By Nermien Riad | Founder and Executive Director
Money, money, money. It's easy to think of microfinance only in those terms.
But the surprising thing is how your support for B'edaya changes lives in ways that go far beyond money and material benefits.
No one explains this better than Salma. She's one of the widows who was able to start an in-home grocery store thanks to a loan that your support makes possible.
Being involved with B'edaya, she told me recently, has "meant the world" to her.
"It's made my daughter proud of me," were her exact words.
Salma's words echo what I've heard from many others among the 30 mothers in Sohag, Minya, Alexandria, Monofiyya, and Cairo who received the most recent round of B'edaya loans in 2014.
Over and over, their descriptions of B'edaya reflect wider impacts on their lives: stronger family unity, greater self-worth, an increased sense of confidence and direction.
Salma reminds me that when you and I partner to equip these smart, strong mothers with the tools to break the cycle of poverty, the least we should hope for is financial success.
The ultimate outcome, God willing, is widowed mothers who — perhaps for the first time in their lives — feel fulfilled, valuable, and in control of their destiny.
In March of 2016, we will kick off a new round of B'edaya loans. We want to reach even more mothers in this round — a total of 50. Will you help us gear up for that round, so that we achieve our goal of empowering 200 women through microfinance? A good surge of support this May will put us over the halfway mark of our fundraising effort!
Thank you, as always, for your support. As Salma says, it means the world.
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