Hilda Quispe De Calderón

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Hilda Quispe de Calderón by FINCA Peru in Peru. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 4 - 10 months, FINCA Peru will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

There was a small miscommunication with Hilda’s profile, and her story got switched with another entrepreneur's with the same first name, whose picture and business were featured in the profile. I was able to locate the real Hilda Quispe de Calderon, and her daughter, Doris, and they shared their story very graciously.

Hilda and her family live on the outskirts of Ayacucho, and every Sunday they make the trip to the center of the city to purchase sheep. Depending on the week, they buy between five and eight sheep, and bring them back to their home to be slaughtered. They then go door to door in their neighborhood selling the meat, and have regular clients that depend on them weekly for quality meat.

Hilda speaks primarily the native language of Quechua, and her husband and daughter eagerly translate for us as we speak. She tells us the sheep cost between 80 and 160 Soles (about $25-$50) a piece, depending on the weight, and she sells the meat for eight Soles (about $2.50) per kilo. A sheep must be about a year old before it is ready to be slaughtered; most sheep Hilda buys are ready to be slaughtered, but occasionally gets a good deal on a younger sheep and then raises it until it is old enough to be killed.

Hilda has been with her village bank for longer than she can remember, and says it has been a blessing to her family. They have learned how to save money, and have been able to increase their capital and have been able to afford small comforts in their home that have increased their quality of life.

This is a video showing Hilda’s home and family, and Hilda and her husband demonstrating how to slaughter a sheep. (It’s just a demonstration, no actual killing involved! The sheep in the video is only about two months old.)

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