Daw Mar Mar Swe is ‘mother duck’ to a family of 72 who quickly and obediently follow the instructions of her quacks.
Eight years ago, life changed for Daw Mar Mar Swe when she took her first 70,000 kyats loan from Pact, enabling her to purchase her first 650 kyat baby duckling.
This was an act of faith and calculated risk for Daw Mar Mar Swe who had been burdened by debt and fear for five years since her husband passed away. “He was sick for a long time and I borrowed a lot of money from the village money lender to pay for medication and treatment. The burden of the loans sat on my shoulders. I worried all the time about paying it back, because I had ten per cent interest to pay each month.”
Desperately worried about providing for her four children, Daw Mar Mar Swe sold five acres from the family farm of eight acres. However, she remained in debt to the money lender and each year she had to take out three lakh loans from the government bank to plant her remaining three acres in paddy.
The Pact Global Microfinance (PGMF) project funded by LIFT released Daw Mar Mar Swe from her life of bondage to the money lender. Four months after purchase, her duckling started to lay eggs, “and she laid eggs continuously”. The eggs hatched hope in Mar Mar Swe’s life and gradually, she cleared her debts.
She built a duck shelter and stocked her duck farm. Ducks stop laying after two years and are then sold for meat.
Today, as Daw Mar Mar Swe took a 500 lakh loan, to repair her home, she promised the five women in her loan group that she would repay 23,000 kyats every two weeks, 25 times a year. In total she will pay 575,000 kyats to clear her loan. She has no doubt her current cash flow will meet her commitments because she now has income, not only from her eggs, but also her other diversified investments: a fish farm, her three acre paddy farm, a betel plantation and a vegetable garden which she replants with seeds from her previous year’s harvest.
Her greatest joy is that she can educate her youngest two children, control her finances and live without the fear of debt. ”The PGMF interest rate for 2.5% a month reduced my burden, let me pay off all my debts and improve my livelihood.” Daw Mar Mar Swe smiled as she turned to her flock in the stream. She gave a quick quack and with a swish, every one of her ducks swam back.
Thanks to Jenny Macintyre for this story and photographs.
