It All Began With Building A Girls’ School

During trips back to Nepal, Saika noticed that the mothers of the students at the school were in desperate need of support. Mothers in Nepal are tasked with juggling the responsibilities of managing the household, caring for their children, and earning an income ( many times through manual labor). Among families in Pokhara, the community where the girls school is located, husbands typically labor as migrant workers, sending money home for the first few months but lapsing in both financial support and communication as time goes on. Within those households in which husbands remain at home, domestic abuse is common, and husbands frequently spend a majority of family savings on gambling or alcohol.

In 2013, a “Mothers’ Group” was created as part of a school initiative to provide an open and safe outlet to stifled, overworked mothers, and Saika became increasingly invested in the wellbeing of these resilient, self-sacrificing women. She began to spearhead the initiative, and championed projects and partnerships for its continued growth. Before long, she realized the full potential of the Mothers’ Group, in one simple parable: “ If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life.” In the case of the school’s pupils and their families, the key to ‘fishing’ was the mothers and their ability to learn valuable trade skills. 

The foundation of this initiative is the desire to create a meaningful difference in a mother’s life by enabling her to support herself and her loved ones. After two years of work in Nepal, in collaboration with a wonderful team and enthusiastic participants, the flagship Mothers’ Group includes 15 members and is now self-sustaining. 

Micro-loans 4 Moms is currently planning our next project, an endeavor which has brought us to Cape Town. Though our internal, organizational support is amazingly robust and dedicated, M4M also needs local support and interest to establish Mothers’ Groups. In particular, we focus on finding businesses willing to invest in their local communities, and locating individuals interested in strengthening the economy from within by reinvesting money to naturally create opportunity and demand. 

M4M believes :“If you give a [wo]man a fish, you feed [her family] for a day. But if you teach a [wo] man to fish, you feed [the community] for life.”