Raised in a poor farmer family and then married to a farmer, 47 year old Romia – mother of 4 children – was never given a chance to go to school and learn how to read and write. But, she decided that her children must not face the same experience she did. She knew from the beginning that the dream she had for her children would not come true until her family has a good economic condition. A year ago, she didn’t have any idea on how and what to do for making her family’s economy better at her home village Kamarlalmi of Kishendeh district of Balkh province. Pursuing to give her family a helping hand, she was introduced to services of Hand in Hand Afghanistan in her home district. She eagerly joined Hadia Self Help Group (SHG) after knowing how changes can be brought to her life through understanding the basics of micro-entrepreneurship.
So far she has saved AFN 900 within her SHG. She is also a regular trainee for Business Development, Vocational Skills and Life Skills trainings. Understanding people’s need in her home village, she started up a small shop to sale mobile top-up cards by allocating a single room of her house for this purpose. Now, she is also selling women and children’s clothes in her shop that contribute to her income generation. She receives clothes from other members of her Self Help Group and takes 10% profit while selling their products
She also travels to neighborhood villages where costumers mostly deal with her by exchanging products than giving her cash. She then brings exchanged materials in to district’s Market and sells them with in good rates. Before joining HiH Af Self Help Group, she had no income but she has now an average net profit of AFN 1,700 per month.
“Now that I have a shop I can take care of my children in a good manner so that they become active members of their society in future.” Said Romia.
