May 2009

Berthine: I live on the ground-floor of a two story house with brick walls, an aluminum roof and floors made of clay. I live with my family in two rooms, a kitchen/dining room and one bedroom. We don't have either electricity or running water so my daughter must go twice a day to fetch some.

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Feb 2009

Hello from Berthine. In my family we eat three meals a day and at each meal there is always rice. For example, yesterday for breakfast we had rice. At lunch, we had rice with greens and beans and a cucumber salad. For dinner, we had rice with pork and mixed leafy greens. My family's favorite food is pork with mixed greens.

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Dec 2008

Hello, it's me, Berthine. The illness that my family has most often is the flu. The climate of Ambalavao is different than other places because of our geographical location and that plays a big part in our climate. For me, my favorite season is the rainy season because there is enough water, something we lack during other times of the year. At the present time, it is the rainy period and that is good because water is abundant and one does not have to get up so early to go get water many kilometers away. The rainy period does not affect my business of selling charcoal because people continue to need charcoal each day.

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Nov 2008

Hello! It's Berthine; I wake up at 5am to make breakfast and clean the house, after breakfast I get my children ready for school. Once they have left I go out to the market to buy food for lunch, when I come home I make lunch while selling charcoal in front of my house. In the afternoon i do sales and we eat dinner at 7pm and then go to bed. My day is alwayd like this, even on Sundays.

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Sep 2008

Hello! It's me, Berthine. I have one child who goes to school, but I don't think it will be a problem for me, even though the cost of schooling and the school supplies has increased because I have been saving for this since the beginning of the vacation. My child is still in primary school and does not need a lot of things except for a notebook and pen. Each year the price goes up, but that is OK. It is their future.

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Aug 2008

Hello! It's me, Razanamandroso. My sale of charcoal is still going well. For the vacation, the children are going to spend their free time helping their parents and also playing. For the Independence Day celebration we did not have a big celeration because it is important to save our money to do other things. But even so, we went to the stadium to attend the parade which is a symbol of our national pride, and in the afternoon we attended the festivities that the town had organized.

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Jul 2008

Hello! It's me, Razanamandrosa. This month of June business is going very well because it is the end of the harvest. After the Independence Day, the people begin to think of the planting season and they spend less money for things except for seeds and things that are truly indispensable for their daily life. As for me, I will celebrate this holiday like all the others We will eat good things and the children will have new clothes. But it is important not to spend too much on just one day.

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Jun 2008

Hello from Berthine. I am happy because I have reimbursed my first monthly installment on time without trouble. And I want to thank the Masomboly team for the business training which helped a lot with planning my business expenses and adding to my profits. My business is doing very well and with the profits this month I have enough to save for repaying future loan installments and continue building my business. Thank you!

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May 2008

Berthin here. I want to thank you for having confidence in me enough to give me this loan. The money will help me to enlarge my busines and I am happy because I have already gotten bigger profits. With those profits I hope to save for the future. Thank you for your support and confidence!

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