Stories of Change


Mada with yams and pumpkin sticks in her shop.


CWS efforts in Indonesia positively impacted more than 17,000 people in 16 communities last year.

Source: CWS Annual Report 2017

Incredibly hard work, creativity and a little help from their friends

Mada and Lazarus Selan are undeniably hard workers.

Selan has several different occupations, depending on the week. He harvests corn to eat at home and vegetables to sell in a local market in the part of Indonesia where the family lives. He collects tamarind in the nearby forest, mostly to sell but also to enjoy at home. He works as a wage laborer on government-funded infrastructure construction jobs. When he’s not doing one of his other jobs, he is driving his motorcycle taxi to earn extra money – especially during corn-planting season, when he doesn’t have that income to count on.

It’s heartbreaking to realize, though, that this man who works so hard only earns about a dollar a day on average. Sometimes it’s $5 each week. Sometimes it’s $11. But it’s never enough.

Mada, meanwhile, is busy managing her home-based business making and selling fried bread. Some time ago she was able to get a $17 government loan, which allowed her to start her business. She has since made enough to pay back that loan, and now she makes about $5 per week, too.

Lazarus and Mada have two children to raise, school fees to pay and other household needs to meet. Even with both of them hard at work, they often came up short. They had to do what many people in their position must: take high-interest loans to meet expenses.

Things changed in September of 2017. Through the CWS Berdaya initiative, which is supported by Week of Compassion, women in their village were starting a savings group. Mada joined eagerly. The women learned about better ways to manage household finances and expand small businesses.

Armed with her new knowledge, and never one to back down from the challenge of hard work, Mada says she “felt confident enough” to expand her food business.

Since joining the group, Mada has taken loans of about $15 a total of eight times. Each time she has paid it back with 10 percent interest. She has used each one to expand her business. In addition the fried bread she has always sold, now she makes pumpkin fries, fried bread cakes, fried bananas and fried corn. She sells from her home every day and at a nearby market once a week. Her income has more than doubled, up to about $11 each week.

“I feel that since joining the Mawar group I have learned a lot of new things and I am now able to manage my income better,” says Mada. She continued, “I can pay for my children’s school fees, and I paid off loans from the loan shark! Also, once I have some more savings, I plan to put some in a bank account.” But first, Mada has lots of ideas about improving her business even more. She says she’s glad that the savings group gives her a chance to get the other women’s reactions to her business ideas as well as their suggestions.

Incredibly hard work, creativity and a little help from some friends. That’s what it has taken for Mada and Lazarus to triple their household income up to an average of nearly $3 per day. One thing that our team noticed is that they can now afford to buy household goods that are necessities, but that they once used to consider luxuries.

This is great progress to see.