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| Coffee Cart purchased by Mother's Heart |
Sustainability is one of
the main goals at Mother’s Heart when it comes to helping the women in our
program become financially independent in their communities. Most of the women at Mother’s Heart
enter our program with little or no specialized skills that, along with being
single, create an enormous hardship financially.
Once the women enter our
program, we provide them access to either job placement or vocational training
of their choice such as cooking, hospitality training, and sewing from fair
trade organizations throughout Phnom Penh. Before the training, the majority of the women only have
the capacity to earn about $50-70 per month. After vocational training, their
incomes increase substantially to $100-$130 per month.
Several months ago we had
a creative and unusual request by one of the women in our program. Along with
the help of her mother, she wanted to start her own micro enterprise business. Her
idea was to sell coffee just outside a factory close to her home. We were impressed with her idea as well
as her recognition to select a location that would provide her with the most
customer traffic.
The staff at Mother’s
Heart shared in her and her mother’s vision by purchasing a coffee cart as well
as the start up supplies necessary to allow them to start their business. It has been both fun and exciting to
partner with this family in raising their income level. Micro enterprise is widely recognized
as a powerful tool to help the very poor but business-minded, throughout the
world to rise above poverty. For
as little as $200, we were able to make an incredible investment into the lives
of this family!
