In 2006, Sister Antoinette Temporiti attended a Microcredit Summit in Nova Scotia and met Muhammad Yunus and also an extraordinary woman named Ingrid Munro, the Founder of Jamii Bora. In 1999, Ingrid, with 50 beggar women from the Kibera and Mathare slums in Nairobi, started a microfinancing cooperative called Jamii Bora.
Jamii Bora has since grown to over 300,000 members and is the largest microfinancing organization in Kenya, and has its own Bank. The keys to success are simple but critical:
- Members
- select their own group of five,
- start with saving even a small amount,
- participate in weekly meetings to discuss their loans, and
- support each other as they successfully pay back the loans.
As members successfully pay back loans, which have a fixed interest rate and a clearly defined payback period, they are eligible for larger and larger loans to start and support their income generating activities. Eventually, members are even eligible for home loans within Jamii Bora’s planned community outside Nairobi, called Kaputei. This offers a pathway for members to move out of the slums and into a neighborhood with green spaces and a sense of positive community. Jamii Bora offers health insurance, life insurance, disaster insurance, business skills education, and even education in English and Swahili as second languages.
MicroFinancing Partners in Africa provides grants to support the modest salaries of the Tumaini, who are the social workers whose mission is to reach out to those living in the most desperate of situations, the slums. Tumaini, prounounced too-mah-ee-nee, is Swahili for “hope.” The Tumaini have credibility with this group, because they once lived in the slums and have used the Jamii Bora program to work their way out of extreme poverty. They can say to a poor mother, “You can do it, because I did it.” A typical initial loan to start a business for this group can be as little as $30.
Although Jamii Bora’s program enjoys a payback rate of 98% and is self sustaining, MicroFinancing Partners in Africa can accelerate their reach by funding the Tumaini program. You can donate toward this cause and help the Tumaini spread their message of hope and empowerment through the slums in Kenya. $2000 funds the salary for one Tumaini social worker for one year. Or contribute toward part of a salary. Your donation makes a difference! Click “Donate now” and on the information line, enter “TUMAINI.” or call MPA at 314-776-1319 to discuss your donation.
African Updates: July 29-30
July 29—30
Update from Africa from Sr. Toni and Heather
Friday is a day of celebration for Kabukolwa village—several of the group’s ... African Update: July 28
July 28, 2011
Update from Sister Toni and Heather
Sister Dot, Regina, and Consolata are picked up by Cloty, Betty, and Lucy ... 
