Salma Jabeen, a housewife living in the remote area of Dogian, Azad Kashmir suffered many years of hardship and tolerance after her husband was left handicapped due to a major accident. After the unfortunate incident she had no source of income to support her handicapped husband and two years daughter.

Therefore, in 2007, arrived a ray of hope when Sukhi Development Foundation initiated the program ‘Supporting Livelihoods for Vulnerable Rural Communities, which helps poor families by extending to them small loans for modest enterprises. Our Women Organization (WO) in the village put forward Salma’s case for microcredit so that she could start a little business to support her family.

After Salma’s case had been accepted, she received an interest free loan of 24,000 PKR for a period of 24 months from Sukhi. With this loan and some additional personal savings she has opened a vocational centre. There are 35 female participants getting training and the duration of training is 6 months. Salma is charging 150 PKR as a fee from each of them.

According to current circumstances, based on the mid-term assessment of Salma’s business, the assistance extended to her by Sukhi’s credit program has raised her monthly income to 5250 PKR in a short time span. She is not getting any profits at the moment but at least earning something to meet the expenses of her children and handicapped husband, but in the future she is expecting increased earnings as the number of participants is increasing, and repaying the loan in time as well. She pays a loan installment of 1,000 PKR regularly per month. She is quiet happy with these earnings and hoping for more in the future.

Salma’s case is not very different from a number of women affected in the earthquake, who have benefited from the Sukhi’s credit program.

Shahida Javed, who is living in the rural village of Nazarpur, Bagh, Azad Kashmir is surviving very hard due to her husband’s serious illness and weak mental condition. She has no absolute source of income to support her ill husband and two sons and two daughters. Previously she was rearing some goats from which she was supporting her family partly.

A major change came when Sukhi Development Foundation initiated the program ‘Supporting Livelihoods for Vulnerable Rural Communities, which helps poor families by giving them small loans for self-effacing enterprises. Our Women Organization (WO) in the village promoted Shahida’s case for micro credit so that she could start a micro enterprise to sustain her survival.

After Shahida’s case had been approved, she received an interest free loan of 24,000 PKR for a period of 24 months from Sukhi. Now she has purchased a buffalo from the loan granted to her and some added personal savings of hers. She has good experience of livestock rearing, and attending training sessions from Sukhi further polished her skills. Now she is selling milk in the local market of the village.

According to latest report, based on the mid-term assessment of Shahida’s business, the support provided to her by Sukhi’s credit program helped her earn 2000 PKR per month after paying all the expenses. Currently she is not getting a handsome amount to run the whole family setup, but her situation is much better than before. She is paying loan installment 1,000 PKR regularly per month with the money she is earning and is quiet optimistic about the future.

Shahida’s case is not the only case of a woman surviving in these circumstances; there are lots of other similar success stories of women, who have benefited from Sukhi’s interest-free credit program.

Basharat Jan, a self employed women living in the remote village of Chimiati, Bagh, Azad Kashmir is struggling hard to meet the needs of her three young sons and a daughter. It’s a tough task for women to run the family through her earnings in a remote area. But in 2007, her days changed when Sukhi Development Foundation initiated the program ‘Supporting Livelihoods for Vulnerable Rural Communities, which helps poor families by giving them small loans free of interest for different enterprises. Our Women Organization (WO) in the village promoted Basharat Jan’s case for micro credit so that she could start a small business to sustain her survival.

After Basharat Jan’s case was pursued, she received an interest free loan of 24,000 PKR for a period of 24 months from Sukhi. Now she has opened a small shop in her own house near a private school and selling common goods of student’s interest. Sukhi also provided her basic enterprise training to run her business successfully.

According to recent analysis, based on the mid-term evaluation of  Basharat Jan’s business, the support offered to her by Sukhi’s interest-free micro credit program helped her earn 3,000 PKR every month as an absolute profit. She is easily supporting her children with these savings and also paying loan installment of 1,000 PKR in time. She is very happy and motivated with the earnings and quite sure that her business will flourish in the coming days.

Basharat Jan is one of several self employed women, who have benefited from Sukhi’s “Supporting Livelihoods for Vulnerable Rural Communities” program.

Rubina Ashraf, a widow living in the remote village of Kotla Jangian,Mirpur, Azad Kashmir endured many years of hardship and suffering after the death of her husband, a driver by profession, about six years ago. In order to support her mother-in-law and family of 5 young children, Rubina set up a small grocery store in one of the rooms of her small house. Her average income was between 1,500 and 2,000 rupees, an amount significantly insufficient for her family needs.

Thereafter, in 2005, arrived a ray of hope when Sukhi Development Foundation initiated the ‘Credit and Enterprise Support Program’ which helps impoverished families by extending to them small loans for modest enterprises. Our Women Organization (WO) in the village put forward Rubina’s case for microcredit so that Rubina could expand her little retail business and improve her monthly income.

After Rubina’s case had been accepted, she received an interest-free loan of Rs.18,000.00 for a period of 18 months from the Sukhi. With this loan, Rubina approached her wholesale supplier and asked him to provide her with merchandise on cash for the same amount, as well as extra merchandise worth exactly the same amount on credit basis. Because of her good credit standing, her supplier agreed, putting Rubina and her family on the road to economic betterment.

As the situation currently stands, based on the initial mid-term assessment of Rubina’s business, the assistance extended to her by the Sukhi Credit and Enterprise Development Program has raised her monthly income to between 6,000 and 6,500 rupees in the initial six months. Rubina is now providing very well for the education and general expenditures of her children, as well as comfortably repaying the loan. She worries no longer about meeting her monthly expenses; she instead looks forward to a better and prosperous future.

Rubina’s story is not very different from those hundreds of women folks, who have benefited from the Sukhi’s credit and enterprises development program.

Misar Jan’s husband is disable, so she is a sole earner for her family. She was running a small general store in his house, located at by pass road, Bagh city. Life was not much conformable but tolerable. She was working hard to support her handicap husband, four young daughters and a son.

As like hundreds of thousands other people, Misar Jan was also hurt by the devastating earthquake of October 2005, that killed more than 50,000 people in AJK. The earthquake had completely destroyed her house, and definitely her shop. But the quake couldn’t break her confidence and morale. Even, when she was living in a tent along with her family, she started selling households items in tent village that was established in Bagh by various humanitarian agencies. But the effort was at limited scale and couldn’t meet all the requirement of a livelihood.

Early in 2007, Sukhi’s Women Organization of Bagh city identified Misar Jan as most rational for Sukhi’s interest free microfinance facility. Sukhi Development Foundation, under its program ‘Supporting Livelihoods for Vulnerable Rural Communities, lended Misar Jan a loan of Rs 24,000 to revamp her business. She, not only repair her old shop but also stock all the necessary households items for sale. This little but valuable assistance brought good change in their lives.

The business circle has started moving fast. She is not earning good profits but also expecting increase as numbers of customers are increasing. Misar Jan is more confident now, as she is earning good to meet the expenses of her children and handicapped husband, and repaying the loan in time as well.