Mahaoua Bangoura (58) is a member of a women's group in Kaaly, Guinea (West Africa). She explains how a small rural bank changed the course of her life and that of whole village.

"In 2008, Cafodec (a partner of Trias) founded a rural bank in our village", Mahaoua explains. "We were convinced that this was very important for us. We had to wait quite some time for it too, because there wasn't enough money in the programme to fund one. In 2009, we got 25.000.000 FGN (approximately 4,000 euros) in credit funds, because the rural bank was doing well. A rural bank was something new for us, because Kaaly never received any form of support before. This made us feel all very hopeful."

"It gave us the idea to buy a rice-huller. Peeling rice is very intensive work here and there was no machine available nearby. Still, it was a big risk to invest in such an expensive tool. But we made it clear that this type of machine could really make our life easier and boost our production. After negotiations with Cafodec and Trias, they decided that we could buy the machine on credit. This was a huge event for our village!"

"After 10 months of hard work, we already paid back half of the credit. We think that we might be able to repay the rest in 5 months. People from villages 10 km away come to Kaaly now to peel their rice. Once the machine is fully reimbursed, we will put further earnings in the rural bank, in order to maybe buy a second machine once the first one has worn out. This rural bank has brought us a lot of good, let me tell you."