La Beneficencia 2, 4, & 5 Group

Crismena is a 25-year-old borrower who lives near San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic. She is the coordinator of her group, La Beneficencia (Charity), and her story is representative of the other borrowers in the group.

Crismena lives in Batey El Cea, a small community to the northwest of San Pedro. Bateyes are small communities built by sugar companies for their field workers. They are synonymous with poverty and lack any kind of reliable electricity, have no running water, and are far from the nearest medical institutions. Crismena lives in a small and simple wooden home with her husband and three of their four children, the youngest of whom is three.

Despite her family’s difficulties, Crismena runs a successful business from a stand outside her home by selling clothing and fruit to her neighbors and friends. Clothing sales bring in more profit, but the fruit is a stabilizing source of income for the sporadic clothing sales. When asked about her experience before and after working with her loans, Crismena said she and her family “are doing well now; we continue to move forward and won’t return [to the life we had before.]”

This is Crismena’s fifth loan with Esperanza International and, to date, she has a perfect repayment record. Thank you for lending to Crismena and La Beneficencia group!




About Group Loans
In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a group guarantee. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another and is responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults. Learn more

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