Euphrasie is a 44 year old woman who lives with her husband in Kabarondo, Rwanda. Their household was counted among the most vulnerable and they were selected to be beneficiaries of the Girinka program, a government program that aims to reduce extreme poverty in rural areas of Rwanda by providing each poor family with a cow.
Euphrasie joined African Enterprise’s (AE) Women’s Self Help Group and had an ambition to work hard and shift her family from the second UBUDEHE category (Those who have a dwelling of their own or are able to rent one but rarely get full time jobs) to the third category (Those who have a job and farmers who go beyond subsistence farming to produce a surplus which can be sold).
She was among the first in the group to take out a loan and began buying and selling sorghum (a local crop) but it did not bring enough money for her to meet her goals so she embarked on a market study and found that her community needed access to clean water. Euphrasie took advantage of the situation and began selling water to the community.
Shortly after, Euphrasie attended a training organized by AE linking local service providers with entrepreneurs. After the training, Euphrasie jumped to the Saving and Credit Cooperative of Kabarondo where she requested a loan to purchase and install a water tank.
“When I saw the tank installed at my home, I said ‘Thank you Lord for my dreams are coming true’. Success in such a business in the area was very sure. That was a great milestone in my journey from extreme poverty to self-resilience.” said Euphrasie
The money she made selling water helped her repay her loan. She was able to start a boutique as well and had enough to shift her family to the third UBUDEHE category (Those who have a job and farmers who go beyond subsistence farming to produce a surplus which can be sold).
Euphrasie now owns land and hires other people to produce different types of crops on her land. She plans to start selling locally produced food commodities in bulk. She is an inspiration to her community and has come from extreme poverty to independence with the help of AE’s Women’s Self Help Group.