Aboubakar Banza Client Profile: when health services and microfinance meet

Hidden off a dirt path in the Bel Air quarter, a modest size clinic appears out of nowhere. Entering the first building, we discover 3 fully equipped beds with mosquito nets, a consulting room and no less than 5 more canopy beds in the last compartment. We are then led into the doctor’s small office, tucked away amidst the expansion work. He explains in perfect French that “they would love to open a radiology and gynecology center.” When asked about his ambitions, he candidly says: “I want this place to become a hospital.”

Aboubakar Banza is a certified Congolese practitioner who survived the bureaucratic hurdles of the 5 year undergraduate system. He has been a HOPE client for 12 cycles and has faithfully reimbursed three times the highest benchmark of $2,000. Moreover, he employs two qualified coworkers. While existing the parcel, he points over and designates a small kiosk resembling stall as the pharmacy. That is where he begun his business.

In a country filled with mystic occult beliefs, HOPE RDC is a testimony to the physical and spiritual power of the Lord. Syncretism has perverted the bantu culture for centuries, but the revival of the Church is one of the gateways to development. Beyond serving his community in multiple sustainable ways, Aboubakar is a devout Muslim believer. Pray that the Father would continue to use this enterprise for His glory and soften this man’s heart to the sacrificial love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Paty Sab Client Profile: the beauty of integrity

Congolese marketplaces are swamped with half-reliable telecommunication products, be it vodacom or airtel. Street-vending cellphone minutes therefore seems uninspiring, yet the perseverance of Paty is startling. But how did this seemingly ordinary client transform a $100 loan into $2,000?

Paty Sab once prowled the restless Kenya neighborhood where teenagers drive rundown taxi buses. Unlike everyone, Paty found refuge in his family and pastor who introduced him to HOPE. After only 3 loan cycles he had centralized his activities in a small office. He then brilliantly began to buy minutes in bulk in order to print the code encrypted cutouts directly from the Internet. Today, his sales reach some two thousand individual charges per day.

In addition to his entrepreneurial skills, Paty is an example of integrity in his community. HOPE RDC lends through a village banking leadership structure. In a society prone to corruption, Paty was logically appointed treasurer and has contributed to the staggering saving rates of his brothers and sisters in Christ. In retrospect, he affirms that, through HOPE, “I learned what it means to be fair and honest.”

Paty and Jeanette have been married for a year and are the proud parents of Bryan, only a month old. Paty is also the choir director of his church where he regularly praises the Lord. The red clay of Lubumbashi is a continuous reminder of the paternalism inflicted by current and previous leaders, but stories such as Paty Sab remind us that empowerment means freedom.