Well, another year has flown by! It’s hard to believe that 2011 is winding down and 2012 is looming just ahead of us. Incredible….

Our groups have grown from strength to strength. All of our graduated groups (20) successfully navigated the year completely on their own. The training officers only visited them once a quarter to gather data on savings. We also kept in touch regarding training and other opportunities.

I’d like to highlight two of our graduated groups in particular. One is Luncedo, a group of 10 members who decided to go all out this year and chose a R200 ($25) minimum share value. At their share out meeting, they had accumulated a whopping R95,151 ($12,686)! Of this, R 62,800 ($8,373) was savings, the rest was interest collected on loans they gave out to each other. That means they had a 52% return on their savings.

The other group is Nompumelelo, located in a very poor community near Jeffreys Bay. This is a group of 12 members who, in October, opened a stokvel account at Standard Bank because they were nervous about how much money they had accumulated. They even asked the local police if they could conduct their share out at the station! The group was ecstatic when they counted all their money and it added up to R 93,421 ($12,456)! Of this, R 54,200 ($7,227) was savings, giving them an amazing 72% return on their savings!

A third group that I would like to mention will be a graduate next year. And this is Atlantic Stars. They are special because at the end of 2010, the training officer and I were ready to kick them out of the project. There were only 2 members left and they never really got started last year. However, the two begged us to give them another try and we did. Their determination and discipline was a joy to watch and they ended the year with 14 solid members! We are so proud of them!

So—well done to all our groups and we wish you an even more fabulous 2012!

As always, stay tuned……..