WUNRN
Grameen Foundation: http://www.grameenfoundation.org:80/
Rwanda
Woman's Story - Overcoming HIV + Community Building
Through Microfinance
Marie-Claire's
story - One of Grameen Foundation’s first Village Phone Operators in
Village
Phone Operator Marie-Claire Ayurwanda stands on the rock foundation of the
house she is building in
The years have not been easy. She had a son 17 years ago and then took in her
brother’s two children when he was killed in the 1994 genocide. Her husband
died in 2003 of an unknown cause. She then remarried and had a daughter. After
learning that her new husband drank too much, she left him. Then, she
discovered she had, as she calls it, "the Virus."
After her husband died, Marie-Claire decided to start a business and took a
20,000 franc ($40) loan from Village Phone microfinance partner URWEGO to open
the Isimbi Restaurant. The profits from the restaurant help support the four
children in her household and pay school fees.
Set against the backdrop of the rolling Rwandan hillside, Marie-Claire serves
goat brochettes (skewers) and Irish potatoes. Her laughter bounces off the
bright blue walls of the restaurant as she talks with her customers and
employees. And if a customer wants to make a phone call, she proudly takes them
to a separate, private room where she has set up her Village Phone.
When Marie-Claire heard about
the Village Phone pilot program early in 2005, she quickly got a phone. The
business turned out to be profitable enough for her to pay her phone loan off
in 5 months (rather than the standard 6 months). So now, all profits from the
phone are hers.
"Marie-Claire is one of the top five operators in Rwanda 
out of
the fifty businesses created during the pilot phase of the project,"
George Conard, Technical Project Manager for Grameen Foundation, said.
"She sells nearly thirty minutes a day and the phone generates about US$12
a week. In a country with the average income around $230 year, the extra income
from the phone has a huge impact on her life."
"In addition to paying school fees for my children, I bought the land and
the foundation for my new home with the profits from my Village Phone,"
Marie-Claire says. "If I get some more business to do, in a few years I
will die as a rich woman."
Work, she says, is what keeps her strong. After learning she had the virus, she
took the risk to tell other business people in the community. "When I told
them, they liked me very much because I told the truth," she says.
"People see that I have the virus and am still doing business. I am
respected in the community and people come and use the phone because of
that."
Being honest also helps other people living with HIV/AIDS because they see how
antiretroviral drugs help Marie-Claire be less tired. "I am very strong because
of the medicine," she says. "And I was able to tell my friends, and
now they are on the drugs too." In her village, she is the president of
IMPUHWE, an association of people living with HIV.
She is
now interested in adding a second phone that she can run in another small
village. When asked how she would spend the additional income, her goals are
focused on developing her community. "I want to buy a pickup," she
says. "People in the association have their own gardens with Irish potatoes.
With a pickup, I can take the potatoes to
Marie-Claire’s son Jean d'Amour, 17, is also interested in giving back to the
community. When home from boarding school, he helps his mother at the shop and
with the Village Phone to raise money for school fees. "I am very, very,
very happy I can go to the
Contributed by Tamara Plush
Grameen Foundation is a nonprofit organization
headquartered in Washington, DC with a mission to enable the poor, especially
the poorest, to create a world without poverty. They are a leader in the
fight against poverty in Sub Saharan Africa, Asia, Middle East/North Africa,
and the Americas. Their cutting-edge programs and resources have helped more
than 45 million poor people, mostly women and children, improve their lives.
Grameen Foundation collaborates with local organizations and allies around the
globe to provide products and services that allow them to: 1) reach deeper into
poor communities with microfinance and technology services; 2) provide access
to microfinance and technology services among the poor and poorest in harder to
reach areas and currently unserved/underserved areas; and 3) measure who is
being reached to ensure they are moving out of poverty over time.
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