Mary Akwen Nkwenti

Mary is a widow who lives in Nsongwa, Cameroon, and has eight children. She has a farm, like many other people living in her area, and she sells the fruits of her labor in the Bamenda Food Market, about a ten minute drive from Nsongwa. Mary plans to buy cassava and potatoes for farming, manure to fertilize her fields, corn and pineapple. Mary also intends to purchase piglets and chickens. These animals can be useful as an investment and also as fertilizer for one’s farm. Lastly, Mary will buy some small garage tools.

Mary has been a farmer for many years and has experience using loans to fund her farm business. This is Mary’s fourth loan from GHAPE since she became a beneficiary in 2005. She knows from her past experience that she can take on a loan of this size and be successful.

Before she joined GHAPE, her life was very difficult. Her father passed when she was only 13, ending her education. She says she was forced to marry early and since then has lost her husband to a protracted illness leaving her to support her eight children. Mary was “financially not okay,” as she could not cover basic needs.

Mary is a GHAPE member because “GHAPE…empowers the poor” and “has trained me and equipped me with prosperous knowledge.” After being with GHAPE for three years, she has “discovered the benefits of being a GHAPE member.”

With the profits from this loan she will pay for her children’s school fees, provide the best for her children and finish the housing projects her husband left behind. She also wants to save a reasonable percentage in her GHAPE savings account.

About GHAPE
Grounded and Holistic Approach to People's Empowerment (GHAPE) is a non-profit NGO based in Bamenda, Cameroon. GHAPE works towards the empowerment of the poor and poverty alleviation through a highly multi-faceted approach. Every client is trained in business management, basic health, life skills, financial management, profits and losses, and family values. Clients are also required to contribute a small amount into a personal savings account; most clients save much more than the minimum requirement. GHAPE instills a sense of family and community within its clients and staff and a strong bond of trust has developed between the organization and its clients.

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