Women at Suoi Trau Commune in mutual assistance do business, building happy families

“A few years ago, my family had a lot of difficulties, so my husband and I only dreamt of an investment on raising a few sows”, confided Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy from Hamlet 3, Suoi Trau Commune. Up to now, when recalling, Mrs. Thuy still seems to be haunted by the sticking poverty-stricken plight: “I shudder to think of those days when we were so poor, when my husband worked as a mason and I tilled the fields at home, with 5 additional  school-age children some of whom was interminably ailing, resulting in an extremely scanty economic situation and when we had to make both ends meet, worrying about every piece of food and clothes.” But now, Mrs. Thuy’s family is much better off, possessing a rather spacious house and studious and obedient children. She said that the Women’s Union had mobilized her to take part in the Model of women helping mutually in the economic development and in building a happy family in the form of capital pooling among the women in the same group. Thanks to this amount of capital, she was able to set up a pigsty with the current number of nearly 30 sows. Besides raising pigs, she also invested on improving garden and field, growing fruit-trees with which she can make a profit of over VND 10 million per year.

Previously, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Canh’s family also was of a poor case. After the participation in the Group of women doing business in mutual assistance, she was helped with a loan of more than VND 7 million. Mrs. Canh cheerfully told: “At that time, my husband and I were so happy because for us that sum of VND 7 million was really too much. With the capital in hand, we again had to think of how to use it effectively in order to contribute the money back to the group. With the field land available, we decided to invest on buying fertilizers and machines to improve the fields to grow maize and manioc. Thanks to the economic development, we invested on buying more field lands. Now with more than 2,000 m2 of garden and field, our yearly average income amounts to approximately over VND 30 million.”

Realizing the practical effect of this model, Mrs. Canh has actively taken part in the Commune’s Women’s Union. Trustfully elected the Leader of the Women’s Union branch of Hamlet 3- Suoi Trau Commune, and taking her own family as an example, she has mobilized other women to participate in the Union in order to help one another to reduce poverty.

This movement helps a considerable number of women to stabilize their lives. Like the case of Mrs. Le Thi Tho, the couple with two small children had to be in others’ employ everyday and sheltered in a tent. Joining in the Union, they bought a plot of land of 100 m2 and built a small house. From a family of poverty, they have hitherto stabilized step by step and paid off the debt. As for Mrs. Vu Thi Nga, her couple went together from the North to the South to set themselves up in business with empty hands. Since the time of participation in the Union in 1998, they have so far owned a herd of sows, a small house; and they became a household overcoming poverty in 2005.

Here cited some of the numerous cases of Suoi Trau Commune women who escape from poverty thanks to the program of supporting women in economic development of the Women’s Union. Exchanging words with us, Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang- The President of Suoi Trau Commune’s Women’s Union said the Union’s way is to mobilize the women within the commune to take part in Women saving groups for loans such as groups of gold, brick, ao dai, labor exchange during the busy harvest time and so on. Forms of capital pooling are very plentiful. For example, the gold group including 12 members will contribute gold to the funds with each member 3 tenths of a tael per year, which helps to loan 12 members within the group in rotation; or in the brick group, for a period, each member has to contribute one thousand bricks and three cement bags (equivalent to nearly VND 500,000 in current money) to the group. During the busy harvest time, the women in the commune campaign for working days to help one another. 

In the last year, the Commune’s Women’s Union developed two Women saving groups with more than 32 attendants, 341 women householders, and  25-26 women reducing poverty contributed to the group with an amount of nearly VND 150 million which helped to loan 231 women. Besides, the Union formed 10 Women interdependent groups which loaned 100 women with the sum of VND 108 million; 22 labor exchange groups which helped 85 women with 2,656 working ays. Up to now, the Union has still maintained 2 gold groups and 1 brick group for 60 women to take part in.

From this model, the Commune’s Women’s Union has exploited strengths to develop economics, utilizing loan capital effectively. The Union co-coordinated with the Farmers’ Union of the Commune to organize many seminars and training classes such as sow and meaty pig raising, how to take care of pigs, how to prevent pestilent insects on cashew trees, how to breed cows on giving births and so forth. Besides, the Union also mobilized the women to care about and build a happy family, instructing on women and children health-care, health on pregnancy, and campaigned a movement of growing two trees and raising one child, and the like.

Mrs. Hang added that the Union maintains and mixes frequently forms of activities which helps to entertain the women in terms of mentality because many women live in as far as secluded and remote fields, even there are houses hundreds of meters from each other, all of which cause little chance for them to take part in the community’s activities, to talk, to exchange and support mutually. This model is also a way to help them raise their awareness of social matters, catch the Party and the State’s policies and guidelines and contribute to creating images of women in this modern society.

To today Suoi Trau commune, the roles of modern women are proven in reality with their positive solidarity and determination to do business to reduce poverty. The good sign is that previously there were a lot of poor women households yet today, they are helped to overcome poverty, among whom some strive hard to strongly make their fortunes.

(Translated by THKC)