Adding to basket
Manuela, an enterprising 28-year-old mother of 2 children, aged 4 months, and 8 years old, is married to a bricklayer. For 7 years, she has used her education by teaching in her local school in the department/state of Solola. Her oldest son is entering the 2nd grade.
When Manuela was very young, she would help her mother weave baskets with pine needles. When she married and after her first son was born, she began to embroider traditional blouses (huipiles) with the cross-stitch method.
She joined a Friendship Bridge Trust Bank 4 years ago to obtain a loan. Now, she has 10 women working for her who help support their families. Manuela delivers 10 colorful traditional blouses (huipiles) each month. She also weaves pine needle baskets. Her goals are to have successful businesses and to begin to sell outside of her community, increasing her income and the standard of living for the family. She is requesting her 2nd Kiva loan to buy thread and pine needles.
Seven Maya K’iche women formed the Friendship Bridge Trust Bank “Chichiyal”. They elected Manuela to be their President. These ladies raise chickens, sell children’s toys, and make pine needle and sugarcane baskets and “wipes” (handmade balls of fabric used to clean surfaces). They participate in a monthly educational training (health, business, women, family) and receive bi-monthly healthcare services, exams and consults. This combination of “plus” services is called “Microcredit Plus”.
Thank you, Kiva investors, for helping these determined women!
In this group: Maria Gregoria , Ana , Maria Catarina , Juana , Manuela Regina, Jennifer Maria , Linda Eunice
