Necessity, the Mother of Success

Necessity often inspires people to accomplish goals they never thought possible. Balaraba never would have started her own business. Yet family circumstances forced her to make a choice: either succeed in business or watch her children starve to death.

In their northern Nigerian village, Balaraba and her daughters happily serve their customers. Business booms because of Balabara’s wonderful cooking. Many traders stop at her stall to enjoy a hot meal after a hard day’s work. At the end of each day, Balaraba has made enough to take care of her six daughters and herself.

But times were not always this good.

“My husband lost his job as a taxi driver,” explains Balaraba, “then abandoned me and our six small girls.”

With nowhere to turn and no way to earn money to feed her children, Balaraba grew desperate.

“I felt like running away, but there was nowhere to run. I had to think of feeding, clothing, and sending my children to school.”

To make matters worse, an influential man in her village forcefully took away her only asset, a small piece of land. Despite her pleas to village leaders, in the end, she lost everything.

Yet a ray of light soon broke through Balaraba’s despair. Operation Blessing had started a women’s empowerment program in her village, and Balaraba was invited to come. There she learned how to start and run a small business. The women also learned how to save money and re-invest the profits they earned.

In addition, Operation Blessing provided each woman in the class, including Balaraba, with a $100 grant to start their businesses. Balaraba used her loan to trade goods from her home. Within six months, she had saved enough money to buy a small stall in the marketplace, where she set up a food stand.

Now, business is booming, and Balaraba’s daughters are learning how to run the business too.

"You can see I am better off than the way you left me! See how happy I am! My children can eat, go to school, and I can buy them clothes. Thank God for Operation Blessing. From the help I received, I would like to help others, too!"

Because of the gifts of people like you, Operation Blessing provided a lifeline for Balaraba and other women in her village. But there are still other families struggling and waiting, hoping that we can help them too. Please join with us today and reach out to families that are in need.

“My tears have been replaced with laughter! Thank you, God, for CBN. Thank you CBN, God bless you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"