Here are links to all the posts I wrote about our trip to Dominican Republic with HOPE International. I thought I’d put them all together to make them easier to find!
HOPE Summary
Tag: HOPE
Final thoughts on HOPE
I feel like I need to wrap up my trip. I’ve shared many stories and pictures, but there are a couple of little gaps.
The HOW: Microloans work because people who don’t have financial capital have social capital. The group microlending I shared earlier works with groups of five borrowers. While each person decides what loan they need, the GROUP is responsible for the GROUP’S loan. So there is a lot of pressure from the community–and a lot of help, too–to make good on the loans. We saw the lady whose clothing business failed. Her group helped her come up with another idea. It was in their interest because they would have been on the hook for her loan if she couldn’t have paid! The loan usually has to be paid back in six months. This keeps the amounts manageable. Associates can take another loan at the end of the six month cycle, and many do. Most of the people we met are multi-year clients of Esperanza.
Our group: One of the best parts of the trip was spending time with other Christians who are interested in building God’s kingdom but aren’t convinced that handouts are the answer. Most of the people we were with have spent some time considering what happens after you give money to an organization. They were also predominantly entrepreneurs (like my husband), and understand that commerce and business are just tools that God gives us to create wealth and promote human growth and flourishing. We spent hours debating the pluses and minuses of microlending, the effects it has on communities, and who is really getting helped. We wrestled with the idea that, for now, women disproportionately benefit from this program. (“Where are the men?!” was an enormous concern.) But I feel safe in saying that we all saw this as a powerful tool for getting people onto the ladder that will lift them out of poverty. Simply reducing vulnerability to all of the risks life presents seemed to many of us to be a worthy reason to support microfinance.
They were also incredibly fun! We had card tricks and the world’s funniest joke (yes, really), a beach-front talent show and breakfast devotions that will stay with me for a long time. I may need to be more involved with HOPE just to stay in touch with people.
And that brings me to…
The HOPE Staff. Honestly, Bill and I can’t think of a time when we have been more consistently impressed with the people associated with an organization. All of them, from the president (Peter Greer) to the loan officers in the field. Several staff from the US accompanied us on this trip, and each one was kind, smart, and committed to poverty alleviation in the world. They came from a variety of denominations so there wasn’t a particular dogma they were attached to. Rather, they came together around God’s Word and a commitment to bringing Jesus to the world through commerce and microfinance. This is a organization worth supporting.
I think I’ll end there, because I can’t think of anything better to say! I hope that my posts have inspired you to think about the “least of these” around the world, and possibly to consider becoming involved with a group like HOPE International or another similar organization. Please feel free to ask other questions–I can certainly find out answers if I don’t know them!
The Landlady
Now that I have pictures, I’d like to share the story of one Esperanza client.
Meet Nancy, pictured here with her loan officer (and friend, mentor and pastor), Ycedro.
Fifteen years ago, Nancy didn’t have a business. She did have a daughter-in-law, though, who suggested she at least start selling juices to earn a little extra money. So she took a loan from Esperanza for equipment, and that juice stand has grown and grown and grown…
To a colmado (corner store)…
And a nice home…
And a four-plex that she rents out (It’s the orange building behind Nancy down there)!
There is even room to grow plantains.
Two of her children are still in school. One is finishing high school and another is headed to college. Esperanza helps with school loans!
These are two of her sweet grandchildren. Nancy has changed their lives by participating in Esperanza.
And if you ask Nancy if this is all, she laughs. She says NO! Her first priority is a second location for another colmado. The street she is on is pretty quiet, and she knows she needs more traffic to keep growing. She would also like to add more employees. She has one employee now but will need to hire more with the opening of a second location.
It started with a juice stand and a loan, and a lot of elbow grease. But Nancy’s life is more stable, more powerful, less vulnerable thanks to Nancy’s hard work and the opportunities the small loans of Esperanza afforded her.
Every loan has a story.
Oh, friends, I am having such stupid blogging troubles. I have so many pictures that I want to share, but WordPress is not feeling cooperative. So I’m stuck between telling a story with words only, or no post at all. I’m choosing to tell the story…
Imagine that you are one of the billion or so people in the world who live on less than $1.25 a day. Every day is a balancing act–things that middle-class Americans take for granted simply don’t exist.
If you have an idea that requires some capital, your only choice is to save. Your savings is in cash, so it’s easy to steal. If it’s paper, it can be destroyed by flood or flame or animals. You probably live in a culture that demands you support your family–whatever you have is theirs, and if they have a need and you have the means, well, you simply must share. The only kind of loan you can get is from a loan shark–you’re too small to deal with a bank, much less a credit card.
So without access to banking services, your options for working, having a business, or even improving your home are very limited at best. This is the gap that HOPE and Esperanza* seek to fill in the Dominican Republic.
Today I want to share the WHO and WHAT of HOPE. Tomorrow we can talk about the HOW–but I just really want to share some stories. Hopefully I can share pictures tomorrow!
