ARFH-SIDHAS PROJECT EMPOWERS WOMAN TO START PASTRY BUSINESS

Mrs Franca Okon is a caregiver of 6 children residing in Igueben, Edo State, Nigeria, who became a subsistence farmer after she lost her husband.
She did menial farm jobs for people to feed her children, but still found it difficult to so. They lived in a dilapidated building with leaking roof and cracked walls. Her income was never sufficient to cater for the children.
Through the Strengthening and Integrated Delivery of HIV/AIDS Services (SIDHAS) project, Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) in collaboration with a Community Based Organisation, Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO), provided Mrs Okon with start-up materials worth Fifteen Thousand Naira (N15,000) to enable her commence snacks/pastry business.
She was taught how to make some snacks such as chin-chin, puff-puff, doughnut, fish-roll and Egg-row on 19th of January, 2015 at LAPO Micro Finance Bank office, Igueben. Mrs Franca Okon is now a popular, happy and comfortable snacks seller in Igueben community, supplying pastries to workers in banks and schools.
This was part of the numerous efforts of ARFH in achieving the mandate of empowering vulnerable individuals and households with skills acquisition and start up capital.


 
 
 
 
 
 
       PICTURES: Mrs Okon’s previous home                                                                     Mrs Okon’s new home