A Better Future | Speciose Nshimirimana’s Story
Heartbroken and Hopeless
BURUNDI – For Speciose Nshimirimana, growing up in extreme poverty afforded little hope for the future. As a child, her parents often forced her and her siblings to steal from their neighbors and made the children bear the consequences alone if they were caught. She says, “I was always crying, and my heart was always broken.” Life was hard and hope was elusive, but there were glimmers of light in those dark times.
A Hope and a Future
Speciose often heard a local savings group singing and praying during their meetings. There was something different about them, and it piqued her interest. She started connecting with the group members, soaking in the hope they had. One member invited her to stay with him and his family and treated her like one of his own children. As her basic needs for food, shelter, and love were met, Speciose’s life began to change. Her adoptive parents helped her find small jobs, and she started earning money carrying water for people. They encouraged her to join a savings group, where she would benefit from financial literacy training among other things.
“The savings group changed my way of seeing the future,” says Speciose.
Equipped by HOPE Burundi, local churches launch savings groups in underserved communities. These groups gather regularly to worship, study the Bible, receive financial training, and save together. Speciose joined a savings group called Kazoza Keza (which means “better future”).
Through the savings group, Speciose met Jesus and experienced the transformative power of His love. In the context of this safe community, she experienced healing. When she had saved enough to take a loan from her group, she started a new business buying and selling pineapples. And she met her now-husband through the savings group! Together they diversified their businesses, bought land, and built a beautiful home for their growing family.
Once an outcast, now Speciose is an example of hope and welcome in her village. Speciose has forgiven her birth parents for the pain they caused. She and her husband have adopted three teenage girls who were abandoned and living on the street. And the five employees who work in her casava fields have joined the savings group; together they praise God and save for the future… which is full of hope.
