El Señor Es Mi Pastor #1 Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to El Señor Es Mi Pastor #1 Group, consisting of Maria Garcia, Modesta Linares, Dominga Encarnacion, Elsa Celedonio, Reymunda Flores by Esperanza International, a partner of HOPE International in Dominican Republic. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 5 months of this loan, Esperanza International, a partner of HOPE International will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Like every two weeks, the group “El señor es mi pastor ” had a loan repayment meeting. This meeting also involved other groups of the community. Take a look in the attached video to see how those meetings take place and what is discussed between the loan officer and group members.

Maria is the group coordinator. She is also a very active and respected woman in the community. Besides having a business selling clothes, shoes and home accessories, she has setup a small private school in her home. She is the teacher of a class of fifteen preschool children from 3 to 5 years. This activity takes a long time, and she sometimes finds it hard to get to meetings, even if these take pace a few steps from her home.

She says her business has been a little weak this month. Many of her customers buy on credit and pay them only when they get paid themselves in the early days of each month. However, December is a good period for business. In addition, Mary has just started to manufacture and sell aromatic candles, and think they will be easily sold and therefore increase her incomes.

Modesta is another member of the group. She has a small business of perfumes and cosmetics, which she had begun some years ago with one of his daughters. Last year, she had to leave the business, but as she heard about the microfinance institution Esperanza, from which she could take a loan with good repayment conditions, she started it again. She says she greatly appreciates the fact that by taking a group loan, the women of the community learn to be supportive.

Maria, Modesta and the three other group members paid their tenth installment, out of the 12 scheduled. They are eager to take a new loan, so they are planning on paying the last two installments in a row, at the next group meeting, and thus accelerate the process to take a second loan.

Esperanza is a non-profit institution, based in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and works toward empowering the poorest communities among these two countries, through microloans that come with business training. Along with its microcredit programs, Esperanza provides social services to its clients and their families, such as cancer screening, free access to a partner clinic, or literacy programs led by the post educated within the communities.

If you want to keep supporting groups of entrepreneurs like “El señor es mi pastor”, please consider making another loan to an Esperanza entrepreneur: http://partners.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&partner_id=44&status=fundRaising&sortBy=New+to+Old

You can also check out and join Esperanza’s lending team : http://partners.kiva.org/team/team_esperanza_dr_and_hati

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Como cada dos semanas, el grupo “El señor es mi pastor #1” tuvo hoy una reunión de repago de su préstamo. Esta reunión embarcaba también otros grupos de la comunidad. Mírense el video adjuntado para saber de que se habló.

María es la coordinadora del grupo. Es también una mujer muy activa y respetada de la comunidad. Además de tener un negocio de venta de ropas, zapatos y accesorios para la casa, ha montado una pequeña escuela particular en su casa, donde es la profesora de una clase preescolar de una quincena de niños desde 3 a 5 años. Esta actividad le toma mucho tiempo, y se le hace más difícil desplazarse para las reuniones, aunque sea a unos pasos de su casa.

Dice que su negocio esta un poco flojo este mes. Muchos de sus clientes compran a crédito y la reembolsan cuando cobran sus sueldos, a principios del mes. Sin embargo, Diciembre es un buen periodo para el negocio. Además, María acaba de empezar a fabricar y vender velones aromáticos, y piensa que se van a vender bien y aumentar sus ingresos.

Modesta es otra asociada del grupo. Tiene un pequeño negocio de perfumes y productos de belleza, que había empezado hace unos años con una de sus hijas. El año pasado, tuvo que dejar el negocio, pero al saber que podía tomar un préstamo con Esperanza, con buenas condiciones, lo empezó otra vez. Dice que además, valora mucho el hecho de que al tomar un préstamo de grupo, aprenden a ser solidarias.

María, Modesta y las tres otras asociadas del grupo pagaron hoy su decena cuota de las doce previstas. Están impacientes de tomar un nuevo préstamo, por lo cual prevén pagar las dos ultimas cuotas de una vez en la próxima reunión quincenal, y así acelerar el proceso para tomar un secundo préstamo.

Esperanza es una institución sin finos de lucro basada en la República Dominicana y Haití. Trabaja a empoderar las comunidades más pobres y desfavorecidas del país, con micro prestamos que vienen con una capacitación en negocios. Además, Esperanza brinda a sus clientes y sus familias servicios sociales, tales como exámenes papanicolao, acceso gratuito a una clínica socia y programas de alfabetización, llevados a cabo por las personas de la comunidad.

Si quieren seguir sosteniendo grupos de emprendedores como “La unión de los vecinos”, pueden hacer otro préstamo a socios de Esperanza haciendo click aquí

http://partners.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&partner_id=44&status=fundRaising&sortBy=New+to+Old

Pueden también apuntarse al grupo de prestatarios a la institución Esperanza : http://partners.kiva.org/team/team_esperanza_dr_and_hati

Thank you so much for supporting an entrepreneur from the Dominican Republic or Haiti! As a Kiva Fellow, I have spent the last three months working with Kiva’s Field Partner Esperanza International, visiting borrowers and writing updates about their businesses.

As you may know, all borrowers’ profiles are posted on Kiva’s website with the help of microfinance institutions (MFIs) such as Esperanza. With several branch offices located in the rural areas of these two countries, Esperanza reaches entrepreneurs in the most remote and undeserved communities. This makes possible the connection between Kiva lenders and borrowers in some of the neediest areas of the Dominican Republic.

