The Sindulang Berkarya Loan Group are located near the seashore, north of Manado's centre in a fisherman's shanty town called Sindulang. There are 24 members, all women and the group is currently on its 4th loan cycle. After the second cycle the group disbanded because of weak leadership.

As beneficiaries of new loan capital raised by the Manly-Manado Community Partnership the group re-started under new leadership.

Now they are a very strong group under the leadership of their new chairwoman Mareyke Mekel. She sells medicines by motor bike to local shops. Yohana Adrian is the vice- chairwoman and Ariantji Howan is the treasurer. The ladies in the group have businesses as cake makers, kiosk owners, fish sellers and canteen owners. Local Manadonese porridge and yellow rice are the main foods produced in the canteens.

When we asked the group what the main benefits of being part of the micro enterprise program were, they said "easing the financial burdens by having available capital at low interest rates, being able to release ourselves from loan sharks, continuity in sending their children to school with increased income, healthcare and shared fellowship”.

The desires of the group are to "save for our futures so that we can have some income when we are older, look after the widows in the group and keep educating our families”.

One of the members of the group, Sarah lives in a wooden house built by her husband right on the beach. Once before the house was washed away by the waves of a storm. The beach acts as the sewer, rubbish tip, latrine and the place they wash while pigs and dogs roam the beach.

The Abbus family : Coconut Charcoal Makers

Meidy (34) is married to Agus (31) and they have a 10 yr old son Arvando. The family lives under the flight path of Manado’s international airport and they also support Agus’ mother and sister Selvi, who was crippled at birth.

Meidy and Agus have traditionally been subsistence farmers. They are fortunate enough to live in a small run down house they inherited from Agus’ parents and to have borrowed a small piece of land from a family member, which is able to produce a crop of maize every 3 months. They also grow bananas and beans.  In the past they have relied upon this for their family income, which has amounted to an average of 250,000 Rph (A$40) per month. Not only was this totally insufficient for their needs, but also very irregular.

In 2004 Meidy learnt how to make Arang Terpurung or charcoal out of coconut shells from Agus’ father before he died. She decided to start a small business with Agus’ help. In January 2006 they took out a loan from a loan shark to help them expand their business, buy some tools and look after their cows. Within a few months of starting, with mounting daily interest payments and the realisation that they were trapped in a cycle of daily repayment, they heard about the Bridge of Hope micro enterprise program. A new loan group of 18 small business owners called Esagenang, meaning ‘United as One’, was starting in their village. This new loan group had been made possible from the funds raised in Manly through Action Against Poverty.

After seven training meetings, informing them on the responsibilities of shared loan group ownership and accountability, Meidy and Agustook up the offer to join the group and were quickly able to pay off the loan shark, free themselves from mounting debt and start to invest into their business to increase the family income.

Coconut shells are a daily waste product of people living in the area whose staple diet includes coconut. Most days, after a 5am start for Agus, when he tends to his cows named Batik & Manis, both he and Meidy collect these shells with their cow pulled cart, paying a small price for each one.  They take anything from a few hours to the whole day to collect and transport these shells to their charcoal-burning pit, along with kerosene and a plentiful of water to extinguish the fire when the charcoal is ready. If the weather is fine they try to burn one pit-full per day over a 4hr attentive process, being very careful not to over burn the shells, resulting in nothing but ash. The charcoal is then bagged, ready to be sold.

Each bag of charcoal requires 500 coconut shells, weighs 35kg and is sold for just 31,500 Rph (A$ 4.70). It is sold for use as cooking charcoal or to help produce inks, toners and batteries. When the weather is fair they can produce up to 20 bags a week if they can get enough raw material. But often it is raining, especially this year and their average production is only 7 bags per week. Their joint resulting income averages A$4/day for all their hard work, but nowat least it is regular and sufficient to meet their daily minimum needs, along with their farming income.

Some days Meidy works the business alone, while Agus works in the field tending to their corn. But mostly they like to work together. “It is not fair for my husband to work hard alone” said Meidy, “in the good times and the bad times, we are together, we are always together.”

When we asked them what were the main benefits of being part of the new loan group, they answered “Low interest, the chance to share with others in the same position, make savings and being able to support our son’s education. All we needed was the opportunity to help ourselves."

Meidy and Agus’ relationship demonstrates an untold love and joy for each other, which carries them through everything. They take great pride in their work and in providing Arvando with an education. Arvando is an intelligent boy, in 5th grade, a year ahead for his age. He is a great sportsman and his dream is to be in the police force. His Dad’s dream as a boy was the same, but his family wasn’t able to afford to send him to the Police Training Academy. Agus’ dream now is to be able to send his son to the Academy.

With the opportunity for increased income, business training and making savings, there is now some glimmer of hope that he may be able to do this one day.

When we asked Meidy and Agus about whether we could use their picture and inspiring story, they shyly smiled and said “we are very happy for you to use it, because we want others like us to have the same opportunity to help themselves”.

As we left, we gave them a spade, a mattock and a saw to help them with their business. They were beaming with delight!

This update we meet two amazing ladies who have recently received their first micro-loans through Bridge of Hope, Action Against Poverty's partner in Manado, giving them the opportunity to turn their lives around.

Hana is the name of a new loan group, consisting of 9 ladies who all run small family businesses in a poor area of Manado.

