A follow-up interview with Ms. Yabre Belemgnegre from the Vowogdo Epicenter in Burkina Faso. Yabre spoke to us last year about the many workshops offered by The Hunger Project (THP)-Burkina Faso. This year she discusses the influence of the Microfinance Program on her life and family.
Q: Please introduce yourself.
Yabre: My name is Belemgnegre Yabre, a women farmer from Ouédgo Petit. I am 53 years old and mother of five girls and two boys.
Q: Are you literate? If yes what is the importance of literacy for you?
Yabre: Yes I am literate. Literacy is very important. That is why, despite my advanced age, I wanted to take literacy classes. Today, with literacy, I am able to keep accounts of my income-generating activities, and to read the addresses and messages on my phone and signs.
Q: You mentioned income-generating activities, when did you start these activities?
Yabre: I started participating in income-generating activities through the microfinancing granted to women under the partnership with THP-Burkina Faso. In the past, it was very difficult for us to undertake an activity other than agriculture because of limited funding. Since 2008, every year I receive a microfinance loan.
Q: What do you do with your microfinancing?
Yabre: When I receive a loan, I invest in food processing specifically for processing the seeds of African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) in a condiment sauce. I also buy and sell cereals.
Q: Does this help you meet the needs of your family?
Yabre: Through activities that I lead, I am now regarded highly in my family. I help in the education and care of my children, and even in some of the needs of my husband. I have the freedom to participate in training and women activities in the epicenter of which I am a leader.
Q: What do you feel about the situation of other women in your epicenter?
Yabre: Like me, other women are dynamic. They are involved in almost all the committees that exist in the epicenter and some of them in local government. They are engaged in individual and group activities like gardening, which started in the area of the epicenter.
Q: And you, what it is your role in the epicenter?
Yabre: I am treasurer of the epicenter’s committee.
Q: Thank you for the interview. Do you have anything else you would like to say?
Yabre: I thank our partner, The Hunger Project-Burkina Faso, and I wish them a long life.
October 15, 2010
