Stories
A Cliff’s Edge
Colombia• 07/18/25
Santiago’s hands are steady now as he adjusts his backpack on the doorstep of the group home. The late afternoon sun casts long shadows from the mango tree drooping over the wall, and heat still clings to the pavement, rising around him in waves. A motorcycle zips past, its muffler echoing off the cinderblock walls. From inside, the clang of a pot mixes with the soft beats of reggaeton music drifting from a back room. A breeze carries the familiar smell of rice and plantains.
Just a year ago, those same hands would have been trembling. Back then, this threshold felt like a cliff’s edge—heart pounding as the unknown stretched before him.
Today, he smiles. His heart is full. Tomorrow, he’ll walk back through this door—not as a resident, but as a member of the staff
Eighteen had once felt like a death sentence. Santiago would lie awake listening to the same sounds—the motorcycle, the dinner preparations, the dogs barking in the distance—and wonder what would happen when he aged out. He’d seen the older boys who left before him, the ones who promised to stay in touch but never did. Some said they found work. Others just disappeared. The streets had a way of swallowing kids like him.
That fear lingered through countless sleepless nights—until something shifted in a quiet classroom in Pereira. Just recently, Santiago approached his facilitator with steady eyes and quiet pride. He was about to graduate into independence and leave the home. But he had a different plan.
“I’m deeply grateful for your support, for your teachings, for listening to me, and for showing me how I can be a better person out there, in society,” he said.
Then he shared two decisions: he had accepted a job as a trainer at the very group home where he once arrived as a stranger, and he wanted to continue attending Flint’s classes voluntarily. His reason was simple, but carried the weight of everything he’d overcome:
“To stay away from crime,” he said. “And build a different future for myself and my family.”
Tomorrow, Santiago will walk back through that familiar doorway. But this time, he’ll be the one offering hope to kids who stand where he once stood—terrified, uncertain, but ready to discover who they might become.
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Defiant Joy
Sierra Leone• 07/11/25
"Dirt scratcher." "Hoe holder." "Bush man."
Names like these get thrown around in some places—half joke, half jab. But in parts of Sierra Leone, that view is beginning to shift.
Abu Kapangbavie spreads a fresh layer of chopped marsh grass mulch across the sun-beaten soil of Bauya—a place where the twin lions of civil war and Ebola have taken someone from every family he knows. He hums softly to himself, moving with quiet rhythm. Each layer helps his fields defy torrential rains and searing sun.
Abu knows there's more to mulching than just mulch. He's come to see that doing good work—and doing it with joy—makes all the difference.
Joy is a strange thing in Sierra Leone. It feels risky. Fragile. But choosing to work with joy is like mulching ginger: a long-term investment, a kind of protection, an act of defiance.
Yes, Abu is a farmer. A hoe holder. But he's also become something else—a craftsman.
Since 2022, he's worked with agricultural trainers from Flint, and in that time his farming income has grown from just $13 a year to $200. The numbers might sound small, but when you live on the edge, every inch of ground you gain matters. He remembers how long it took him to learn that precision matters, that timing matters, that care compounds over months and seasons.
Those months whirl forward and Abu finds himself standing in the same field once again. His ginger has grown into what looks like a miniature bamboo forest—tall green leaves fluttering in the wind. A promising harvest is on the horizon. But his eyes are heavy.
He glances toward the neighboring farms. They're empty. Abandoned. Many farmers have left to work in the new mines opening nearby. Chinese contractors have moved into Bauya with papers claiming land rights. There's no recourse for small farmers like Abu's neighbors. Move or be moved. Join or be left behind.
Life here is fragile.
But Abu believes in something deeper.
Farming, done well, is his path out of poverty. People may still joke about his vocation, but they're beginning to see it differently. Some now call people like him, "Di Man Way Dey Feed Di Nation"—"The man who feeds the nation."
Last year, his family gathered a bumper crop. And because he's become such a consistent, humble example in the community, Flint's Sierra Leone team hired him as their first local employee to train others. He's embraced Flint's approach to agriculture: Be on time. Keep a high standard. Do not waste. Work with joy.
In a place where joy is hard-won, Abu has found it in the soil. And slowly, carefully, he's making a name for himself by helping others find it too.
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Untangling Tomorrow
India • 07/04/25
New Delhi, India. A city with the same population as the entire state of Texas. Here, Lakhan stirs awake as he prepares for another day of searching for work. Tangled live wires electrify a single bulb, illuminating the steam curling from the chai heating on his wife's cookstove.
He glances over at the sleeping forms of his three daughters. Once, they would have risen to prepare for school. Now they help their mother with daily chores while he searches desperately for work in the maze of concrete that is New Delhi—a city thrumming with millions of lives.
"Tomorrow," he thinks. "Tomorrow I'll attend the training." Like those chaotic wires overhead, Lakhan's path forward feels impossibly tangled, but tomorrow holds promise.
