Testimony of Biancha Amisse, ‘VSLA’ member, within the project implemented by ZSL in Mozambique

‘I learnt about the existence of savings groups through my mother who invited me to join a Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA) in Quirinde but, due to the distance, I couldn’t. So I asked my mother to talk to the team and see if the project could create a group in Mbuizi. The technician agreed and asked me to make a list with the name of all the interested people and so the VSLA in Mbuizi was created with the name “Unidade” (unity) and it’s now in its 3rd cycle. The idea of saving, beyond my mother’s invitation, also came because I could not keep money at home.

I am very happy of being a VSLA member and I am not planning to leave. I mobilized people to join the VSLA until it reached the maximum of acceptable members (25). The good thing about being a member of this VSLA is that it allows me to accomplish my dreams: I never thought I could have a real bed to sleep, but now I was able to buy one for instance. In the second year of savings, I managed to build a shack with my husband in Nacala, where we are from, and now in the 3rd year, we started to build a shack in Quirinde. I don’t see anything bad in the group, there was never a lack of respect or fights within the VSLA and we remain friends until today.

I really like the groups that are being created from horticulture within the VSLA, which is a way to improve the living conditions of the people. My main activity is agriculture and my husband is a fisher. Yields have increased, my husband now has a boat and gill net. I manage now to pay people who help me to work my land, I have reduced the purchase of food because I can feed my family with my production. I have already made loans and bought a gill net for my husband and bought more material for the construction of my shack in Quirinde.’

Click here to find out more about the ZSL project in Mozambique.