A view of the Children's Village Assomada, Cape Verde…

  A view of the Children's Village Assomada, Cape Verde  

  This the story of a Cape Verdean mother who is now a business woman who is able to care for her children.

34-year-old Linete is a mother of three. The family lives in Assomada, in a small house lent by another Cape Verdean family who lives out of the country, but Linette could hardly cope with providing the essential services for her twelve and five-year-old girls and eleven-year-old boy. However, since the family received support from the family strengthening programme of SOS Children's Villages Cape Verde, Linete is now her own employer and has regained confidence.

Before, Linete was struggling and had no real job. She did help her old aunt to sell vegetables and received a tiny commission that could provide a little bit of food for her and her children. However, it was definitely not enough to raise her three kids, especially when the father of the children who had left never contributes to any expenses

  "Now its great!", says Linete. "With the 20,000 escudos I received thanks to the family strengthening programme to start my own little business, I managed to get some goods, fruits and vegetables to sell in the market, and all the profit is for me! I really earn much more money than I ever earned in the past, and I am now able to buy food in bulk for my family, which is much cheaper!", explains Linete. "Once, I buy a 25 kg bag of rice, a crate of oil bottles...another time I buy a big bag of sugar. And like this, I manage to make our own stock and our family is no longer missing anything at home".

Luckily, Linete has business in the blood! Ever since she was a little girl, she used to sell. Her father left her and her siblings and mother when she was a little girl. "My mother having very little resources, my siblings and I only attended school until the fourth year of primary, as it was free of charge, but after that we stayed home", explains Linete. "When I saw my friends were always getting new things like clothes, body creams and other girls' stuffs, I decided I would start selling small things to be able to also buy my little own stuff!, she recalls with a smile.

Today, Linete's business skills have developed! The amount she received from SOS Children's Villages Cape Verde is indeed a zero interest loan. She'll start reimbursing in March, and plans to be done by July. "As I know I have to reimburse the loan, I only spend a bit of the profit I make and save the rest for the future!", explains Linete

Now a business woman, Linete does not put aside her role as a mother. Linete starts her day at seven. She prepares breakfast for her children who go to school at eight o'clock. Then, she goes to the market to sell and comes back only in the late afternoon. Sometimes, she eats lunch in the market; sometimes, she waits to go home to eat. Back home, it's time to cook dinner and make sure the children did their homework. When she goes to bed at night, Linete never forgets to pray to God to continue giving her strength and courage to keep her caring for her children the way she's now able to!

In addition to this loan support, the family strengthening programme in Assomada also paid for the school fees of her three children, to enable Linete to only concentrate on improving her business and getting progressively settled in her household expenditures management. Her youngest girl is attending the SOS Kindergarten in Assomada, while the two older ones are in primary school nearby. To get started, her family also received a first necessity package, including rice, sugar, powder milk, beans and soap, among other things .

Linete's three children are part of the first set of children to receive support from the family strengthening programme of Assomada.