A little income makes a big difference for families in poverty
The Beit Furik Cooperative is a women’s society, established in 2009 by Ms. Sana’ Hanani who convinced each of the 30 woman registered in the society to pay a fixed amount on a monthly basis for a defined period of time. These total monthly savings were given to each one of them in rotation. Women were happy as it proved to be an effective way to save money and provide for their families’ needs.
“I got married when I was 17 years old,” explains Sana. “Pursuing my education has always been a dream to me. [A dream] I tried to fulfil it through my children, whom I kept encouraging to earn their university degrees,” she adds.
“Each woman in the cooperative saves $25 (USD) a month, and can borrow money without any interest,” she explains. “This enables her to provide for the needs of her family in terms of education, household payments, and others. Then, she can reimburse the amount in small instalments” she clarifies.
“I personally saved money and benefited from the loans in order to pay my children’s tuition fees when my husband’s income wasn’t enough,” explains Sana. “[Because of the society], my children were able to attend the college of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Therapy and Arts. Some of them have graduated and some are still studying,” she says proudly.
“Once the saving idea in the cooperative [had] succeeded; I started thinking about empowering women to improve their economic conditions by finding them job opportunities,” Sana added.
“This idea was the initial incentive that convinced me to transform the peer-to-peer saving project I used to handle into a cooperative that is officially registered,” she added.
“In the beginning, we managed a school canteen and distributed the benefits/proceeds among the members. When the project proved successful, we decided to expand our work and asked for World Vision’s support [again]. They had already provided help through capacity building programs. World Vision generously supported us by rehabilitating a kitchen for our use, equipping us with the required food processing tools and machines and providing the members with technical and professional trainings related to: project management, food processing, communication and marketing.”
Suhad, a 35-year-old woman with five children between the ages of 8 and 20, works with five other women in the cooperatives kitchen, preparing food to be sold in the school canteens. She earns $37 [USD] a week.
“My husband doesn’t work because of a work accident that left him paralyzed,” explains Suhad. The family was surviving on the $250 [USD] monthly disability compensation. Adding an extra $148 [USD] a month helps their family budget substantially. “Now, I am able to recharge the electricity card, buy clothes and give my children daily pocket money. The total amount of our monthly income is still not enough to cover all our needs,” she explains. “But, it is allowing me to cook meat/chicken twice a week,” she added.
Children following their mom’s lead
“My mom is now able to give me pocket money,” says Mohammed, Suhad’s 15-year-old son. “I feel equal to my other classmates at school. I have [even] saved $27 [USD] from my daily pocket money (0.5 cents [USD] a day) that allowed me to participate for the first time in the trip that the school conducts yearly. I couldn’t participate previously due to lack of money,” he added.
“My children feel happy and proud of their mother’s work,” Suhad adds. “In the past, I couldn’t buy them pencils, notebooks or any school supplies. Now; I can provide them even with the minimum of their requests, and that makes them feel satisfied,” she says, content.
Suhad wasn’t the only woman who experienced a positive change in her family life. Each of her colleagues have similar stories.
“We will never forget the great support we received from World Vision,” says Sana.
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Additional information/quotes
Ghada; a woman married to an unemployed man with six children says: “I feel that I’m a productive woman”.
Zohreyeh, a widow who has a disabled son started to provide her family needs throughout her wage.