Testimonials

My name is Sandrine Benimana, at a young age we lost our father to HIV/AIDS which left my mother with 5 young children, me being the eldest and no steady source of income. We learnt of APECOS from our friends who had benefited from them and we decided to join. I was a smart child but lacked school fees so when APECOS took us in and offered to pay our education I made it a purpose to excel in school and make my family proud. Since I was in primary school, I passed my classes and with the help of APECOS, I completed secondary school and due to my good grades I was able to receive a government scholarship and I successfully completed my university studies and received my A0 degree in Pharmacy. Today, I am a pharmacist in Yaoundé, Cameroon where I reside with my husband and child. Had it not been for APECOS, I would not be the person I am now.

My name is Dusabirane Moise, I am a student and am a brother of 3 children. I was born to a single mother and we were a less privileged family because we lacked basic needs like food and education, although I excelled in school we lacked tuition. When a neighbor of ours saw the troubles we were having, he told me about APECOS and together with my family we joined the association and our lives changed, we were able to get tuition and medical insurance which was able to help us with Antiretroviral (ARV). Unfortunately, our mother passed away no later than when we joined but APECOS was able to help us in finding guardians since we were young children and they also helped with our education. I am now a student in University where I am pursuing a degree in Nursing and with the help of APECOS, my siblings are also in school.

My name is Mukakamari Clementine, I am a single mother of three children. I was infected with HIV/AIDS at a young age. I heard of APECOS through a community gathering and learnt from other mothers who had benefited from their help. I instantly joined the association and through their meetings I was able to meet a community of women who were just like me, less privileged but wanted a better life for themselves and their families. We learnt about the Income Generating Activities (also known as AGR in French) whereby they gave us capital for any business we wanted to start and later pay them with minimum interest and I was interested given that I was also looking for revenues. I presented my project of recycling metals and selling them to third-parties, the project was funded and I started practicing business in 2015. With the help of the capital that I was given I grew my business and I was able to cover school fees for my children who weren’t being helped by APECOS, I was able to buy land and a home. APECOS taught me how to not view myself as a problem but as a solution to my children and community.

. My name is Angelique Musanabera, I am a mother as well as a cook by passion and profession. I have been a member of APECOS since 2016 and they have considerably impacted my life in so many ways. Before I joined I used to sell fruits and vegetables on the street which was a risk because it was illegal, this resulted in me struggling to provide for my children, getting medications and having food on the table for my family seemed impossible. When I joined APECOS they helped with paying for school fees for one of my children which was a great relief and after that was taken care of, the main issue was getting a stable resource of income. Through the program of financing income generating activities, APECOS was able to help me start a business of cooking and supplying to different shop owners in the Kicukiro market as well as people in offices. This has helped with the provision of food for me and my family because if we have some food leftovers we can eat it, it has helped with the provision of school fees for my other children who aren’t sponsored by APECOS as well as knowing that I can practice business at a certain location.

My names are Epiphanie Uwambajimana and I am a mother of 1. I joined APECOS in 2006 just when it had started operating. When I joined my life was at the lowest it had ever been, I was very ill and lacked medications, I was unable to provide for me and my family and my children were suffering from malnutrition. Given my illness, getting a stable job was hard for me because I was not strong enough to take any job which left me few options, this resulted in me becoming a house helper. While working as a house helper, I rarely got enough money to cover all our expenses and sometimes I actually couldn’t get any money and would come home empty handed which was painful but after joining APECOS and with their help I started selling vegetables and various foods in the market. With their help and capital provision, I was able to get a post in the market and sell goods which changed my life.

I am now able to pay for rent at home, I am able to get food for me and my kids and our health has been the best because we are able to get a balanced diet.