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Working Her Way Out of Poverty

Written by: Grameen Foundation

Article Overview: Kishwar's story - Pakistan

Working Her Way Out of Poverty

Kishwar lives with her family in a slum near the railway station in Lahore, Pakistan. Health and sanitation conditions are extremely poor, causing disease and infections to run rampant. Kishwar’s husband and sons together run their shoe-making and selling business-selling from the shop and also taking orders from wholesalers. In 2001, their business suffered huge losses and they nearly went bankrupt. The family took a loan from a moneylender to rejuvenate their business. Unfortunately, the exorbitant interest rates, coupled with harsh penalties for late repayments, caused the family’s debt to spiral out of control. Desperate for a way out, Kishwar discovered Kashf Foundation through a friend. Kishwar was wary of taking another loan, but her husband encouraged her to have faith.

The first loan of 5000 Rs. ($83) was used to purchase leather, rexine, ready-made soles, thread and other material for their shoe shop. As production increased, sales also picked up. Slowly Kishwar and her husband were able to pay back the moneylender. Savings in the first year of the Kashf loan were nominal because of this, but now their weekly profits are between 1000-2000 Rs. ($16-30). Kishwar plans to take the next loan and increase their product range.

Recently, one of Kishwar’s daughters had to submit the equivalent of $16 as a fee for her college entrance exam. Unable to come up with such a large amount of money on short notice, Kishwar applied for and received a consumption loan from Kashf to cover the expense. Though illiterate, Kishwar understands the value of education. She has chosen to use the family’s meager resources to educate her two daughters, rather than her five sons, because she believes her daughters are more serious about their education. In a society where male children are given first priority in everything, particularly schooling, Kishwar has bravely broken with tradition and set an example for her entire community.

Kishwar has aspirations for sending both her daughters to college and also helping her sons establish individual, reliable and profitable enterprises. In two years, with Kashf’s sustained assistance she sees her family’s business thriving like never before with ten employees and a telephone installed at the shop.

Kashf’s impact on Kishwar’s life has been more than just financial. She is now a center manager (five groups of five clients each form one center) and says that she can confidently address and advise her center members on different issues, whereas earlier she was too timid to say more than a few words to anybody. With this new sense of self-esteem and confidence, Kishwar mentors other women in her community, encouraging them to take advantage of the opportunity provided by Kashf and to take control of their economic situations and make better lives for themselves and their families.

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Article Tags: amount of money, aspirations, college entrance exam, consumption, entire community, exorbitant interest rates, harsh penalties, health and sanitation, lahore pakistan, meager resources, moneylender, railway station, repayments, sanitation conditions, shoe shop, slum, soles, two daughters, value of education, wholesalers



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