Get to know Engage Now Africa!!!

Ghana- Mawusi's Story

Mawusi's Desire To Read and Write
By Cecilia Amankwah

Mawusi is one of our amazing students enrolled in ENA's Literacy Program. Mawusi has four children and lives in Ghana on Ada Island in a small village called Tuanikope with a population of about 7,500. Just a few months ago, before enrolling in our program, she was only able to read, write and recite a little bit of the English Alphabet.

 While interviewing Mawusi at her family farm in the village of Tuanikope, surrounded by her four children, Mawusi explains: “When I wanted to help with my children's homework or write a letter to a friend, I felt so handicapped and had to rely on friends. Now thanks to the (ENA) Literacy Program, I am able to write my own letters and also help with my children's homework. I am now able to teach my children some basic English. This remarkable achievement has boosted my morale and general sense of well being."

 

Equally important, Mawusi also benefits from ENA's Self Support Assistance (SSA) program which provides financial support to sustain small scale businesses. Mawusi is now able to calculate how much she is owed by traders for her coconut trade.  Although Mawusi has been producing coconuts for more than 10 years to help feed her family, for most of the time, they earned little money from their harvest.  Last year, she noticed that the price that a local trader was offering seemed a bit low for her 45minute commute along the riverbank.  She was able to calculate the price herself and noticed that she was owed more money or running at a loss. 

While coconut production and fish farming help women in Tuanikope increase their income from the production and sales, the adult literacy and self sustenance capacity-building components of the program provide equally important overall benefits.  Women are able to acquire basic literacy skills participate more fully in the market and community and be engaged in other meaningful activities that would otherwise be impossible.   

Mawusi's story echoes ENA's mission which emphatically states " We are committed to end poverty by teaching principles of correct personal governance in business, finance, education, health, service and strengthening of families and communities. We partner with those who are like-minded in lifting others out of poverty with the cycle of self-reliance and success".

 

ENA's program components include Self Support Assistance (SSA), Education, Literacy and training in a variety of communities and health centers throughout a couple of African Countries.  ENA supports women with adult literacy classes, as well as, production and marketing training to increase their incomes to grow their families and communities.   ENA currently has over 300 literacy participants and about 150 of those are also benefiting from the Self Support Assistance program. We are grateful to be able to be making a difference in the lives of so many in the region!!

In these and many other ways, ENA works to meet the needs of poor traders and farmers, like Mawusi, in various communities in Africa.

 

To learn more about Engage Now Africa's Education Programs, please visit our website HERE!!!

Ethiopia- Yirgalem's Success Story!!!

Yirgalem’s Story

Yirgalem Chirilo is one of the beneficiaries of the loan system from

Engage Now Africa.

 

 

 Before Yirgalem was granted the loan, she used to sell vegetables on a piece of land out on the field inside the market. She supported her family from a meager income she got every single day.

Then the government built so many mini-shops and distributed them among the sellers who didn’t have a shop to sell their own goods. As a result, Yirgalem was given a shop in her name with a monthly fee of 333 Birr ($17.00 USD).

However, the real problem was that she didn’t have any money whatsoever to advance her business with in her newly given shop. She thought selling vegetables in her new and big shop compared to the previous small piece of land, was not worth the monthly fee. On one hand, she didn’t have any money to advance her business. On the other, she didn’t want to lose such a great opportunity of having a shop in the market by itself. Therefore, she simply kept paying 333 Birr monthly fee for three solid years, even though the shop had been empty and locked for that much year.  

Then, months ago great blessings knocked at her door; an important turning point in her life and in the lives of her own family members, if you will. She got loan from Engage Now Africa to start her business in a new, more organized and advanced way. Obviously, the loan helped her buy different kinds of goods in bulk and sells them in her shop. She became free from her worries and her big problem had been taken care of because of this loan. Her business started growing and flowing freely by itself.  

 

The loan has changed her life and the lives of her family member in such a way that, she sends all of her five children to good schools and she provides for everything that they need in order to improve the quality of their education to the next level. Her income has increased and became more stable since the opening of the shop. Her life has changed a great deal and she’s now a different person than what she used to be previously.

If it wasn’t for the loan and if the shop hadn’t been opened, she said: “My life and the lives of my family members wouldn’t have changed in such a way. The opening of the shop has changed our lives from nothing into something. I am so much grateful for Engage Now Africa for being the main and only reason for my big and important transition in my life.”

 She is now a very happy and successful woman. She is enjoying life along with her family!!!

 

To learn more about Engage Now Africa's micro-credit programs, please visit our website HERE!!!

Ghana- Monica's Story

 

Monica's Story

By Francis Ansah

We would like to introduce you to Monica Adjorator!

Monica is a 25 years old lady who hails from a village known as Asesewa in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She is from a family of five, she being the eldest of the siblings.  She never knew her father and is still in doubt whether he is alive or dead based on the stories the mother told her about him. Her mother was a peasant farmer and did not know the value of Education, therefore, all of the children automatically became farmers. They did not have any opportunity to go to school and have never even stepped in a class room. The worst part was that they were extremely poor because they lived on subsistent farming.

Monica, whilst in the village realized that if she did not leave the village to go in search of a job in the city in order to help support her siblings and mother, they would die from hunger. She took the bold step of moving down to Accra in the hopes that she would find a job. Unfortunately, nobody would employ her because she was just fourteen years as at time. She was also unable to find housing so she was forced to live on the streets, sleep in deserted places and beg for food. She managed to save some money she had begged from passers-by and decided to become a street hawker by selling all kind of stuffs in other to eat. She did this for about eight years before she got a job as a house help. During this time she was sending money home to her mother and siblings for their upkeep.

Monica would not stop there, she realized that to make it in this world one must have a skill, and not just be limited to being a house help. She became determined to acquire a skill and found a school where should would be taught how to design and make clothes (Seamstress). Her school matched perfectly to her taste because of proximity to work and the times she could attend lectures and training. She was enthusiastic to start, but her only challenge was school fees. Monica began praying fervently to God to show her how to get support and soon after was introduced to Engage Now Africa through a friend. We were excited to be introduced to Monica because she was a perfect candidate for our Technical and Vocational Education assistance program.

 

Today, Monica is a happy lady and we are proud to be sponsoring her!

 In her words she said “Engage Now Africa is the Answer to My Prayer”.

 

 

To learn more about Engage Now Africa's Educational

 Programs, please visit our website HERE!!!