VHI Star: Monica Gacheri Kaburia

Ms. Kaburia started her small restaurant, which she named Sweet Joint Nyama Choma, in 2002 with funds from her personal savings. She joined the Balm Banners Self Help Group—a group funded by a grant to Village Hopecore from the Rotary Clubs of Sebastopol and Healdsburg, California, and of Meru, Kenya—and received her loan in 2008. Immediately she used that loan to upgrade and improve her restaurant, increasing her profits. She was able to provide a more nutritious diet for her four children and one dependent and then was able to increase the frequency and regularity with which they could all attend school.

A model member of our VHI family, Ms. Kaburia maintained a loan repayment rate of 100% throughout the 24-month cycle of her loan and increased her income by 200%. She says she has gained other benefits from her involvement with Village Hopecore: “I am able to be more patient with other people and understand them; I have also become better in community participation.” According to her, she is now more conscious of family economics, of the value of the culture of savings, and is enjoying a better and more stable family life than before she received her VHI loan.