The Jackpot

When you visit her store in Haiti, it’s clear that Marie Andre Bonheur is a successful businesswoman. But there was a time when her only business was selling cold drinks from a freezer. She used microcredit to incrementally grow her business. This microcredit was made possible through a program implemented by CWS and partner SSID, and Marie Andre says that she has relied on the microcredit three or four times. She has been part of her microcredit group from the very beginning. She makes sure she can always pay her loan back on time.

As a mother of two daughters, Marie Andre uses the profits from her business to provide food for her children and for herself. But that’s not all that the income does. She enjoys looking after pigs, and she has been able to purchase pigs. She received a cow through the CWS / SSID program, but has used her profits to purchase these additional animals.

In describing the impact that the CWS-supported program has had in her life, Marie Andre says, “Because they lent me money, I increased my business, I also bought some animals. I manage the business. For me, the project is going well. Because it helps us a lot, a lot, a lot. And I benefited a cow within the project. They give us inputs for our gardens in the project. For me, the project is really going well and I congratulate the project as well and I give thanks.”

Whenever the program ends, Marie Andre says that it will leave a lasting impact. “Well, when the project ends, what will remain – the project gave us houses. The houses won’t get destroyed; they will always stay here. And the microcredit I have – even if they were to stop the microcredit, if we manage the business well, we will always have this source here. That helps us a lot. And they gave us animals in the project, gardens. Soon I will harvest beets,” she says. To Marie Andre, the project feels like she has won “the jackpot.”

Watch Marie Andre tell her story: