Opportunity International

Forfar Rotary has donated £500 to Opportunity International and due to dilligence by the International Committee had this doubled by a matching grant, so allowing £1000 to go to this wonderful cause.

Opportunity International is working to end global poverty by creating/sustaining 20 million jobs by 2020. We believe that enabling individuals to create dignified and sustainable work is the foundation for transforming their lives, their children’s futures and their communities.

Opportunity International was founded in 1971 by two visionary leaders who were inspired to take action by their experiences with people living in extreme poverty.

The programmes provides opportunities for families living in poverty to transform their lives by giving them a hand up, not a hand-out. We seek to help the poorest of the poor wherever possible. While the aim is to ensure the sustainability of the programme the primary focus is not economic return but in seeing people’s lives transformed.

An example is the case of Robinah Muyami in Uganda

Left by her husband to look after six children on her own, daily life was a challenge for Robinah Muyama. She struggled to provide regular meals for her children and she couldn’t pay their school fees. In time, her eldest three children stopped going to school – “Back then the children were being chased out of school because we had no money to pay their school fees” she says. Life was tough and Robinah couldn’t see a way out.

But thanks to Opportunity International, a new chapter was written.

Robinah received a business loan, training and support from Opportunity International two years ago, and with it she started a retail shop selling goods like cooking oil, flour and rice near her local market in Ggaba, Uganda. Robinah also took out a school fee loan to help keep her three youngest children – Esther, Agnes and Deborah - in school. This covered the cost of school up front and helped Robinah manage her income, expenditure and savings.