The story of Grace Judika S. is just one example of the effective help for self-help provided by Saidia Förderkreis.
The first time I, Dietmar Peitzmeier, met Grace Judika was probably during my first visit to Tanzania in 2003.
The start of our sponsorship dates back to January 2006.
Grace is a single mother of 4 girls named Happyness, Juliet, Anna and Nice.
When her husband and breadwinner of the family died tragically and suddenly, the family was left with only a monthly income of about 5€ in January 2006, which Grace Judika earned as a day laborer.
With this income, it was simply impossible to feed the family of five. The small private farm, which we had already supported with seeds for corn and beans, fortunately contributed a little to alleviating hunger.
However, Grace Judika and her four daughters did not have a promising future under these circumstances.
In order to improve the economic situation and above all to offer the children a better perspective on life, we included Grace Judika in our livelihood support program. To this end, after discussing the possibilities together, we gave her a basic set of flip-flops, which she sold at the local weekly markets.
With the proceeds, she was able to purchase more flip-flops and sell them for a profit.
After about 2 years, Grace Judika realized that travel costs to the markets had risen sharply and profit margins were shrinking, so it was no longer worthwhile to continue the business model.
As a result, she decided to use the savings to rent a corn field and also invest in corn seed. She planted the corn and was also lucky, because a good harvest came out of it. She kept part of the harvest to feed the family and sold the rest for profit. From these proceeds she bought a female and a male cow. After 2 years she had her first calf and started selling milk.
The Saidia-Förderkreis e.V. followed her gratifying development and supported her from time to time with seeds and paid school fees for her children. Thanks to her diligent and skillful agricultural efforts and targeted support, she worked her way out of poverty bit by bit.
Around 2010 she started to build a house to create a real roof over her family’s head.
In 2013, she already had 5 cows and she was doing well economically. When I, Dietmar Peitzmeier, visited her in 2015, the new house was almost finished. And even a plastered foot could not stop her optimism. Thanks to savings, this forced break did not pose an existential threat.
Nowadays, by selling milk and growing corn, she can earn enough money to provide for herself and her daughters.
In retrospect, it can be said that Grace Judika took advantage of the start-up aid provided by the livelihood program and the need-oriented, targeted support from the Saidia support group in the following years, acted well and worked diligently, and realized an amazing development out of poverty.
With your support, we would like to help many more families find their way out of poverty. Please give people the chance they deserve.