Mary is a pastor of a small gathering of people in Uganda. She is an older woman with grown children; we are not sure if her husband is dead or simply not in the family any longer. However, she does not have a secure income to depend on.
We first met Pastor Mary at a pastors conference in Kampala. She was sitting at a table during a Q&A time. She heard that Say Yes starts businesses for people and immediately got her hopes up! Mary approached us to ask for help to start her own chapatti business. Chapatti is a similar to a thick flour tortilla – very good. We told her we would need to see a business plan – an outline of expected expenses to get the business started. We wanted to see if she had given thought to the idea or did she just come up with it at that very moment.
We didn’t know if we would see Mary again, but there she was the very next day. She presented her plan, in her careful handwriting, of all the expenses including a flat skillet, eggs, oil, flour, onion and a number of other items. How much did she need? $122 – that’s all! We told Mary we would take this back home with us to see what God would do for her.
We presented her story and business plan to our church and two families said they wanted to help Mary! So Mary actually received twice the amount she needed – more than she could have ever expected!!! When we returned to Uganda we wanted to see how Mary was doing. We found her chapatti stand to be doing quite well with a group of customers waiting for their food. But Mary had also started a store front for some small grocery items. AND in her spare time she is working with her son to make bricks for a more permanent structure on some land she was given. Mary continues to trust the Lord for all her needs and is still rejoicing at His goodness!
We are always delighted when Say Yes is able to help a widow start a business!
Mary is on the right with her daughter in front of the store front she was able to put together after the chapatti stand.
The “business plan”