Zimele in conjunction with Metro Community Church (www.emetro.org) is pleased to announce the receipt of the 2009 Courageous Leadership Award sponsored by the Willow Creek Association and World Vision. The Courageous Leadership Award was created to inspire all leaders by honoring churches doing exceptional work bringing assistance to the wholistic needs of under-resourced communities affected by AIDS around the world. For more details, please see here.

With an estimated 90% unemployment rate and hyper-inflation of over 200 million percent inflation, people are unable to afford the to pay for the daily necessities. Basic public services are breaking down as most teachers, nurses, garbage collectors and janitors have stopped working because their salaries no longer cover the cost of transport to work.

The group currently has 14 members and has saved R1234 to date. One of the members is 85 years old and she is using the benefits from the group to improve the wellbeing of her extended family of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

This savings group pooled their savings to start a group business. They bought 18 trays of eggs for each of them to sell. They sold the eggs at 2x their costs, which allowed them to repay the group loan and have enough money to buy another 18 trays of eggs debt free!

With their savings they bought a hair shaving kit and started a haircutting business to earn enough money to put themselves through school. Mthobisi and Nkosingiphile also use the money to buy food for their siblings. The savings and business skills they learned in the Self-Help-Groups taught them how to save and how to start and run their business.

As the members learned financial discipline, they were able to consistently purchase food to feed their grandchildren. As they became better savers, and as their savings grew, they able to use loans to dramatically transform their lives.