About us

Ebenezer Self Help Group was transformed from an initial outfit named Chimahlwe Welfare Group comprising of members drawn from the three old Compassion International-assisted centres in Bondo Cluster namely, Chianda, Mahaya and Lweya

Child Development Centres. The main objective was savings and credit in order to overcome challenges associated with the limitations of NGO staff in accessing bank loans for personal development. A requirement for membership was and remains being a committed or professing Christian.

In 2005 Chimahlwe was at the verge of collapse due to cash flow constraints that mainly stemmed from a combination of low revenues, uncontrolled expenditure and poor record-keeping. A majority of the members then had opted to withdraw their membership in order to receive payment of their dues before it was too late. Following the difficulties, a meeting of “hard talk” was held to either save the group or disband it, with the losses being shared equitably by every member.

After serious discussion and meditation, the then members prayerfully resolved to uphold their membership and keep the group going on condition that a thorough review with deliberate steps was going to be taken urgently to quickly reverse the downward trend. The members made sacrifices, accepting reduced shareholding and making deliberate

efforts to effect a raft of changes to improve on how the group was managed. This included an overhaul of the constitution by a team led by Oscar Nyalenge. With these

changes and constantly praying for guidance from the Almighty, Chimahlwe was transformed into the new-born outfit, Ebenezer Self Help Group! The newly reviewed version of the constitution for the new outfit passed the test of time and steered the group for over 10 years till 2017 before another review was done. Ebenezer SHG has since grown in leaps and bounds, initiating payment of dividends in the year 2018 and group funds steadily growing from a few tens of thousands of shillings to over 3 million currently. The membership has also grown from less than twenty to forty five at the moment