Women in Bloom International Zambia strongly believes in women empowerment. We believe in promoting women’s sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others. We also believe that when a woman is empowered the quality of life improves in the communities.
We began 2022 by choosing five (5) women street sellers/marketeers for our Micro Lending program. The women were given funds to be used to purchase their produce to sell and/or to grow their own produce. These women are single mothers, widows, orphans, who are trying to make ends meet. They all have big dreams for their future and for that of their children.
Let’s follow their stories beginning with our first street seller:
Linda’s Story:
Linda Chulu was orphaned at the age of (ten) 10. Hopeless and with nowhere to go, she resorted to a life on the streets; it was there where she met a man who would make her sell oranges on his behalf. For Linda, she had a “job”, but she was only receiving K1 from the sale of each orange – that is less than a dollar!
This has been Linda’s life for the past fifteen (15) years, making a dollar, literally! We met up with Linda in January and immediately put her in the program, offering her financial assistance – what a difference a few months have made. Today Linda owns her own business, can buy her own produce to sell, and this has sparked her to seriously lay the groundwork to open her own fruit/vegetable produce store in her community. Her goal is to change lives by not only selling reasonable priced produce, but to be able to employ members of the community.
