Saltwater UU Church funds
Village Bank for the poor in Afghanistan: 

The Sadaf Village-Bank of Herati Women

Location of Village Bank – Sadaf (which means Pearl in Dari) is a FINCA Afghanistan supported village bank consisting of nine female members. The village bank is located in the Pie Hasar District of Herat City. Pie Hasar is in the historic old quarter of the city. The area is characterized by narrow laneways, high compound walls and traditional style mud brick houses. The members are engaged in small scale business activities to satisfy day to day needs of their families.

HERAT

Herat province lies in Western Afghanistan and borders Turkmenistan to the north and Iran to the west. Its strategic location has made it a historically important commercial, political and military location. The province as a whole has an estimated population of 1,208,000, a large percentage are concentrated along the Hari-Rud River and the main circular road from Kandahar through Herat. The city Herat has an estimated population of 354,800. It lies in a fertile plain between the mountains of Ghor and the arid plains of Iranian border. The people are predominantly Tajik (approximately 60%) with a large minority of Pashtuns and a much smaller minority of Hazaras. People predominantly speak the Dari language which is a variant of the Persian language.

The city has a very rich cultural, artistic and academic heritage. It is famous for its beautiful architecture and tile mosaics from the Timurid period and is still considered a major cultural capital.

Herat is characterized by wide plains and valleys which, with the aid of extensive irrigation, have historically been a major source of agricultural production. In rural areas livelihoods are dominated by agricultural and livestock production including wheat, rice and cotton and production is reliant on traditional forms if irrigation channels (karez). The three year drought from 1998, which effected large parts of Afghanistan, had a major impact on people’s livelihoods –harvests failed and livestock prices collapsed. In the city trading and laboring are the predominant lively-hood activities.

Map of Afghanistan (Herat highlighted in the west)

Sadaf Village Bank: Member Information

The original bank officers and borrowers at the second meeting of  the Sadaf Village Bank in Pie Hasart, Herat.

FINCA Afghanistan Client Profile – Sadaf Vilage Bank

Client Name – Shah Bubu Age – 37 Family – Husband (who is a Truck Driver) and 7 sons Business – Tailor and Dress Maker

Shah Bubu works as a tailor and dressmaker, a skill she has been using for over 10 years to generate extra income to help support her family. She has 7 sons aged between 24 and 12, all still living at home. Her eldest son is engaged to be married, so her family is now working hard and saving money to pay for the lavish wedding ceremony and reception that is custom in Afghanistan. Although Shah Bubu’s family is originally from Herat, they spent 14 years living in Iran to escape the fighting and persecution faced by Heratis during Soviet invasions and Taleban rule. The family moved back to Herat City soon after the Taleban Regime was deposed by the Coalition Forces.  Shah Bubu tailors children’s clothing using an old hand powered sewing machine. In the summer, around the Islamic Festival of Eid (during which it is tradition for Afghan’s to wear new clothes), she can make up to 1,000 Afghanis or $20 per week. With her first FINCA loan of 6,000 Afghani’s Shabubu was able to purchase fabrics to tailor a variety of children’s clothes. Her eldest son set up a small stall in the local bazaar to sell the products. Previously Shah Bubu had relied on comission work from local shop keepers. Now she is able to buy her own fabrics and retail her own clothes, keeping all the profits within the family. They have recently connected to the Herat’s electricity supply, so with this new FINCA loan of 10,000 Afghani’s Shah Bubu plans to purchase an electric sewing machine. With an electric machine she will be able to produce many more clothes for the family stall in the bazaar.  Shah Bubu is supporting all her children though school, and recognises that education is the key to a better furture. She hopes that some of her sons will achieve good enough results in High School to go on and study medicine or engineering at the Herat University. She herself never had the opportunity to attend school, and was taught only basic literacy skills at home. Shah Bubu thanks FINCA for providing Herati Women with the opportunity to access small business loans. She says that the slogan of FINCA is true for the women in Sadaf Group, with only a small loan these women can look forward big changes in their lives.

Last but not least... some children of the bank officers: