Nelly introduced me to microcredit and savings groups in the towns of Tierra Blanca and San Jacinto that began in early 2009 and the Los Naranjos group that has three years of experience in microcredit.Upon arrival in the first town of Tierra Blanca, we were served a delicious breakfast that included the local delicacy, ‘Chicatana’ sauce, which is made of queen ants that only emerge at the beginning of the rainy season.Tierra Blanca is not entirely a coffee area. The community is located at 1400 meters above sea level, but many people have coffee bushes in the lowlands. During the morning we organized some activities to learn more about the strengths and challenges confronted by the savings group there.
“I feel happy that we have the microcredit group. With the credit I obtain, I can buy cheese in the next town and sell it here because we have no cheese in our community,” said Mrs. Valentina Pérez Herníndez, an outspoken and active woman. “We are just starting our group, but the earnings from the cheese help me care for my youngest son who is seven and my grandson who is five.”In the afternoon, we visited Los Naranjos where the experienced microcredit group was waiting for us. This group recently decided to create a butcher-shop in town with the savings they have accrued.Due to their remote location, a butcher only visits twice a month and the meat is not fresh. During the conversation I realized how FomCafé’s project not only provides participants with access to low-interest credit, but also promotes the teamwork and solidarity necessary to carry out new initiatives.
On the second day, our meeting in the village of San Jacinto was conducted in Spanish and Zapotec, a local indigenous language. Eight of the 12 participants only spoke Zapotec.Many of the women in this group are the heads of their households since most of their husbands have migrated or died. FomCafé’s work provides them with new opportunities for greater income and stability in their lives.My trip back to Oaxaca felt much different and the meetings I had reminded me of how it is possible to create with very little and how microcredit and saving initiatives can gradually change peoples’ lives.See more photos from our trip on Coffee Kids' Flickr page.To support this and similar programs in coffee-growing regions, please donate at http://www.coffeekids.org.
On February 25, I traveled with Norma Alcántara and Dina Córdoba of Coffee Kids’ partner, Self-Managed Development (AUGE), to visit the Chajulense Association of Women United for Life (ACMUV), our partner in San Gaspar Chajul, Guatemala.AUGE has extensive experience in microlending and savings programs and Coffee Kids coordinated a meeting between the groups so they could learn and share information. After a six-hour ride from Antigua, we reached the beautiful hills of Chajul.ACMUV’s representative Juana Hu Mateo and the women of the board gave us a warm welcome. For three days, women from both organizations shared their achievements, needs, hopes and ideas in the field of microcredit. During the sessions, members of ACMUV were curious about the role of savings, which is a pillar of AUGE’s microcredit program used by more than 3,000 women in Veracruz, Mexico.The discipline, dreams and strength of the women in Chajul were inspiring to Norma and Dina.“We had worked with many women in Mexico, but the courage and determination of the indigenous women of Chajul is a real motivator for us,” Norma Alcántara said.
Personally, I was impressed by how the board of ACMUV had been able to organize the meeting and necessary materials with very limited resources. During my previous visit to Chajul in August 2008, ACMUV board members had limited experience with computers and the internet, but through organizing this event, they learned quickly and were able to use the technology on a regular basis, improving their management skills and self-confidence.In a region that just a few years ago suffered under the scourge of civil war, and now struggles with high illiteracy and mortality rates, ACMUV is helping women and their families overcome poverty. Today, ACMUV provides 85 women with access to credit in order to start their own small business and generate income for their families. The visit from Norma and Dina helped the women of ACMUV focus their efforts.
At the final session, ACMUV member Marta Margarita Velasco Chel expressed in the local Ixil dialect, “I think womens’ groups women that focus on saving and solidarity, like the ones explained by AUGE, can be very good for us. With the solidarity groups we explain what we are going to do with the funds, but we can be confident the group will help us.”Our visit ended with an activity where each woman had a balloon representing her dreams. Like a balloon, our hopes and dreams fly, but occasionally they fall. The important thing is to help each other up so that our dreams can fly again.