1,000 Microloans for Rural Women in East Africa

A week or so ago we were reflecting on the quarterly message we would send to you, our faithful donors. We planned to report that after almost two years of COVID-related challenges, our lending operations were pretty much back to normal. But after the latest news of the rapid spread the virulent Omicron variant, unfortunately we can’t be sure. A little background:

This fall, 18 months after the first nationwide lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the women of WMI had started to regain a sense of normalcy. Toward the beginning of the pandemic, WMI made many adjustments to help our borrowers get through the pandemic safely, such as modifying loan repayment schedules and providing sanitizing stations and personal protective equipment to borrowers and staff. 

During the lockdowns, the ladies had to find ways to continue their businesses in some acceptable form, as transportation and any form of trading was restricted. Many of the women sell perishable products; others travel to other locations to restock. To continue selling their products, many women were forced to spend the duration of the lockdowns sleeping in the markets as they were not allowed to leave and return in the morning. 

When the last lockdown was lifted, there were still many travel restrictions in place, but operations at WMI offices began to pick up with new protective protocols and equipment in place. The overwhelming majority of WMI entrepreneurs amazed us with their sense of responsibility to continue some type of repayment on their loans and their inventiveness in pivoting to other income-producing strategies during the lockdowns.

WMI was determined keep our borrowers in business; we did not want to default loans when the economic crisis forced borrowers to skip sequential payments. Thus, we worked with our women individually to restructure their loans by extending the term or wrapping the balance due into a new loan. After restructuring loans and recovering as much as we could, WMI quietly forgave the remaining COVID-related defaults across all our East Africa programs.

Once new borrower training began again and businesses reopened, WMI borrowers were very enthusiastic and excited to get back to their businesses and daily activities. Despite the huge impact of the pandemic, the 2021 Factbook Survey showed that prior to receiving loans from WMI, almost 80% of women had monthly income between $0 and $50, but after receiving their loans monthly incomes doubled and tripled, to an average monthly income of $135.

Today, WMI’s loan hubs are operating normally while observing COVID safety protocols, but the latest announcement of the Omicron variant now pushing northward from Southern Africa has us concerned that the storm is not over. Vaccination rates in Uganda and Kenya hover around 5%, making our population very susceptible to the disease. Only a few of our borrowers have been vaccinated. Also, our loan hubs in eastern Uganda are located on the main trade routes north to Sudan and west to Kenya, with truckers passing by day and night. We are concerned this may become an Omicron transmission route.

Our message: WMI will continue lending and expanding on a normal basis to support the women we serve through any hardship and to ensure that they don’t spiral back into the cycles of poverty we have worked so hard to eradicate over the past 14 years. We are there for the poor rural women of East Africa, and we hope you will be, too. Your support is key to keeping our loan funds at full lending capacity. Wont you help us continue to build the vibrant support network that has become the lifeblood of these rural communities.

We wish you and your families a happy holiday season and a safe winter!