Hostensia Sirri

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Hostensia Sirri by GHAPE in Cameroon. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 24 months, GHAPE will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

This is an update on your loan to Hostensia Sirri in Cameroon. I’m excited to

be writing you as the Kiva Fellow in Bamenda, Cameroon. Over the next 2 months I will be witnessing firsthand the impact and realities of microfinance while working with Kiva’s Field Partner, Grounded and Holistic Approach for People’s Empowerment (GHAPE). As you may know, all entrepreneur profiles on Kiva's website are posted by local Field Partners (microfinance institutions), which are organizations that lend to the poor for poverty alleviation. The role of a Field Partner is to screen each

entrepreneur, upload his/her loan request on the Kiva website, disburse the loan, and collect loan repayments. In my role, I will be visiting many Kiva entrepreneurs and businesses and training GHAPE staff in writing updates for Kiva lenders. As a result, many of you will receive an update on an entrepreneur who received a loan contribution

from you. Unfortunately, due to the logistical and administrative constraints, reaching every entrepreneur for an update is not possible, even with the team of 9 people at GHAPE who are dedicated to providing Kiva with photos and other content. Whether or not we provide an update on an entrepreneur to whom you loaned, I hope that you will enjoy the story of one Kiva borrower in the North West Province of Cameroon that, to me, illustrates the togetherness and unity that is the inspiration for Kiva’s Swahili name.

Hostensia was one of the first members of the GHAPE group when the founder, Bernadette, decided to go into the farming villages surrounding Bamenda in the North West Province and start offering loans to those who do not have other access to capital. GHAPE is 10 years old this year and Hostensia is now in her 10th year as a member. She’s taken 10 Empowerment Credits (loans), the most recent of which values 49,500 FCFA($123.75 USD) and she’s using it partly to run her farm and partly to help her son sell school books. She explained that her son sends a person to neighboring Nigeria to buy school books once a year and then during the beginning of the school year, sells books in addition to selling the albums, decorative flowers, and clocks that he sells year-round. Hostensia farms peanuts, corn and beans to feed her family and also to sell in the Bamenda market. She goes to the market on Saturday to sell Gari. Gari is ground cassava that is dried and sold to make a starchy white carbohydrate to eat with the local dishes. Grounding the cassava takes a lot of hard work because the cassava is very hard, but it is a necessary part of feeding the family. She figures that she can earn between 10-15000 FCFA ($25-37.50 USD) per week from her market sales.

Ms. Sirri is not married and has five children. One of her children sells books, as mentioned before, another is a technician who helps pay for the younger children. Of the three younger ones, one is in technical school, the second is in high school and the third is still in Primary school. Between them, school fees amount 51500 FCFA ($128.75 USD). Hostensia earned her high school diploma and learned how to farm and prepare food from her mother. She heard about GHAPE when the founder went around recruiting farmers to come to this Microfinance Institute that would help farmers get loans. “GHAPE train we to invest our money and how to farm and work with we children. Sister Bernadette lectured and invited to learn about how to manage with money. We de hope say with God and GHAPE we will do better and I watch for some higher leverl of EC (Empowerment Credit) and send children to higher level,” says Hostensia of her hope for the future.

Hostensia divided her loan between two of her sons. The first son received 150,000 CFA ($300 USD) for his small shop. In his shop he sells seasonal items; in the summer he may sell books and in the winter he will sell Christmas related items and shoes. He buys and sells the items and pays Hostensia 30,000 CFA every second month. Her second son is a technician and she gave him 300,000 CFA ($600 USD). With this money, he purchased materials for his glass window business in Bamenda. He also pays Hostensia 30,000 CFA per month, although he received twice the amount of his brother.

Hostensia works on her farm almost every day where she grows cassava, beans, peanuts, corn, sweet yams and green vegetables. On a Saturday at the market in Bamenda, she can make between 10,000 and 12,000 CFA ($20 to $24 USD).

Hostensia went to school until the end of her primary years; she is now able to send three of her children to school. Two of these are in secondary school and one is in primary. Since joining GHAPE, she has seen many changes in her life; the school fees are much easier to pay, everyone eats healthier, and life is going fine now. She save around 1600 CFA ($3.20 USD) every month to her personal savings. She hopes to take out another loan when she has finished this one.

About GHAPE:

GHAPE clients are required to join groups of five for both support, as well as to cross guarantee one another's loans. Clients also undergo training throughout their time with GHAPE. The first training sessions occurs before a client is given his or her loan; the sessions focus on business management, finance skills, starting an income generating activity, basic health practices, gender mainstreaming, group dynamics and understanding GHAPE policies. The second session of training occurs after a client has successfully repaid their first loan. This session focuses on understanding different possibilities for income generating activities, marketing and management techniques, expansion and growth, profit and loss accounting, and gender issues. Ideas and experiences are exchanged between entrepreneurs, while GHAPE credit assistants offer suggestions and direct the sessions. The following phases of training focus on business and marketing techniques, project cycles, fundraising, financial markets and problems faced and potential solutions.

GHAPE also requires clients to make small payments towards their personal savings. The required minimum for savings is quite small; however, most clients choose to save much more than the minimum requirement. Clients then have access to this savings account in case of any sort emergency. Clients of GHAPE also have access to the revolving "Emergency Fund". Each center has access to 40,000 CFA for this fund; in case of emergency or for health reasons, a client can request a sum from this account. GHAPE allows the clients one month to pay it back with no interest. This fund has helped many clients pay hospital fees and pay school fees when they may not have the savings to do so.

GHAPE tries to instil a sense of community within its centers; upon entering a room, one must say "If we are together," to which all clients reply "We are one." If one of the clients passes away, it is mandatory for all clients in the deceased center to attend the funeral. GHAPE believes that ignorance is one of the key contributors to poverty and attempts to remove this ignorance from all of its clients. This is done through training sessions on business management, health, education, importance of family and gender empowerment, as well as through the bi monthly meetings where clients discuss health, business and family issues with one another. The clients of GHAPE are always very grateful for their loans; however it is the training sessions, center meetings, and group support that allows the clients to invest their loans profitably and improve their living standards. Go to their website now at www.ghape.org

Almost half way through her Kiva loan repayment, Hostensia takes time out to chat with me about her business. Having two of her sons to partially manage her loan, she says they are doing well. EC is "Empowerment Credit" what GHAPE calls its loans. Enjoy this video interview!

Ashley King-Bischof | KF7

GHAPE | Grounded and Holistic Approach for People's Empowerment