Mrs. Deity was expecting her 2nd child, when 3 years ago her house, where she also ran a beauty salon and kiosk, was burnt down because of a short circuit. Tragically the fire also consumed her 3-year-old niece. Slowly, with her husband's irregular income as a construction labourer, the family started all over again and worked on rebuilding their home.

Mrs. Deity is using her first A$45 loan to help rebuild her beauty salon business so that she can contribute to the family's income to improve their life and better care for her now 3 and 6 year old children.
 
Mrs. Yuliana is the eldest member of the Hana loan group. This energetic 64-year-old grandma still keeps herself up-to-date with current affairs for she never misses reading the local daily newspaper. Having been a widow for 26 years, she now lives with her eldest son.

In the past, she used to be a teacher but the government closed down where she worked. In order to survive, she started to sell vegetables, and for the past 40 years, she has been a vegetable vendor, working laboriously from 5am to 2pm each day. She is optimistic that her first micro-loan of A$45 will enable her to stock up with a greater variety of produce, giving her the opportunity to help pay for her grandchildren's education.

These ladies are just 2 examples of the now 469 family businesses that you, the community of Manly, are supporting by providing an opportunity for them to help themselves out of poverty and gain self-respect and dignity.

What a privilege it is, for us to provide a future of hope to such amazing people through our partnership.

March was a busy month for Bridge of Hope, Action Against Poverty's partner in Manado.

Out of 425 small family businesses we raised money for in our Manly community campaign last year, another 148 business owners joined the micro enterprise program, meaning that now 288 families are already benefiting from our partnership.

The other 137 business owners are now all in preliminary training sessions to join the program as well, which will be instrumental in helping to alleviate their family's poverty. Many hundreds more are also in the preliminary training or waiting to join.

Bridge of Hope's program is self-sustainable, but only at its current level of clients, which number 1,456 small family businesses, and the future clients currently in training. If they wish to increase their influence in the communities of Manado's poor beyond this, they will soon need more lending capital.

Two of the recent loan groups established, which have 18 family business owners in each, are called Kadoodan and Horas.

Mrs. Meyfa is a member of the Kadoodan group. She runs a small business selling home cooked food.  She says that the Bridge of Hope program offers her great relief from the burden of debt she had from a local loan shark.  She aims to increase and diversify the available food in her business, increasing her income to look after her family.

Mrs. Dortji Horopu is a member of the Horas group.  She is a 60-year-old great grandmother and a widow. She makes her living by selling vegetables and fruit at a nearby market, starting daily at 5.30 a.m.  earning a daily net income of IDR20,000.- (approx. A$3). Each afternoon she visits farmers or other nearby local markets to buy the produce to sell the following morning. Dortji says that she wants to use the very first loan that she receives from Bridge of Hope to buy more produce each day, thereby increasing her net income, so she can take better care of herself and her family.

Thank you for your partnership with the people of Manado.

Hello again to you all. We trust the beginning of the year has been a good one for you and we are excited to be able to bring you some news straight from Manado.

Since our Manly-Manado Community Partnership launched last September '05, together as a community we have raised sufficient funds to help support 425 families out of poverty through micro enterprise programs (offering small family business loans, training and development) run by Bridge of Hope in Manado.

The fantastic news is that to date 140 small family business owners are already in the 1st stage of this program in client groups averaging 20 in number. Another 180 are in preliminary sessions, preparing to join the program, which will be instrumental in helping to transform their lives and alleviate their family's poverty.

Sehati (meaning 'One Heart') is one such new client group, formed on 27th January this year. It has 21 lady members whose small businesses include selling clothes, selling home-made bakery products, running a kiosk selling staple foods, running a canteen and selling fresh fish. This group is already a star performer - by its 3rd week Sehati had managed to pool a group saving of IDR869,000 (approx. AUD128). This will be the first savings ever made for many of them and will be managed for the benefit of the group members when they or their businesses are in further need.
 
The Sehati group members talk of the already visible benefits of joining the Bridge of Hope program:
"Many of us are now free from loan sharks"
"The stringent group rules have built our characters in the area of responsibility and honesty"
"We have learnt many new skills" e.g. book keeping, administration and group management
"We are able to make savings"
"We work together as a team in our community"
Over the next few months and years, the Sehati client group will continue to be guided and mentored through stages of transformation, overseen by the committed and dedicated Bridge of Hope Project Officer, Agustina Panjaitan.
 
Mrs. Sarlota Yohanis is a 64-year-old grandmother who makes her living from selling fresh fish. She is a member of the Sehati client group.

Sarlota gets up at 3 a.m. each morning to buy fresh fish from fishermen and then on sells them at her local market until midday. In addition, in the afternoon, she sells ready-to-cook fresh fish at home. This hard-working grandmother earns a net income of only IDR30,000 per day (approx. A$4). As the sole source of income for her family, she supports her husband who is ill and her 2 school aged grandchildren, whose father passed away 12 years ago.

"The available funds enable me to afford more fish and seasonings. Since I have more to sell, I can earn more too. I want to support my grandchildren through school so that they can have better lives," says Sarlota. "I am also able for the first time to save IDR5,000 per week (approx. A$0.70) ."

Over the coming months we will continue to update you with stories of families in Manado who are being helped out of poverty through your partnership with them.

Wishing you all well.