Thirty dollars. That’s Rosa Chavara’s savings goal for this year. In January, Rosa decided to try to save two dollars a month, and challenged herself to save double when she could.
Rosa lives in the community of Santa Gertrudis, Nicaragua, at the end of a winding, dirt road three hours from the capital city of Managua. Her family has lived there for years, eking out a living on their small farm, surviving both drought and torrential rains. It’s not the best place to have a farm. Life is hard in almost every respect. Rosa and her husband, Modesto, have four children; the youngest, Jasmari, is just eleven months old.
After Jasmari was born, Rosa joined other women in Santa Gertrudis to form a savings group. Every member set a savings goal for the year. Rosa’s was simple: she just wanted to make sure she had enough money if Jamari had a medical emergency. She remembered from raising her three older children how she sometimes had to scramble to come up with money for bus fare to see a doctor when a fever spiked, or to purchase a prescription to fight off an infection. In Rosa’s economy, thirty dollars goes a long way towards a child’s health, even making a difference between a baby’s life and death.
Rosa’s savings group has 20 members. Luke Society Foundation, one of World Renew’s partners in Nicaragua, helped them to organize their savings group. Collective rules had to be agreed on: the frequency and size of the deposits; how withdrawals could be made; and how and where cash could be ‘banked’ as it accumulated. Rosa was a quick learner. She was chosen to be president of the group and is one of three women on the management committee who holds a key to one of the three locks that secure their metal cash box. To have access to cash in the box, all three keys have to unlock their separate padlocks simultaneously — a rather ingenious security measure!
Halfway through the year, Rosa has already saved eighteen dollars. In her community, where cash is scarce, medical insurance is not accessible, and simple medical emergencies can quickly become complicated, Rosa’s savings make her feel powerful. Her committee is now considering short-term loans that can be extended to group members to start low-capital businesses. They think they will soon open a savings account in a bank — an idea would have seemed like a preposterous idea just one year ago.
World Renew and Luke Society Foundation have been working in the Santa Gertrudis community for the past three years. Whether digging a well, working to increase agriculture production, or improving health, their work seeks to help change the story so people like Rosa are empowered and communities like Santa Gertrudis are better places to live. Thank you for helping make goals like savings thirty dollars in a year attainable.
Blessings,
Mark Vanderwees
Country Consultant
World Renew Nicaragua
