Adding to basket
Twenty-nine-year-old Elizabeth, a mother of two children who are eight and twelve years old, has a third-grade education. She left school because she had personal challenges. Elizabeth began to work alongside her father, seeding the farm with vegetable seeds, and then worked for six years for other farmers. She married when she was 18 years old to a vegetable farmer who had his own property.
For eight years, Elizabeth has farmed seasonal vegetables on rented land. She occasionally employs one or two people, usually during April and May. There is no water on her farm. She sells at the local market, both at the retail and wholesale level. Elizabeth requests her eighth Kiva loan to buy tomato seeds, rolls of nylon sheeting to protect her crops from the cold weather, a drip hose, and fertilizer.
Elizabeth was elected President of the Friendship Bridge Trust Bank “Bella Vista Sumpango” by nine Kaqchikel women. Many of them are farmers, while others have traditional textile businesses or convenience stores. They reap many benefits from participating in the Friendship Bridge “Microcredit Plus” program of loans, monthly educational training (business, family, women, and health) and bi-monthly healthcare services (exams, consults, and family planning). Recent topics for the training have been about women’s physical and mental health and how to avoid the dangers of over-indebtedness.
Thank you, Kiva lenders!
In this group: Sandra Leticia , Elizabeth, Ana Maria , Maria Olga , Adela , Evelyn Roxana , Marta Alicia , Maria Alicia, Lady Karina, Marta Alicia
