Since 1999 Caritas Tonga since has been running neighbourhood programmes that are based on revolving loans for microenterprise.
The neighbourhood programmes support groups of 8 – 15 people to pursue small businesses in areas such as: tapa cloth and mat weaving; chicken and pig raising; growing crops; and fishing.
The income earned supports school fees and other household needs like food.
Tapa cloth mats are marketed locally and overseas. The neighbourhood programmes aim to help 425 families in 21 villages in Tongatapu and Vava’u.
Lisa Vehikite is the leader of a tapa-making (cloth-making) neighbourhood.
Lisa’s husband works in Australia picking fruit for seven months each year. She has five children at home in Utulau Village on the main island of Tongatapu.
The Income she earns through the tapa making group helps pay her children’s school fees.She heard about the neighbourhood programmes at a community meeting where Caritas Tonga’s Amelia Ma’afu spoke.
“This project makes me feel like I am a real mother … someone else is helping us to do our work at home,” says Lisa. Her dream is to one day have her own handicraft shop.
Source