This project will lift 100 women refugees and their children from extreme poverty to economic independence by promoting entrepreneurship. Mercy Beyond Borders (MBB) provides basic business training and $200 loans for South Sudanese women in refugee camps; the women then launch their own enterprises. We already have a strong success record in 6 camps. Be the one who lifts the next refugee woman!
War has driven over 1million refugees from South Sudan into refugee camps in Uganda. 83% are women & children. The UN does provide subsistence-level rations, but not enough for families' health or stability. Most women heads-of-household are non-literate, resilient survivors who seek ways to improve life for their children. Lacking cash for sandals, e.g., keeps children out of school, because students cannot attend barefoot. Lacking cash for meds means too many children die needlessly.
This project builds the confidence, teaches the skills, and provides the capital for 100 refugee women to start small businesses that lift their families up from "living on the edge" of hunger, disease, lack of education, and the unending cycle of extreme poverty. 100 women refugees will launch enterprises that provide enough revenue monthly to lift them and their children out of destitution: better nutrition, schooling, health -- a dramatically different future.
In S.Sudan these women were relegated to slave-like labor (confined to a village, never schooled, never permitted any decision-making authority, never allowed to handle cash or to own any assets). We train them to be entrepreneurs. Their success builds their confidence & brings them status in the community. They invest their profits into educating their children, incl. their daughters. Educated children are healthier, marry later & stabilize family economics for the future. Change happens!