Most of the loans Esperanza International disburses are group loans, inspired by the Grameen method, which consists of making a loan to a group of people living in the same community, after providing them with a short training program that includes basic business advice and training about the Esperanza program. All the borrowers from the group are bound to pay together, and the repayment meetings that are led in the communities help strengthen the links between local entrepreneurs. It is not uncommon for neighbors to attend these meetings and decide to join the groups to start a new project, or strengthen an existing one through a loan.

Esperanza is a strong supporter of the idea of mutual support and local initiatives to lift whole communities out of poverty. For instance, the institution recently started to run literacy programs in many of the communities they work with. These programs are led by the most educated among its borrowers. Esperanza has also been supporting local projects, such as a school that was created by one of its long term borrowers, named Milàn.

I had the unique chance to meet Milan and visit her school. She was just back from a trip across the United States (her first time out of the Dominican Republic) to tell her story. Milàn took out a loan from Esperanza in 1998 that allowed her to increase the income from her clothing business. Like many Esperanza borrowers, she was selling clothes on the street. Milan felt that she wanted to do something for the children of her neighborhood who didn’t have the opportunity to go to school, so she started a little school inside her house, providing children with basic literacy lessons, and a meal at lunch. Milan continued her clothing business and from the income generated, she could expand her school, until she reached 100 students (divided in two classes of 50 students on morning and afternoon). As her project was taking shape, she received further financial support from Esperanza and other non-profit organizations. The school I visited is a 2 story building, with eight classrooms, a library and computer room. Almost 500 students are attending the school, and follow an education program acknowledged by the Dominican ministry of Education, provided by 17 teachers (working part-time). Meanwhile, Milan has been able to complete her own education that she had left shortly before reaching high school. She is now about to get an advanced education degree that will certify her as a principal.

Recently, I was visiting a group of borrowers, who took their first loan funded by Kiva lenders. Maria, and one of the women of the group had a very similar story to Milan’s. Besides her clothing and home accessories business, she runs a local school, in her house, where she is the teacher of a class of 15 preschool children aged from 3 to 5. She is a well respected woman in her community. Her neighbors call her “la profesora” (the teacher). Although her activity as a teacher is not a source of income, it definitely is a great motivation for her to succeed in her business. Maria has recently added new products to her home accessories such as aromatic candles that she hopes will increase her sales during Christmas time.

Thanks to their commitment to reach the most isolated communities, and the indispensable financial support they receive from Kiva lenders, Esperanza may be fostering, through Maria, a new local project that will bring great benefits to the community.

Let’s wish Maria and all of Esperanza’s borrowers great success in their attempt to improve their life condition and access to education in the Dominican Republic. For this reason I entreat all of you who have lent to Esperanza International in the past to continue doing so, and continue to support this worthy project!

Please consider joining Esperanza’s Lending Team by clicking here.

Or check out all fundraising loans from Esperanza .

Thomas Gold

Dear Kiva Lenders,

While it has been two weeks since a 7.1 earthquake struck Port au Prince, Haiti the destruction and loss of lives left as a result of the natural disaster is tremendous.

Kiva’s field partner in Haiti, Esperanza International, has offices located in the northern part of Haiti, Trou du Nord (close to Cap Haitian), in which it is confirmed that the offices as well as all staff members were spared from harm. However, Esperanza has confirmed that two associates who were in the capital tragically lost their lives during the earthquake. In addition, 40% of Esperanza’s borrowers in the Dominican Republic are of Haitian origin and have been adversely impacted by the disaster. This link is particularly important as many of the Haitian clients in the Dominican Republic regularly send remittances to their relatives in Haiti, which will prove to be a vital lifeline to help sustain these families in the months ahead.

Clients in Haiti now more than ever face a whole new set of challenges: many associates have already and will continue to take in family members fleeing from Port-au-Prince; hundreds of borrowers cope with the emotional distress of losing family and friends; associates who once traveled frequently to the capital as a commercial center must find news ways of obtaining necessary supplies and materials for their businesses; and many will be facing elevated prices as the supply of products is now limited and the demand is elevated, etc.

Esperanza has responded to the disaster situation at hand by working with already established partners in Port-au-Prince and southern Haiti in addition to various U.S. and Dominican organizations. It is currently in the early stages of an immediate disaster relief plan, which is targeting 10,000 families to send immediate relief to. In addition, Esperanza has collaborated with the U.S. organization, Operation Rainbow, performing around 100 surgeries to date in the border town of Jimaní as well as with surgeons from Rush Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago to treat victims in Carrefour, the epicenter of the earthquake. This immediate aid will be followed by a longer-term relief process, which will focus on 5,000 families (32, 250 individuals) to provide rehabilitation to in the form of family housing, education, water/preventative health, and income generation.

With regards to the earthquake’s effects on Esperanza’s microfinance operations, it is likely that in the months ahead many of Esperanza’s loans in Haiti may need to be refinanced or cancelled as clients deal with the aforementioned challenges, however, we intend to stand by our clients and continue to offer access to credit, as well as our range of complimentary services, as the situation permits. Additionally, Esperanza intends to go ahead with its long term plan of opening three more branch offices in the next three years in Haiti to expand access to credit to Haitian borrowers.

Despite the many obstacles borrowers face in the months ahead, associates have continually proven capable of overcoming adversity and showing resiliency in difficult times. They have found innovative and creative ways to create new income streams and this ability will be essential to a sustainable rebuilding process in Haiti. More than ever, micro-finance has the potential to be a vital part of this re-growth. We encourage you now, more than ever, to finance Haitian borrowers through Kiva microloans.

If you would like to learn more about Esperanza and HOPE International, or to find out ways you can help, – including their current humanitarian relief and other support efforts in Haiti – please visit Hope’s website. You can also visit Esperanza’s website or email disasterresponse@esperanza.org.

Photos: Mike Lee, Operation Rainbow