Mrs. Laura Bush Hosted by Zambian WORTH Group

Mrs. Laura Bush visited the Tufune WORTH group in Zambia June 28, 2007, to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and malaria in Africa. At the local market, where many of the group members are engaged in small business ventures, Mrs. Bush talked about the ingenuity and success of "microenterprise projects where women are able to take care of themselves and support themselves - many of whom are widows - because of loans that they make to each other." The rural women spoke to her with pride about their success as bankers and business women and the difference the additional income from their banking and small businesses makes to their families.

In Zambia the WORTH program targets HIV-affected communities and specifically works with caretakers of orphans, people living with HIV/AIDS, and other vulnerable populations. Mrs. Bush mentioned the benefits of integrating HIV prevention with WORTH?s multifaceted approach for women by "empowering them to provide for themselves and their families."

"We are thrilled that Mrs. Bush was able to see a WORTH group on her brief visit to Zambia," said Marcia Odell, long-time Director of WORTH, who accompanied Mrs. Bush on her visit to the Tufune WORTH group. "Community banking has become an important strategy in combating HIV/AIDS, which rapidly drains the resources that families have when illness strikes."

Among the women Mrs. Bush met was Emelda Nyangu, chairperson of the Tufune WORTH group. When Ms. Nyangu, a widow, first heard of WORTH she was most attracted to the opportunity to learn to read and write. She also recognized the benefits of the basic accounting and entrepreneurial skills that WORTH promotes for starting a business that would help her care for her own five children and her four nieces and nephews, who were orphaned when their parents died of AIDS. Today Ms. Nyangu is literate and runs a profitable business selling fish door-to-door and in the local market. The Tufune group is currently educating the community about HIV/AIDS, lobbying to abolish early marriage, and has stopped domestic violence in members' households through informal counseling of offenders. The dream of the Tufune group is to be able to build a school in the community to serve the needs of children and young people through grade 12, buy a mill to grind maize commercially, and drill a borehole to offset current water shortages.

Mrs. Bush was joined by her daughter Jenna Bush, Zambian first lady Maureen Mwanawasa, and "American Idol" finalist Melinda Doolittle.

Since WORTH began, nearly 100,000 women have started their own community banks, which are fully self-sustaining. Once their banks are established WORTH women teach other women how to save together and to launch and manage their own banks.

The WORTH program in Zambia is funded under a PEPFAR grant administered by Project Concern International with technical assistance from Pact.