On good days, he finds ten to twelve hours of back-breaking labor for a $5 paycheck. The only thing worse than missing work is losing that money they desperately need.
A friend told him about three days of free business training. He's dreamed of starting something hundreds of times, but each day calls to be fed. Before leaving, he kisses each daughter goodbye, seeing hope in their eyes.
The next day arrives with clean clothes and carefully combed hair. Once, moving out of poverty seemed impossible to imagine. But as Lakhan listens to the trainer and discusses ideas with nineteen other participants, a clearer path unfolds. A connection to a vegetable seller outside the city—a relationship he hadn't thought to build upon—now seems like a stepping stone.
Each evening, he returns with new ideas. His wife listens intently. His daughters gather close, eyes bright with possibility. There is so much potential they hadn't even known was there.
With guidance from trainers and a small loan from relatives, Lakhan purchases a used wooden cart. Selling is slow at first, but the hope in his daughters' eyes lights a fire inside him.
The lightbulb glows bright the night Lakhan and his wife excitedly announce to their daughters: they can return to school. As its buzzing glow is extinguished, Lakhan lies down with a smile. Steady breathing fills the quiet space. His own breath flows easy. The rent is paid. And tomorrow, his girls will learn.
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Think Twice
Kenya • 06/27/25
Over a year ago, our team met Macrin—a determined young woman with a spark of something different. (center in the photo). She had just joined the Nyanguda Savings and Loan group, a tight-knit collective of women based in Bondo, a town in Western Kenya near the edge of Lake Victoria. In a region where the economy is dominated by fishing on the world’s largest tropical lake, Macrin stood out for her ambition to chart a different course.
Creativity and resilience are the hallmarks of the women in our groups, and Macrin embodied both. With limited resources but a bold vision, she opened a clothing shop inside a modest 10-by-10-foot steel box—once a shipping container, now a storefront.
As trust grew within the savings group, Macrin received her first loan to expand her inventory. The early days were tough. Stocking the right items proved challenging. But after receiving training in customer care from Flint staff and steady encouragement from her groupmates, Macrin began refining her offerings to match her customers’ tastes. Her sales increased, and she repaid the loan with interest.
Was it just beginner’s luck? Macrin was eager to find out...
She took a second loan, then a third. Each time, she applied lessons from the last. Her business grew steadily, and so did her confidence and leadership. Yet with growth came new challenges. When asked what Flint’s support helped with the most, Macrin didn’t hesitate:
“Keeping good records.”
It’s something we hear often. Success doesn’t come from one sweeping change but from a steady accumulation of 1% improvements: training, coaching, feedback, and accountability. These small gains compound over time—moving women like Macrin from surviving to thriving.
Recently, Macrin stood before her entire savings group, invited by Mildred (on the right in the photo), Flint's local trainer, to speak on loan strategies. Her message was practical and empowering:
“Anyone considering taking a loan should first identify the business they want to pursue—or understand what is lacking in their current business. Having a clear plan for how the loan will be used will help you repay it.”
Her insight and influence didn’t stop there. Just last month, a local company approached the Nyanguda group to test a new energy-efficient stove. Macrin and her fellow members gladly accepted, proud to contribute their feedback to improve a product that could benefit families across the region.
And Macrin isn’t done dreaming. She recently shared with Mildred her next big goal:
“I want to open a much bigger clothing shop and call it ‘Think Twice.’”
The name captures the thoughtful, deliberate spirit that defines her journey—a young woman weighing every decision with care, from inventory choices to financial planning.
As Flint continues to launch and support groups across the Lake Victoria region, we’re inspired by women like Macrin: bold, wise, and quietly revolutionizing their communities. Her story reminds us all to think twice—not just about our choices, but about the potential that lies within people who are given the tools, the trust, and the opportunity to lead. Her story is just one branch of something bigger. Flint's local leaders are quietly growing a movement—one savings group, one woman, one conversation at a time.
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Think Twice
Kenya • 06/27/25
Over a year ago, our team met Macrin—a determined young woman with a spark of something different. (center in the photo). She had just joined the Nyanguda Savings and Loan group, a tight-knit collective of women based in Bondo, a town in Western Kenya near the edge of Lake Victoria. In a region where the economy is dominated by fishing on the world’s largest tropical lake, Macrin stood out for her ambition to chart a different course.
Creativity and resilience are the hallmarks of the women in our groups, and Macrin embodied both. With limited resources but a bold vision, she opened a clothing shop inside a modest 10-by-10-foot steel box—once a shipping container, now a storefront.
As trust grew within the savings group, Macrin received her first loan to expand her inventory. The early days were tough. Stocking the right items proved challenging. But after receiving training in customer care from Flint staff and steady encouragement from her groupmates, Macrin began refining her offerings to match her customers’ tastes. Her sales increased, and she repaid the loan with interest.
Was it just beginner’s luck? Macrin was eager to find out...
She took a second loan, then a third. Each time, she applied lessons from the last. Her business grew steadily, and so did her confidence and leadership. Yet with growth came new challenges. When asked what Flint’s support helped with the most, Macrin didn’t hesitate:
“Keeping good records.”
