A volunteer Rep shows a mother how to use a mock ATM.
This Women’s History Month, please take the time to pray for our widowed mothers who are taking critical steps to secure their children’s futures.
Nadia* is the 46-year-old widowed mother of five children in a small village in the deep South of Egypt. Nadia’s village has less than the bare minimum of public services. And, though nowadays we might discuss the use of cryptocurrency and think of credit cards as old news, there are still many illiterate people in her village and in rural areas all around the world who struggle to even read the numbers on each bill.
A mother’s level of education is a big determinant of her family’s ability to thrive and break out of poverty. Nadia exemplifies the difficulties a family goes through when a widowed mother has little formal education; she signs her official papers with her fingerprint because she isn’t literate enough to even sign her own name. Dealing with an ATM was a nightmare and avoided at all costs.
We helped Nadia to open a bank account, and soon came the time for Nadia to use a credit card for the first time.
“I was even afraid of holding the card with my own hands,” Nadia says with a laugh. “At the beginning, I was so intimidated by going to the machine, creating a PIN code and using the credit card to get money.”
Nadia struggled at first but didn’t give up, telling us that she “felt motivated to learn how to use the card. Once I withdrew the money myself, I felt equal to my well-educated neighbors.”
When you support Coptic Orphans, you’re strengthening thousands of Egypt’s widowed mothers by integrating them into the fast-moving world of finances.
When we visited Nadia’s family, we asked them about their experience with their newfound financial freedom. Her 14-year-old daughter told us, with a big smile on her face, “My mother looks for any reason to go to the bank to use the ATM. It’s basically our hangout area now!”
Financial empowerment is more than just teaching mothers how to manage their finances. It’s a life-changing process where women transform from a feeling of inferiority to knowing they are equally as capable as the next person. Thank you for empowering Nadia and thousands like her through this initiative.
*Name and image changed to protect the privacy and dignity of the individual.