This week I’m happy to share a guest post from Marisa Deyoung, who volunteers for Step Ahead, an organization mentoring micro-entrepreneurs in Bangkok’s largest slum community, Klong Toey.

Serving with Step Ahead in Thailand and previously in Northeast India has helped put a face and family to poverty for me. These experiences have also helped me understand that if we provide opportunities, people can go beyond being dependent on aid. Let me share the stories of two women from the community where I work.

Twenty years ago, Feung’s daughter left home. Feung and her husband were left to care for Naen, their granddaughter. However, soon after Feung’s husband died, Feung was left to care for her granddaughter alone. Feung sold her Thai curries and food to order in the markets of the Klong Toey slum community, but due to borrowing from a local moneylender, she faced an interest rate of almost 20% per month. She struggled to make ends meet and faced constant threats if she could not repay the loan on time. A little over a year ago, Naen gave birth to a baby girl, Sofa, making Feung a great-grandmother. Today her story isn’t one of struggle, but  of hope. Feung and her grand-daughter care for baby Sofa together and do not have to face the stresses of borrowing from a moneylender to run her business because Feung is now a Step Ahead member. Step Ahead is proud to stand with such an amazing woman who refuses to relent and looks forward to helping her provide a future for her grand-daughter and great-grand-daughter.

“We should never lose hope in helping the poor overcome poverty, we only need to rethink our ways and recognize they already have the skills.” -Marisa

Khan Keawkam never borrowed from a moneylender nor faced a twenty percent monthly interest rate. However, like many Step Ahead members, each day was still a struggle. As a widow, she was left to provide an income and take care of her son and five grandchildren. Her grim situation changed when Ms. Khan Keawkam became a member of the Step Ahead’s micro-enterprise development program. She took her most recent loan, 3000 Baht ($100), enabling her to continue running her peanuts stall in the market and provide opportunities for her children and grandchildren to study that they would not have otherwise. Just like Khan Keawkam, many members of of Step Ahead’s micro-enterprise development program not only experience a change in their personal lives, but in the lives of their children, grand-children and community!

Step Ahead is busy with a range of programs they’re offering around Thailand. They include teaching Thai/English to children in southern Thailand and Bangkok’s Klong Toey community, and employing women to make leather purses or tote bags in Pattaya and southern Thailand. That’s just a quick glimpse of the endeavors the Step Ahead Foundation focuses on, be sure to visit their website and contact them to get involved.