Necitas Cruz

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Necitas Cruz by Center for Community Transformation Credit Cooperative (CCT) in Philippines. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 5 months of this loan, Center for Community Transformation Credit Cooperative (CCT) will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Dear Lenders,

Necitas is very happy with her recent loan of PHP18,000 (USD375). She used this to buy more sacks of charcoal. She earns by repacking the charcoal in affordable packs and distributing this to small neighborhood variety stores and to retailers stationed at the public market. She now earns a net income of PHP3,600 (USD74) per week.

With her microfinance loans, Necitas has been economically independent from her husband, who used to support her charcoal distribution business. Her business has also contributed to the family's daily expenses.

Necitas is also thankful that she became part of the CCT Credit Cooperative. By attending the weekly fellowship* meeting, she has come to know God more intimately in her life. “I didn’t know at first that there would be Bible studies in our meetings. I was carrying a heavy personal family problem then; eventually I was able to share and received advice and comfort from my fellow community partners and from our project assistant**” It was also in attending fellowship meetings that she developed confidence in speaking in front of people. She has actually started facilitating Bible study groups as a Community Servant Leader*** (CSL) in the fellowship.

Though there are struggles at present, Necitas continues to be steadfast in her faith. One of her sons has a kidney problem and the family is also experiencing domestic problems. She prays that her family will be united through it all. She shares, “There is no hardship in life that we cannot surpass if our family is united. That is why we need God to help us to forgive and to be understanding with one another.”

Let us pray for Necitas that the Lord will continue to strengthen her faith and that the Lord will bless her business abundantly.

Thank you lenders for sowing in the life of Necitas. May you reap God's blessings in return!

* All CCT community partners/clients are organized into fellowship groups that meet on a weekly basis. A fellowship group is composed of 15 to 30 community partners. The fellowship groups gather each week to study the Word of God, build social capital, and pay MF loans.

**A Project Assistant (PA) handles the fellowship meeting and manages the loan portfolio of each fellowship group.

***A Community Servant Leader (CSL) is a community partner/client who has been equipped to become a community leader among the community partners. She goes through trainings in Servant Leadership and Grassroots Entrepreneurship through CCT's Community Mobilization Program and the CCT Training and Development Institute.