How micro-loans with small business training changes lives

PHANIS MAIBA, 400% increase in income!

Phanis is just one of the women in Village of Love whose courage, determination and compassion is inspiring.

When we first heard of Phanis, she was shunned by the community, because she had taken in an HIV positive orphaned child. She eked out a living through her fruit and vegetable stall, bringing in no more than  $1 a day. Two of her children, sponsored to go to school through UNAID, would hide food in their garments, from the lunch served at school, so that they could take it home to their mother.

As one of the more needy orphan caregivers in Kibera, Phanis was included in the first cluster of 15 women to be invited to participate in the Village of Love micro-loan program. She took full advantage of everything offered, eagerly applying her micro-loans and small business training. The same day that she attended livelihood training in making baskets and soap she displayed in her stall the products she had made, urging customers to take home the soap for free, to test it out, and only pay at the end of the week, if they liked it. They all did!

Today Phanis is able to bring in $4.50 a day through her small business. The whole family is now eating well! Phanis also works as a community health worker, visiting and supporting people with HIV.

It is women like Phanis, their love for children and their hard work in using everything that they have been given that inspires us to do our part in raising funds. We know that we are making a difference in the lives of people who daily face challenges beyond our imagining!