Marjan, a Muslim man, lives with his two daughters in an adjoining hut to his small workshop, in Kembes Village, south east of Manado.

He is a blacksmith and joined the Kembes Village Trust Bank, run by Bridge of Hope, on the 25th January this year.  This group of 15 partners are on their first loan cycle within the Micro Enterprise Development program, and are of mixed faiths.

Marjan makes knives and grass cutting tools to support his family. Before he was granted an enterprise loan he was only able to make 1-2 knives a day because he did most of the work by hand, buying scrap metal, firing it, hammering it and then hand filing it into a knife shape.

He then sold these to a local market on Bunaken Island for 2500Rp or A$3.50.  But with the loan, and an electric angle grinder, he is now able to make at least 3 knives a day.  Soon Marjan, with his next loan, will be able to buy a fan to increase the heat of the fire to heat the metal faster and improve his production rate.

In future loan cycles within the program Marjan will receive training on business planning.  The Trust Bank meets every week and the partners help each other in their businesses, also taking shared loan repayment ownership if someone suffers from illness or slow business. Bridge of Hope also educates on and takes care of a small savings plan for the Trust Bank partners, so for many for the first time, they have a little capital saved if business takes a wrong turn or they have a medical emergency.

When we met Marjan he was constantly smiling because he was able to see a way out of his previous constrictive circumstances and start providing properly for his family.

Bridge of Hope is one of the organisations we are working with in Manado to allow you, the community of Manly, to PROVIDE for those trapped in poverty. If you would like more information then please contact us on the details below and we would love to chat to you about it. If you go to a local Manly church, then in the near future you will hear more about Bridge of Hope.