microcredits for widows
Our visit to Kirinda was in every sense of the word … sweaty! It was unbearably hot and after going through each and every file in the Principal’s office with him and his right hand, Sarath, we went on a tour. We visited the five ladies who fell short with their repayments.
We met all of the ladies at their homes, even the one that goes into hiding whenever Sarath is visiting. The reasons for their short fall were more or less plausible and all of them promised to catch up with their payments as soon as possible.
One of the ladies in the program had already repaid the full amount of her loan and requested a new one. In the pool there is the sum of Rs. 300 000, more than enough to permit a new loan. However, we decided to not allow any new loans, as long as those five ladies were not caught up with their short fall or at least until they were regularly making small payments.
All of these ladies know each other and Roy had made it clear to them at the beginning that the success of the program was dependent on the success of each of them. In case they would face problems, they had to communicate instead of just stopping the payments and we would try to find a solution. Roy emphasized to the five ladies that it was up to them whether others would have the opportunity to receive a micro-credit in the future.
Even though we had fully turned the credit program in Hambantota over to Zaria (Roy’s sister-in-law), she insisted on going through all the files with us.
We are convinced that the micro-credit program is a perfect way to help and dearly hope that the problems in Kirinda can be straightened out. In at least two of the cases, we were under the impression that the ladies could have been able to make their payments, if they had only given it a try. Perhaps they had hoped that we would not show up anymore……………….