Wilnise lives in Klènot, a small community on one of the main roads that leads west out of downtown Bonbadopolis. She and her husband, Brenlove, live with three kids. They had just one when they joined CLM less than a year and a half ago, but her sister left the area, leaving her two children with Wilnise. She thinks that they are her children now, and she reports that Brenlove has really embraced them too.

They live in a house that belongs to her father-in-law, and he’s been supportive. But they have always wanted to build their own home. They started the work long ago, using whatever they could bring in, but they have never had the resources to finish the job.

Even before the couple joined the CLM program, they were part of a savings and loan association. They were able to make their weekly contribution because Wilnise carefully managed the money Brenlove was paid as a day laborer in their neighbors’ fields, struggling to save something of the earnings to make their deposit each week.

Eventually, they borrowed 5,000 gourds from the association. That’s a little less than $40. They used the money to buy a tree for charcoal. Brenlove chopped down the tree and cut it into pieces, burned the pieces underground to make the charcoal, and loaded the charcoal into sacks. Wilnise then sold the charcoal.

When she joined the program, Wilnise asked the team to buy her goats, and she received two. The team bought them for her with 15,000 of the 30,000 gourds that it designed for Wilnise to invest in a business. The goats have had kids. Just just one of the kids survived. But Wilnise bought two additional goats with money she earned through her new businesses, so now they have five.

She took another 15,000 gourds of investment funds, and used it to start a business. Her business involves a lot of back and forth, but it is working well. She buys charcoal from producers along the road between her home and the port down the road. She then loads her charcoal onto small freighters and sends it for sale in Gonayiv. She doesn’t want to travel by boat herself, so she meets it in Gonayiv, sells it there, and then uses money from the sale to buy produce in Gonayiv that she can sell at the market in Bonbadopolis.

Her business is succeeding, even growing, but she feels she needs to make a change. “The road is so risky. If the truck breaks down, your vegetables will spoil.” The next time she travels to Gonayiv, she plans to buy cosmetics, rather than produce. “Cosmetics don’t spoil.”

Wilnise has big plans as her means increase. Her first goal is to finish the home that she and Brenlove began to build already.

But that house is not on their own land. The land belongs to her father-in-law. “When you’re an adult, you want to live in a home of your own.” She hopes that as her goats reproduce, she be able to trade them in for more valuable livestock, but then eventually that she and Brenlove will be able to buy their own land.

When Jean Belson was a young boy, he was afraid to let anyone see him. “When people came to my step-father’s house, I would hide under the bed.”

Jean Belson was born with significant disabilities. His undersized legs fold under him. He cannot stand up. He grew up walking on his two knees, steadying himself with his hands. His hands, too, are misshapen, but he can use them perfectly well. He lives in a house that belongs to his stepfather. His mother passed away, but her former partner has always been good to him.

Early friendship with Cius, the man who eventually became his CLM case manager, is what initially brought Jean Belson out of his shell. They were neighbors from Jean Belson’s youngest days, and Cius took to him. When Cius went to a community gathering, he would bring Jean Belson along. People who saw him would be moved to give him small gifts of money. “People would make a small gesture, and I was careful not to waste what they gave me.”

As he grew older, he became something of an entertainer at public events. Cius brought him to the first CLM graduation in their town. By then, Cius worked for the program. Jean Belson collected 1,750 gourds after his short performance, he managed the money carefully, and was able to buy a gallon of kleren, the local rum, and a couple of packs of cigarettes. That was the initial merchandise that he used to start a business.

Having joined the CLM program, he’s been able to make that business grow. He’s continually adding new products. He had a booth built by the side of the road, and he’s turned it into a convenience store. It can be busy. He eventually had to take the side piece of an old wheelchair to serve as a barrier in the store’s doorway. He needed a way to keep customers from creeping in to help themselves.

But he is not willing to depend on the store entirely. He keeps a pile of rocks and a hammer next to the shop, and during down time he takes up the hammer to turn the rocks into gravel for construction. It is a reliable second source of income, if only small, occasional lump sums.

His ambition is simple. he has long been grateful for his stepfather’s love. His stepfather is happy to have him use the program’s help to put a decent roof on the shack his been living in on the older man’s land. But even so, he wants his own place to live. He’d like to buy his own land to put his home on.