Yabteclum 3 Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the YABTECLUM 3 group, consisting of Carmela Santiz Guzman, Maria Guzman Perez, Araceli De Jesus Perez Santiz, Carmen Perez Ruiz, Lucia Perez Gutierrez by AlSol (Alternativa Solidaria Chiapas) in Mexico. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 7 months, AlSol (Alternativa Solidaria Chiapas) will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

I was able to personally meet two of the group members of Yabteclum 3: Lucia and Carmen. I had the opportunity as well to meet Carmela’s husband, Don Jesus. He was representing her at the meeting since she was unable to attend. Don Jesus helped me translating from Tzotzil (the local language) to Spanish, since the group’s women only speak their language.

From the conversation I had with them I was able to get a good understanding of what they do with their loans. Lucia is 36 years old and has 5 children. Her loan is of $3000 pesos and she uses it to make beautiful traditional blouses to then sell them to local women. She says on average she sells 6 blouses per week, which leaves her with a good income to feed her children. Carmen is 21 years old; she is married and has one child. Carmen owns a grocery store where she sells sugar, cookies, soda, and lollipops Through her store she is able to make around $100 pesos per day, which allows her to cover the loan payments every 2 weeks. She makes her best to always be punctual and very strict with her payments. They are both very grateful with Kiva lenders for allowing them to maintain their respective businesses.

I also asked Don Jesus some facts about his wife. They have been married for 12 years. They decided to invest the loan on a lollipop shop which they recently open. He says the business is going pretty well. Carmela also continues in the chicken business, basically selling cut-up chicken to neighbors. Her loan is for $4000 pesos due in a 7-month period. Their daughter Araceli, is another group member, she is a craftswoman and uses her loan to buy thread and textiles for making traditional blouses. The members I met are really grateful to all Kiva lenders for allowing them such an opportunity.