Their modest brick house is the fruit of hard work and labor. They had the idea of renting out some rooms, but the tenants did not pay the rent on time: “We hoped to earn something to cover other expenses.” This situation created a difficult coexistence between them and those who had rented the rooms. In addition, economic difficulties were always at the door.
The turning point came in 2021. Moza was the first in her family to learn about the existence of savings and microcredit groups, thanks to the awareness-raising work carried out in her neighborhood. The woman, once again, did not lose heart and understood that it could be an excellent opportunity. She attended some training sessions to study how community microcredit worked and decided to get involved to achieve a new goal, convincingly involving her husband and even the tenants: “Microcredit would certainly have brought solutions to our economic problems”. And it was a winning choice.
Thanks to access to credit, Emile and Moza have intensified their work and generated more income. The embroidery business has also increased: she now buys, decorates and resells more fabrics than before. Emile has started a new project: selling small spare parts. Their living conditions have improved and their children no longer lack anything, neither food, nor clothes, nor the possibility of going to school.
There is another aspect of this story that deserves to be highlighted. Moza with his determination has also involved the tenants, who have become part of the microcredit group and have thus been able to pay the rent. And the relationships are no longer tense as before.
The couple has no intention of stopping here: they want to renovate the brick house and above all have electricity: it would be another, big, change. In Buenzy, their neighborhood, Emile and Moza have become an example: they are demonstrating that development is possible.
