Elizabeth, our program manager for SKIpgo-Zimbabwe, discusses her work with SKI Charities and her passion for child development.

In your own words, what is your role in SKI charities?

I work for the SKIpgo Zimbabwe Trust, one of the projects run by SKI charities in Mutare, Zimbabwe. I recruit candidates who are eligible for the scholarships we offer. In the process, I conduct interviews at our office for the eligible candidates. I also do home visits to really get to know our candidates, where they are coming from and how they live with their families. I monitor our recruits’ academic progress and also how well they abide by the rules of SKIpgo Zimbabwe Trust.

How have you seen microfinance improve women’s lives?

Microfinance has tremendously empowered women who were before looked down upon and were always dependent on their husbands or others. In Zimbabwe, large swaths of men are no longer able to work because most industries have shut down lots of jobs. Microfinance has enabled women to start their own businesses, to take care of their families.

What path brought you to this work?

It is so exciting that people really want to help the girl child. I was so willing to work in this project because I have seen women suffer a lot, and this charity reaches the children who are involved in that suffering. I have always had the heart and desire to help and protect women and girls because I believe that strong, educated women will make the world a better place.

What about your job inspires and motivates you?

I am inspired by so many people and things. SKI Charities’ founder Shyam is male and has a heart that bleeds to help empower women. I am touched by such events. As a woman, I feel I have an obligation to help other women accept and support each other to achieve our goals. Also, my mother has worked so hard to get where she is now. In her small nursery, she has produced doctors, nurses and teachers, which motivates me as well.

Through your work with SKI Charities, is there any one story, event or person that sticks in your mind as meaningful to you?

I have worked with so many families through SKI Charities, but one family particularly touched my heart. One of our four-year-old scholarship beneficiaries lives with her mother and grandmother in a one-room house that they divide into two rooms with a curtain. One day when I went there for a visit, the grandmother was in tears of joy and so thankful that her grandchild had improved so much academically, socially and behaviorally. SKI Charities truly gives hope to the hopeless.