Mandate eNewsletter, 2007 - Issue No. 2

Proverbs 31 Women in Tribal Dress

Their ears strain to hold up their heavy earrings. In fact, their entire bodies strain under the weight of being Masai women. Viewed as property by the men, Masai women are subjected to backbreaking work, female genital mutilation, polygamy, and low levels of education.

Despite these obstacles, each of the dozen Masai women meeting in this small church along a road in rural Kenya could pass for the woman described in Proverbs 31, whose hard work, entrepreneurship, and faith resulted in praise from her children and her husband. The Masai women in this meeting hold their heads high as they discuss how this rural church has enabled them to form a savings and credit association, providing them with the capital and dignity they need to start and expand their own small businesses.

One lady testifies, "I bought a cow with my loan of 20,000 Kenya Shillings (approximately $300) and then sold it. I got good profit! When I finished this loan, I took another loan of 20,000. I am so happy. This has really uplifted me. I have now started another business of selling practice tests to students to help them prepare for the national exams. With the profits I am able to pay the school fees for my children." Each woman testifies in turn, telling story after story of how their incomes have improved as a result of this savings and credit association.

How do the Masai men view the empowerment of these women? One lady, who has become a cattle trader as a result of this group, beams as she states, "Because we are born-again Christians, the Lord has helped this group of ladies. My husband is very proud of me. The Masai men don't think we women can do anything. But because I have been working so hard, my husband sees that I am a very important person." Another woman states, "As a result of this group, my husband is proud of me. Even my children are proud. I am doing business and paying school fees for my children. I am even paying the tuition for my husband to get more education. All the family members are happy."

And Masai outside the church are taking note. Seeing the hard work and rising incomes of these ladies, unbelievers are asking if they can join this savings and credit group. The current group members anticipate that, after being in the savings and credit association, these unbelievers will eventually become Christians and join the church.

The dozen Masai ladies in this group are just a small sample of the approximately 4,000 households across the country being helped by savings and credit associations started by the Free Pentecostal Fellowship of Kenya (FPFK). Several years ago, a consultant named Roy Mersland introduced the FPFK denomination to some of the Chalmers Center's training materials, which explained how churches could use savings and credit associations to minister in word and in deed to the poor.† After some initial resistance from the leadership, the program took off, spreading across the remote churches of this denomination. Mersland estimates that this ministry could reach a total of 20,000 households by the time it is five years old, impacting approximately 100,000 people.‡

The approach being used by the FPFK is quite different from that used in standard microcredit programs, which rely on money from donors to create and operate large organizations which lend the donors' money to the poor. The approach being used by the FPFK helps the poor to start and manage their own, simple, savings and credit associations in which the savings of the poor are used as the source of the loan capital. This reliance on local resources reflects the Chalmers Center's philosophy that, whenever possible, it is best to empower the poor to utilize the human and financial gifts that God has given to them, gifts which can sometimes be undermined by the resources supplied by well-meaning donors and development organizations.

Can such a heavy reliance on local resources really work? Can poverty really be reduced without pouring in outside resources? Perhaps the best indicator of successful poverty alleviation is the extent to which the poor are so empowered that they are able to start ministering to the even poorer…

As the meeting with the Masai women comes to a close, one of the most entrepreneurial of these ladies says there is something else she would like to share. With profound confidence and dignity she states, "I am a pure Masai. Some Masai women look at all my business activities and wonder if I am a pure Masai. They do not believe that a Masai woman can do all these things. But I am a pure Masai. My prayer is that in the future I will be able to help the Masai girls far away from this road in the interior regions. The Masai fathers do not want to invest in their daughter's education because their daughters will be lost to other families when they get married. I want to teach the girls living in the interior regions, so that I can empower them to be just like us."

"She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy" (Proverbs 31:20).

For more information about the Chalmers Center, visit us at www.chalmers.org.