It’s something we hear often. Success doesn’t come from one sweeping change but from a steady accumulation of 1% improvements: training, coaching, feedback, and accountability. These small gains compound over time—moving women like Macrin from surviving to thriving.
Recently, Macrin stood before her entire savings group, invited by Mildred (on the right in the photo), Flint's local trainer, to speak on loan strategies. Her message was practical and empowering:
“Anyone considering taking a loan should first identify the business they want to pursue—or understand what is lacking in their current business. Having a clear plan for how the loan will be used will help you repay it.”
Her insight and influence didn’t stop there. Just last month, a local company approached the Nyanguda group to test a new energy-efficient stove. Macrin and her fellow members gladly accepted, proud to contribute their feedback to improve a product that could benefit families across the region.
And Macrin isn’t done dreaming. She recently shared with Mildred her next big goal:
“I want to open a much bigger clothing shop and call it ‘Think Twice.’”
The name captures the thoughtful, deliberate spirit that defines her journey—a young woman weighing every decision with care, from inventory choices to financial planning.
As Flint continues to launch and support groups across the Lake Victoria region, we’re inspired by women like Macrin: bold, wise, and quietly revolutionizing their communities. Her story reminds us all to think twice—not just about our choices, but about the potential that lies within people who are given the tools, the trust, and the opportunity to lead. Her story is just one branch of something bigger. Flint's local leaders are quietly growing a movement—one savings group, one woman, one conversation at a time.
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Faith in a Smile
Tanzania • 06/20/25
Joyce Chikongwe’s smile is our proudest impact metric. Sure, we regularly report things like doubled incomes, businesses launched, and orphans kept off the street. But at the end of the day, a smile says it all.
Coastal Tanzania is not an easy place to grow up. Even among Tanzanians, Joyce's home region is considered backward and underserved. But that didn't stop Joyce from doing her best with what she had. For years she cultivated a small farm in the sandy equatorial soil, scratching out a living that was always less than what it took to thrive. Playing the cards she was dealt kept her alive. Keeping faith kept her smiling.
What Joyce didn't know was that a new path was coming her way—a path towards thriving that would be stitched together by a VSLA community, her meager savings, and one bold choice.
When Joyce first joined a Village Savings and Loan group hosted by Flint, her hope was simple: keep her hard-won money safe. Each week she made her contribution to the shared fund, counting down to the day her payout would eventually come. But as she attended each meeting, something unexpected happened. Relationships grew.
These other women were struggling just like her, but some had taken real steps forward. Lulu had purchased land and built a house, finally escaping the tyranny of rent. Another had invested in cashews and doubled her money! Week by week, as the group received training in business basics and Joyce's savings grew, so did her anticipation. She spent long hours working in the fields, her mind swirling with plans for the money. Alongside those plans, dreams took root.
When payout day finally arrived, Joyce held the money in grateful hands, a confident smile spreading across her face. Each member of the group had found their own path towards flourishing. Lulu had started a small restaurant. Hamisi had built his business around drying and reselling fish.
But Joyce was ready to forge her own path—to invest in herself.
It was a proud moment when she handed over the money and received in exchange a beautiful sewing machine. Soon the same hands that had scraped soil for sustenance were stitching together a new life. Her small farm continues to produce, and her tailoring business is growing. Each week she's now able to save twice as much as before.
Joyce's smile reminds us that keeping faith, even in the toughest places, can lead to new paths we never dared dream of.
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Cooking Up Resilience
Santander, Colombia • 05/05/25
Last Tuesday in Santander, Colombia, our entrepreneurship students had a simple idea: cook together. It wasn't planned as anything special—just a meal made with whatever they had on hand: rice with tuna and ripe plantain. But in a region facing the kind of violence that's been making headlines, even simple acts take on deeper meaning and spark connections that illuminate new paths forward.
The students didn't need a grand banquet or luxuries. They just wanted an excuse to sit around a table and remind themselves that, despite everything happening around them, they're still here. Reality hits hard in Santander, and cartel violence looms ever-present, but they chose to gather anyway.
It wasn't just food they were making. While they peeled the plantains and stirred the rice in the pot, they shared stories, laughter, and dreams of making their business plans come true. They were creating something—support networks, connections. For a moment, their worries faded, and the only thing that mattered was the warmth of each other.
Everyone took their portion and shared a moment of gratitude. That simple recipe became something more in the midst of everything they're facing. They weren't just entrepreneurs; they were a family, a group that decided to keep believing in new opportunities.
The impact is already showing: they've started their collective dessert venture without any financial support from Flint. The group calls itself "Chispa Emprende"—the spark of entrepreneurship. Soon, their leader, Andrés, will be attending an entrepreneur fair to represent their group.
In Santander, resilience looks like choosing to cook together when the world feels uncertain. It looks like turning rice and plantains into hope, one shared meal at a time.
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