It was time to plant crops, but Christiana had no money to buy fertilizer and seeds. How could she feed her family without the produce from their farm? Her only option was to borrow money from people who often charged an excessive interest rate. Sometimes they demanded a portion of the new crop as interest for the loan.
Christiana, her husband Amos, and their six children live in a farming community in northeast Nigeria. Like many Nigerian farm families, they found themselves in a perpetual cycle of debt, barely paying off the previous year’s crop loan in time to plant the new crop.
But for Christiana, this all changed in 2018 when she joined a SALT Savings Group. She had heard about SALT from friends who told how the program had impacted their physical and spiritual lives.
Christiana started saving money at the biweekly savings group meetings. The teachings from SALT’s Small Business Manual helped her better manage her resources and understand the snare of high-interest loans. Now when she needs a loan, she borrows from her savings group.
Christiana thanks God for helping with her farming. With a loan from her savings group, she was able to buy fertilizer and other farming inputs. The last farming season was successful, and she paid back her loan.
This Nigerian mother also recognizes the spiritual blessings of being part of the savings group. “The teaching from the manual has helped me in my family, how to train my children in God’s way, and how to relate with people,” Christiana says. “I have learned how to . . . coach my children into becoming godly leaders.” She also says the teaching has helped her learn how to be a better housewife.
Christiana feels the SALT program is needed in Nigeria for several reasons:
• It teaches people how to save for the future.
• In this perverse generation, it is present at the right time to teach a godly way of life.
• It brings unity among communities through the meetings and teaching.
If you would like to help families and individuals in various countries learn to provide for themselves through SALT Microfinance, please click the donate button to give a gift.
