Village Phone Operator Marie-Claire Ayurwanda stands on the rock foundation of the house she is building in Setwara, Rwanda, and looks at the progress. "I want to finish building this house for my children before I die," she says with resolve. As a woman living with HIV/AIDS, the weight of her words is heavy with a history of struggle and challenge. Yet when she talks about her present and future, her smile is light and her laughter comes easily.
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 Kigali and sell them."
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 Rambura Boys School," he says. "I want to be a doctor to help my neighbors and friends."
To learn more about this author, visit Grameen Foundation's Website.
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