During meetings in the villages of Mato Palacios and Casa Colorado we met about 25 women and men who were attending their bi-weekly meetings. All of them wanted to tell their stories–here are a few.
- A lady who makes and sells underwear. Her first loan was for a sewing machine. She has used her more recent loans to improve her home from wood to concrete block.
- A lady who became literate through Esperanza* programs. She has a food stand.
- A 13-year client who sells clothing house-to-house. She has bought a small farm outside the village, and now raises goats and crops as well as maintaining her business.
- A shopkeeper who expanded her inventory through Esperanza loans.
- A lady who had a road-side fry stand, and began farming. Her loan helped her to rent a tractor for plowing her farm.
- A couple who make cheese and candy. They buy the milk from a cooperative. Loans paid for the equipment they need for making their products.
- A lady whose clothing sales just bombed. (There is a lot of competition in this kind of business.) So she regrouped, bought a freezer, and now sells ice cream and ice. She sells about $1000 of ice cream per month, clearing $600.
- A pig farmer.
- A furniture maker who has used a series of loans to buy power tools. He now has enough orders to look for employees. He told us that when he started with Esperanza, his two prayers were to raise his children to follow the Lord, and to have a business that would succeed. He said that through Esperanza God had answered those prayers.
- A corner shop order who had most recently added an ice cream freezer. In two years her business had gone from a loan of $125 (paid back) to her current loan amount of $1250. Her business has grown more than enough to support a larger loan and payment!
- A lady who had started as a juice stand and now owns a corner store with large inventory.
- A lady who sells cell-phone minutes. Through loans she has been able to improve her home to include a strong roof and concrete block construction.
When you read these stories, keep in mind that the vast majority of these loans are in the $125-$300 range. I can’t express how amazing it is to sit in a room with these people and listen as they describe their successes.
The president of Esperanza was also with us, and she told us what might have been the most important thing we heard that day. She said that the associates wanted us to know that “It’s not about the money. We have dental, literacy, medical, business training…spiritual guidance…The focus is always on God’s will. We always read the Bible.”
We heard “Thanks to God…” and “With God’s help…” so many times this weekend. We saw the transformed lives that come from work. Really, it’s a transformation from powerlessness and vulnerability to self-determination and creativity.
We met two other super-stars, but I’m dying to share pictures with you, so I’m going to wait until tomorrow for their stories.
*HOPE International and Esperanza work in tandem in Dominican Republic to provide Christian-based microfinance services. Our trip was with HOPE but the services are all provided directly by Esperanza.
**UPDATE: I’ve added pictures!
One HOPEful weekend
Bill and I just returned from a crash course in microfinance in the Dominican Republic. Somehow we were invited on the HOPE International President’s Trip, somehow we decided to go, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We are amazed at the people we met, from the HOPE and Esperanza employees, to the associates, to the fellow President’s Trip attendees. We are just grateful for the opportunity.
In a nutshell, Esperanza provides Christian-based microfinance services in the Dominican Republic. When HOPE decided to work in DR, they discovered that the better mission would be to support Esperanza’s efforts that were already in place. It seems to be a terrific partnership. (And as a donor, you have to love an organization that doesn’t feel the need to recreate the wheel!)
Honestly, we just got back this afternoon and we are still kind of reeling from so many great things that we saw this weekend. But let me leave you with three thoughts for tonight:
About the HOPE and Esperanza employees: total commitment to loving Jesus and loving the associates (loan recipients), and wanting to deliver the best possible loan products even as they come alongside the associates to teach about Jesus, health care and business practices. This is how they serve the whole person, not merely the business that the associate owns.
About the associates (loan recipients): dignity and pride as they shared their individual stories with us, and beautiful communities that we were able to glimpse.
About our fellow attendees: what amazing enthusiasm to see the Kingdom of God advanced not merely through a hand-out, but through entrepreneurship and a commitment to work and achievement.
If I had to think of one verse that encompassed the whole weekend, it’s actually pretty easy:
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.–Colossians 3:17 (NIV)
I’m looking forward to sharing some specific stories as the week goes by!
Still in Dominican Republic!
Yesterday, we met a lady who took a microfinance loan from HOPE and Esperanza to start a clothing business. It did not go well. In fact, it failed.
She regrouped, prayed, thought, and used the remaining money to buy a freezer.
She now sells her complete ice cream inventory of $50 (US) every TWO DAYS.
She is improving her home and has a savings account. And she is so proud of what she has built.
Ten thousand stories like that. I can’t wait to tell one or two more. God is so good.
Internet is extraordinarily limited here, so this will be my only post direct from DR. Sorry for no pictures…but I’ll have so much to share when we get home.
Sharing Hope
With any luck, I’m actually in the Dominican Republic right now, visiting people who have benefited from the miracle of microfinance with HOPE International and Esperanza. I’d like to share a couple of videos:
We are looking forward to sharing more this weekend!