Stories Marince
In a village close to Kupang in Indonesia, Marince used a small loan to start a kiosk and earn the income she needed to send her children to school.
City: Kupang
Country: Indonesia
Loan Use: Stock for a kiosk and materials to make wreaths
Marince lives in a village close to Kupang in Indonesia. When she was a child, she dreamed of working as a teacher, but her parents couldn’t afford to send her to school. She had to help her mother produce coconut oil to sell, rasping the coconuts by hand until midnight.
When she grew up and had a family of her own, Marince and her husband Paulus worked hard to make ends meet. It wasn’t easy, but her husband’s salary as a fisherman got them through, and Marince was able to take care of their children at home. But when Paulus had a stroke and was left bedridden, Marince was forced to become the sole provider for her two children, Yarny and Sandy, aged just 10 and 3.
“It was too difficult to meet all my family’s needs,” she says. She could only afford to feed her children one meal a day.
But a small loan helped turn things around for Marince and her family. Just Rp.750,000 (A$73) provided her with the opportunity to get a kiosk up and running, investing in snacks to sell and also materials to start selling wreaths for celebrations.
Earning between Rp.143,000-193,000 (A$13.90-$18.80) a day, Marince's business is flourshing and she can now afford to feed her children nutritious meals every day and send both Sandy and Yarny to school.
Marince dreams of one day being able to send them to university: “With my income getting better, I am sure I can pay for them to go to university. My hope is that my children will have a bright future!”