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Ireland is ranked 9th from the top of the Human Development Index while Burundi is ranked 4th from the bottom.  While Burundi is a third the size of Ireland it has double our population.  Moreover, the average income in Ireland is 114 times more than that in Burundi which equates to less than two dollars a day and finally, if you live in Burundi you are likely to live at least 20 years less than if you live in Ireland. 

 “When I recall facts and figures like these I am always grateful that I was born in Ireland.  But, I didn’t make that choice just as any child in Burundi did not choose the life and circumstances they were born into. The levels of poverty in Burundi are such that many children are being left behind even before they are born.“ – Eithne Brennan, Team Hope International Programmes Manager

Team Hope works with mothers in Burundi, helping them to increase their prospects and those of their children.  Espérance Nicintije is one of those mothers.  Espérance was pregnant with her eighth child when she lost her husband. Widowed, she had no home where her children could feel safe and secure, no ability to buy food, and no money to pay school fees. She said “Before the project it was a very bad situation.  Before it was a bad life”.

Last year Espérance was given the opportunity to join a voluntary savings and lending association (VSLA) being run by Team Hope’s Partners in Burundi in the hills of Gitega district where poverty is a daily reality.    The project works on two levels.  As a group, members are offered some small livestock at the start of the project which helps them to make an income which is then divided between the group monthly.  This encourages members to work closely together and in turn they offer support to each other as women and mothers struggling to give their children better opportunities in life.  The project also offers individual members the opportunity to raise funds through a savings and lending scheme and advice on how to use this money to benefit them. 

Espérance started by saving as little as 50 cent a week but in time had saved enough to allow her to take out a loan and to begin to give her children some stability.  Her first loan was spent on buying a small plot of land and constructing a simple house that her children can now call home.  Espérance, and her older children, worked hard on other people’s land to pay back this loan.  Almost a year later she was able to ask for a second loan to buy fertiliser and she has begun to grow nutritious food for her children on her own small lot and also some vegetables to sell.  Espérance told us that once she has paid back that loan  in full she plans to take out a third loan to pay the school fees for her children who are still of school going age. 

By being part of this project Espérance is now able to offer her children a more healthy, safe and secure life and an education that will give them more opportunities to become parents who can do the same and more for their own children.  Expérance has also gained the friendship, support and advice of the project ‘family’ – something all the women talked about as being an unexpected but huge benefit of being a member of the project. 

There are many more mothers in Burundi like Espérance who have not had the opportunity to become part of such a group that offers both friendship and support but also the chance to lift their families out of the cycle of poverty.  Help us to reach more women and children in Burundi, giving them the opportunity to experience the hope Espérance has experienced.