Hope Arrived at Last
Life can be unfair or that’s the feeling we all get when life bombards us with a series of challenges. The question on our minds is always why us? The important thing to keep in mind is that the worst mistake we can ever make is one that we learn nothing from. How you rise from a difficult situation makes all the difference.
For HopeCore, making a difference in someone’s life and knowing that we turned a challenging situation into a more bearable one is something we hold dear. Hellen Kaaria who is one of HopeCore’s most loved micro-lending clients is a woman that we can all learn something from. Over all the years that we have been fortunate enough to work with her, we have been constantly reminded that we should never give up, no matter what happens to us. Her determination in life and positive attitude continues to inspire us all; Hellen reminds us constantly of the value in taking the cards you have been dealt in life, no matter how unfair, and turning them into something worth finding meaning, value, and purpose in. Her life has been one punctured with numerous challenges in it which have made her want to give up but she chose to rise and face her challenges head on.
Hellen is a 60-year-old mother of five children: 3 girls and 2 boys, and is a beneficiary of HopeCore’s Micro Enterprise program. In 2004, she lost her husband to HIV/AIDS and became a widow with no source of income with five children looking to her to meet their basic and emotional needs. She tried to make ends meet by selling chickens but it was hardly enough to look after her growing children. Two years after her husband’s death, Hellen and her two daughters were also diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and this was devastating to her.
Although mother-to-child transmission of HIV is preventable, breastfeeding and childbirth are risk factors. Since Hellen and her husband did not know about their HIV status for many years, actions to mitigate the spread of HIV within the family could not be taken. Faced with the psychological and emotional trauma that comes with such news, coupled with her financial status that had now gone from bad to worse, she decided to act instead of sitting back and playing the victim.
Hellen was determined to empower herself by engaging in income-generating activities and was able to start a support and advocacy group of HIV-affected persons in the year 2010. She became the Chairwoman of the Self Help Group and received a “soft” group loan of KES 30,000 (USD 300) in February 2014 from HopeCore. This support group offered Hellen comfort, compassion, and solace through sharing their stories and experiences of grief, pain, and useful coping mechanisms. Eventually, Hellen was able to combine some of her personal savings with money from the soft loan, which she borrowed from the group account, and bought a dairy cow. Unfortunately, the cow died shortly afterwards almost taking her back to where she started. Hellen never gave up though because she was positive that her future would someday be bright again.
The Self Help Group received a second and then third round of soft loan funding of KES 60,000 (600 USD) in November 2014 and KES 90,000 (900 USD) in August 2015 respectively. Hellen borrowed a small loan from the soft loan account and bought a dairy cow once again; this time she knew that this investment would spring her into a better life. The Micro Enterprise team gave Hellen advice on the type of dairy cow to buy and provided her with a myriad of mentorship and support related to starting a dairy farm and business. HopeCore funded the entire group with “normal” individual loans in September 2016, totaling KES 495,0000 (USD 4,950) in September 2016.
Hellen received an individual loan of KES 60,000 (USD 600) which she used to buy another dairy cow. She now has two dairy cows and two calves which are all growing extremely well. From her dairy farming business, Hellen gets a monthly income of KES 6,000 (USD 60). Hellen’s monthly expenses come to around KES 2,500 (USD 25) per month, leaving her with a profit of KES 4,500 (USD 45). Hellen uses her dairy farm for both sustenance and income and cares so attentively for her animals that the team expects her dairy farm to keep expanding in the coming months.
Hellen actively participates in seminars led by people living with HIV. Through these seminars, Hellen hears testimonies from successful people living with HIV and she feels they have positively shifted her initial belief that only the poor are susceptible to the virus. This support network and the role models they show to participants have made her more confident. These seminars have made Hellen realize that she can live longer and impact lives positively. Through the lending and training program, her hope for a full future has been restored. Hellen states that “although my life is far from perfect, I have been given a new sense of hope and the chance for a healthy future as a person and family.
