Since Sarah joined a Village Savings and Loan Association, she can borrow money in case of an emergency, can afford more food and therefore better adheres to her ARVs. As a result, her viral load has gone down and she now aspires to a promising future.
“Becoming a member of a Village Savings and Loan Association has really changed my life”, 43-year-old Sarah tells. “I often did not have enough money to buy food”, the mother of four children explains. “Therefore, me and my children regularly only ate once a day. As a result, I often skipped my ARVs. Those medicines are very strong and when I took them without any food, I often felt dizzy or even had to vomit. Due to the skipping of ARVs, my viral load was very high.”
Sarah’s husband is a seasonal tea picker, who only is employed for four months a year. In 2018, Sarah decided to start a small fish business, whereby she buys fresh fish at the market, dips the fish into flower, fries it in oil and sells the fried fish at the market. Earlier, this was very challenging though, as she couldn’t lend any money to buy stock or ingredients in larger quantities. “We were still struggling to earn money to be able to buy enough food. I also struggled to pay the school fees of my kids and we even didn’t have money to pay transport to a clinic. So, when me or my children were sick, we had to walk two hours to the clinic and two hours back home and therefore often delayed clinic visits.”
In 2022, Sarah joined a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA). “This really changed my life”, Sarah tells with a big smile. “Now when there is an emergency, I can borrow money”, the mother explains. “Like when me or my children are getting sick, we can borrow money for transport to the clinic. But it also helps me to pay the school fees at once, whereby I can repay the VSLA little by little.” “I also utilise the VSLA-meetings, once per every two weeks, to sell my fish to the other members”, tells the mother, which gives her some extra clientele. The VSLA also helps Sarah to afford more food for herself and her family. “I can now buy larger quantities, which is cheaper. I buy, for example, a bucket of 20 litres of maize. As a result, I can also stock some food, so we don’t run out of food.”
The stocking of food positively affects Sarah’s adherence to her ARVs. “Thanks to the improved availability of food, I now adhere to my drugs and, as a result, my viral load is low. When I get, for example, malaria, I can more easily go to the clinic for treatment. So, thanks to the membership of the VSLA, my health has really improved.” The VSLA also acts as a psychosocial group. “We are all mothers living with HIV. And through the group, we support each other, listen to each other’s problems and we motivate each other to adhere to the ARVs”, Sarah explains.
In the future, Sarah hopes that she will be able to expand her business. “I hope that there will be a way to receive bigger loans, so I can buy some livestock”, Sarah says. The mother thinks about buying some goats, chicken and maybe even a cow. “This could be an additional business for me”, she states. Sarah would also like to start a farming business with the complete VSLA group. “We could start a farming business as a group business”, the mother states. “We have also some disabled women in our group, that are not able to run their own businesses. So, if we could start such a group business, this could help us to support also these other women.”
