Khin Thaung, 58 years old joined his village savings bank in 2017 after Cufa staff in Myanmar delivered financial training sessions in his village and has been happy with this decision as he has now built a strong savings habit.
Khin lives with his wife, their two sons and daughter, her husband and their young son. He has been a farmer since he was 22 years old, cultivating rice and betel. His plantation provided profits but Khin did not understand how to save regularly or the benefits of doing so. It was not until Khin was exposed to the Cufa financial knowledge sessions that he knew how to save his money. He opened an account at his local village savings bank and began saving regularly.
Khin said “whenever I check my savings book, I am happy to see my savings and the interest, and it forces me to keep saving”. By attending the Cufa financial sessions, Khin learnt about the benefits of saving money, how to set savings goals and how to calculate interest on his savings. Khin added “the knowledge I learnt helped me build a strong saving habit and I now add money regularly to my savings”.
Khin has shared his newfound financial knowledge and first-hand experience with his friends and neighbours. He has encouraged them to open saving accounts at their local village saving bank. “Having a local savings bank in the village where we live makes us more interested in the bank operations,” Khin says. “Moreover, we can share our stories about our village saving bank when we meet our friends from other villages”.
Khin attended at the financial sessions regularly, and he had learnt community audit skills, financial co-operative principles, leadership skills, how to record ledger books, how to calculate savings interest and loan interest. Khin said that a benefit of attending the sessions together with other local villagers was that they became friends and together they would discuss the growth of their businesses.
Khin said that another benefit for members of the local village savings bank is “we can apply loan if we need in our business if we have already made our regular saving bank at least for six months”. Khin said that he was approved for a loan that he applied for at his savings bank to help him extend his betel planation fields to increase his income.
Khin has now repaid his loan and he and his family are enjoying increased profits from his rice paddy and betel plantation. Khin now knows the benefits of saving money at a village saving bank and he will continue regularly putting aside some of his income at his village savings bank for future needs.
Main Photo: Kin Thaung, his wife and grandson at their Betel Plantation.
Read more about Cufa’s CUD Program at www.cufa.org.au/our-programs/credit-union-development/
