Giftiana has been a member of a Purpose Group in the Wona watershed since 2008. Before joining the group, her biggest challenge was lacking access to financial services. Her husband’s unexpected death left her alone with young children to care for.
“My husband used to be the one taking care of the family. I was a simple housewife. After his sudden death, I was left with four children to care for.”
Economic challenges for women in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Tanzania, can be significantly more challenging for widows due to a complex interplay of cultural, social, economic, and legal factors. In many societies, women are economically dependent on their husbands. Widowhood can lead to financial hardship, especially if the widow has children to support. The overall trend is that widowhood can significantly exacerbate poverty, inequality, and social exclusion for women in the region, but Giftiana showed us that a different outcome is possible.
“I started selling bananas because we had a banana farm, but the money I got was not enough to cover all our basic needs and pay for the children’s school fees.”
While struggling through the difficulties in her new life, Giftiana met a Plant With Purpose Village Agent who lived nearby and noticed her struggles, raising children and grieving her husband.
“She approached me and told me about how this group would allow me to save money and take out loans to generate more income. So I joined the group and I was trained on things like saving, loan management, business management, and entrepreneurship. The training opened my mind, and so I started saving my money every week.”
“This motivated me to work hard to ensure I could get my weekly shares as I considered this chance of being in the group as the key that would enable me to fill my husband’s gap in raising our kids. After eight months of saving, I took my first loan and used it to expand my banana business, helping other farmers bring their product to market.”
Giftiana paid back that loan, and with boosted confidence, she applied for another loan so she could pay for her children’s school fees to overcome the economic challenges for women found here. She describes the moment by stating that “taking a loan to pay for my children’s school fees was a huge achievement for me as it indicated that my life has started to go in the direction that I desired for a long time. Being able to repay the loan boosted my confidence. I started believing that I could manage to change my life.”
Her next project centered on the family house. “I wanted to build a modern house, as the one we were living in was very old. I worked very hard to make sure I had money to save and repay the loan.”
Giftiana went from helping her neighbors sell bananas at nearby markets to also working with avocado farmers and helping them sell their fruits as far away as Dar Es Salaam.
As her confidence in managing finance improved, she found herself able to expand her business and pay for more school fees. She was eventually able to make renovations on the doors and windows of her house. Eventually, her next purchases included a motorcycle, a heifer, bricks, and another round of school fees.
These purchases were strategic. The heifer and motorcycle were able to bring in an income. The cow provided dairy and the motorcycle could be used as a transportation business. As her income allowed her to buy more materials, she finally had enough to complete her modern house.
At the end of last year, her house was complete.
"My journey was not easy. God has always been in the process, and with hard work, I was able to improve my life. Now all my children have gone to school, and the two remaining are still in school. I have a nice home, and my businesses and projects generate enough money to support my life. I am looking forward to buying a farm where I will cultivate crops for home consumption and business," Giftiana shared with a happy smile having overcome economic challenges for women in this way.
She concludes with gratitude, "I am grateful to Plant With Purpose for the education and support that changed my life, especially as a widow who lost her husband at a young age. All my progress has inspired people around me, and some of my neighbors are now Purpose Group members and are not afraid to get loans to start different projects”.
