Mysha (pictured above) became a child bride at age 13.
Mysha’s world was a lot like the story of Cinderella. She lost her mother when she was only seven years old, and her father remarried a woman who had two daughters. Rather than life becoming better, it became cruel and a nightmare for Mysha as their relationship unfolded.
Her new family was unkind, and they turned Mysha into their slave. At thirteen, Mysha was given as a child bride in her village to a man who didn’t even have a job to support her. “I felt like a piece of garbage,” she said, “because my life was worth nothing, and nobody cared about me.”
38 million child brides just like Mysha live in South Asian today, 13 million of whom were married before age thirteen.
“I didn’t even want to have children then,” said Mysha, as she remembered not wanting her children to face the same burdens and traumas she had experienced. But just when all hope seemed lost, our partnership of compassion arrived in her village.
Everything changed for Mysha and her family when she received her first micro-loan through our self-sustaining program. With a loan of 50 dollars, Mysha was able to buy ducks and chickens to begin a small business. Her loan officer helped her create a business plan and coached her as she started selling eggs at the local market. Within months, she had generated a new stable income that allowed her family to escape hunger for the first time.
After quickly repaying her first loan, Mysha expanded her agricultural business with a second micro-loan to buy a cow and sell milk in her village. Then, as her business thrived, she took out a third micro-loan to buy a used autorickshaw (pictured right) for her husband to drive, empowering them to create a booming small taxi service.
Families like Mysha’s are not alone. Over half of South Asians live in poverty, with over 33 million people living on less than $1.90 per day.
Micro-loans are a critical tool of compassion to empower families in extreme poverty to escape starvation, child marriage, and devastation. Our partners are bringing hope and the opportunity to escape poverty for good. Mysha and her husband are the first generation in their village to escape poverty. Through their hard work and entrepreneurship, Mysha’s family earns enough income for three meals a day, escaping the fear of starvation. Their surplus also enabled them to move from a shack with dirt floors to a brick house where they are now safe and secure.
Now 19 years old, Mysha has a one-year-old son, and she and her husband are praying for a daughter next. Along with experiencing a new life as a flourishing business owner, Mysha also heard about Christ’s love from our team members in her village for the first time. In every way, Mysha and her family are experiencing new life – having left a world of pain and darkness; they are now free and living in the light of God’s love.
Micro-loans bring compassion and the power of the Gospel to young girls every day. God is at work mightily in our partnership, bringing over 20,000 people out of spiritual darkness each month – and He’s just getting started.
Our partnership brings more than compassion to marginalized families who daily stand on the brink of destruction. Self-sustaining and holistic programs like micro-loans not only open doors for destitute people to free themselves from poverty, but they also bring the power of Christ’s love to unreached communities. By giving a micro-loan, your impact continues to grow by transforming family after family indefinitely; partner with us to transform communities today and see your impact multiplied.