Women of WORTH
Outside the Flame Center, in the soft light of a grassy field at dusk, I meet the women of WORTH. The WORTH Program -- which is funded by USAID -- extends micro-credit to Zambian women, empowering them with self-reliance and self respect. The women start businesses with loans from the WORTH community bank: a cash box kept by the group's treasurer and secured by three padlocks (three different women each have a key to open one lock). With the profits from their businesses, the women care for themselves -- and, to date, about 11,500 orphans and vulnerable children.
As I admire the women's crafts, I'm even more impressed by their stories, especially the one told by Mary: a 13-year-old girl who is the youngest member of WORTH. Mary's mother died when she was little, and her father is HIV-positive. Through WORTH, she saved enough money to buy a camera and with her new equipment she works as a photographer. With the money Mary earns from taking pictures in her community, she's putting herself through school. Her father explains that he enrolled his daughter in WORTH because "a woman starts as a child." Mary's father wants his child to have the education and skills to succeed.