Microcredits Make a Significant Contribution to Poor Families
In India, many people live in remote areas and live on what grows on their piece of land. Others are day laborers who live on a minimum income – they barely make ends meet.
Microcredits
Last year 15 microcredits were issued
%
Pigs
are the most popular microcredit! People mostly choose a piglet as microcredit
Villages reached
We provide microcredits and medical aid to people living in hard-to-reach places
Medical Care and Microcredits
We focus on supporting the very poorest locals: people for whom medical care is unreachable and unaffordable. In 2015, Tree of Life, in collaboration with missionary couple Sam and Karin, started issuing micro-credits to people living in remote mountain villages.
But by this, we do not mean a microcredit in the form as we know it in the Netherlands. Instead of money, people get a goat, a piglet or chicks!
Project India: did you know that…
One microcredit has the value of approximately 35 euros?
Despite the COVID-19 measures, 15 loans were provided in 2021?
Most people choose a chicken or piglet as a microcredit?
How Does it Work?
The recipients of the microcredit fatten the animals and resell them, or sell the eggs of the hens. The principle is that the credit is repaid by, for example, returning two chickens or donating part of the proceeds from the sale of the animal.
If people return the loan after a year, this amount can be given to other people as a loan. They can then buy chicks or a piglet for themselves. The aim is to give people a stepping stone to provide themselves with food and/or an income through the credit provided.
Who is Eligible For a Microcredit?
Sam and Karin’s existing network is used to select people who receive the microcredit. A local pastor or a reliable village head indicates which people are eligible, so that the project is secured in the community structure. A success factor that increases the number of credits repaid is the system of small self-help groups.
In practice, it would look like this: six women receive a loan. They are paired with six others who will receive the loan after them. They can come and watch and help. If the project is successful and the credit is repaid, the other six will also receive a loan in the form of a goat, chicken or a piglet!
Medical Care and Training
Sam and Karin are both medically trained and devoted themselves with love to the poorest of the poor, for whom medical care is often unavailable. This is partly due to a lack of finances, but also because they live far away from a medical post. Sam and Karin have come up with a solution to this problem: they go to the people! In addition to providing medical care, they also distribute clothing and work with other groups to plant churches.
The couple also gives ‘basic health courses’. This consists of a theoretical phase and an internship. When the students have completed the course, it is intended that they can start working as frontline health professionals. Some of them are asked to teach the course themselves. Sam and Karin are then present in the background, with the aim that former students can also set up health centers.
Field Workers
Since 1996, Sam and Karin Johnson have both been working as nurses in India. They are married and have three sons. Karin is from the Netherlands and Sam is from India. They are committed to people who have little or no access to medical care. In addition, they oversee the issuance and repayment of microcredits.
Building the Future Together
Together with Sam & Karin, Tree of Life is helping to build a better future for the poorest in India. A microcredit can make an important difference in people’s lives in several ways: people have the opportunity to feed themselves and to generate income and to pay school fees. We also support Sam & Karin with a monthly amount to be able to realize training courses for health professionals.
In this way, we look forward towards a hopeful future, together!
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