Four years in Siavonga, memories of smiles, sweat, endless sunsets, intersections with unimaginable life stories…

Together with the local staff team, we managed the microfinance program that covered the area between Siavonga and Chirundu. We gave credit to groups of women who were taking loans of even as little as 50 euros, often to start a ‘business trading between Lake Kariba and Lusaka: they would go to sell fish from the lake in the capital and with the proceeds buy goods to resell at the market once they returned to Siavonga or their villages. Many of these women managed to run businesses that with time, effort and credit grew and contributed to the economic stability of their families and their personal affirmation.

And for the two of us as a couple, CELIM was the first real job, away from home, friends and many comforts, the beginning of our cohabitation that still lasts after many other experiences around the world.

Even after 20 years those memories are still alive and we find them in CELIM’s activities and in the values that inspire volunteers and supporters as they did then.

Enrico Pini and Chiara Pescatori
Zambia