Las Flores, Group 1

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Las Flores, Group 1 group, consisting of Fausta Severino, Maria Santos Vega, Alba Rosario, Daysi Ferreras, Miguelina Familia by Esperanza International in Dominican Republic. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 6 months, Esperanza International will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Fausta Severino, from the group “Las Flores” has just finished paying back their second loan cycle. Before Fausta received her first loan with Esperanza International she really had no way to support her 2 children. Fausta would buy and sell anything she could get her hands on, and had to work long hours just to survive. After taking out her first loan she started a small business selling bed sheets, curtains, and pillowcases. She was able to pay back all her loans in time, and even start saving some money. With her second loan Fausta bought a motorcycle, and instead of using it she rents it out to a man who uses it as a motorcycle taxi. With this motorcycle Fausta is actually creating another job for someone in her community!

Fausta told me that now with her small business both her children are in school, and she actually has more time she can spend with them. She has recently been able to move to a better house, and provide a better life for her children. She says she has never been happier, and really excited to watch her business grow. She is now taking out another loan, and wants to continue improving her life!

In the picture, Fausta at a biweekly Bank of Hope meeting, holding her account booklet.

On Behalf of Esperanza International, Fausta Severino, and her her group---- Thank you for you support!!!

Journal Text and Photo by Phillip Valle