Aranchie serves customers at the small snack shop attached to her house with a quiet confidence and smiling demeanour. However, tears come quickly as she recalls her childhood. “I had a very difficult childhood, because my dad left when I was just three months old, so my grandparents took me in and raised me. They couldn’t afford to pay for my school, so I didn’t even finish junior high.”

Hard work and determination, combined with small loans have enabled her to build a business and provide her family with the kind of life she wished for as a child. Aranchie has been able to send her children to the best schools in the nearby town, and her 30-year-old son was able to study business at university.

The 49-year-old mother of three and grandmother rises at 4 or 5am to prepare banana chips and runs her ‘kiosk’ from 5am until 10 or 11pm. Her supportive husband Daniel is by her side, and she receives some financial support from her oldest daughter. It’s a far cry from her early working days, when she first started working, washing clothes or collecting water. “People paid me just 5 or 10 rupiah (a fraction of a cent) per job. When I met my husband, he supported me in all aspects,” she said.

Her husband worked as a civil servant, spending 60 per cent of his salary on travel to the nearest administrative centre. The family lived on the meagre amount left, eating whatever they could. He quit his job to become a carpenter, and Aranchie decided to start a business to improve their lives.

With her first loan of A$250 in 2017, she set up her shop, buying snacks from a local wholesaler to sell. A subsequent loan allowed her to buy a refrigerator to make ice for smoothies and ice lollies. When her banana tree started to produce fruit, she had the idea of making banana chips to sell in her shop – which proved to be highly profitable.

Aranchie hopes that her children will never experience hardship like she did.

“I hope that my children will never go through what I have been through, that they will never face poverty like what I faced in the past.”

Thanks to support we received in 2022, we've reached 1.42 million families in Indonesia with small loans and financial services. 7 out of 10 families increased their savings – allowing them to be more resilient. A recent study also found that 9 out of 10 people reported their quality of life had improved thanks to a small loan.

For more information, read our latest impact reports.

This program is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).