In the summer of 2007, Dr. Shawn Humphrey and Justin Simeone, who at the time was President of Students Helping Honduras, looked to create an economics independent study in order to address one of the many problems that plague the people of Siete de Abril.   According to Students Helping Honduras, Siete de Arbil is “the largest squatter community in El Progreso, housing over 75 families including 200 children” and its community members live in extreme poverty, most without access to “healthcare, clean water of proper housing”(”Siete de Abril”).   Dr. Humphrey and Justin decided that the first independent study should focus on the Indoor Air Pollution (IAP).  IAP “turns the kitchens in the world’s poorest countries into death traps,” for IAP kills over 1.6 million people annually, according Intermediate Technology Development Group (Warwick and Doig 2004).  Yet, little research and initiatives exist to fight this death trap.  This independent study thus addressed both of these lacking areas, beginning with extensive research in the Fall of 2007.   

            Cleaner fuel, reduced fuel needs and improved stoves—the three main IAP interventions with respect to the source of smoke—was the focus of my research for the Fall of 2007.  Cleaner fuels, such as LPG and kerosene, effectively reduce the harmful smoke pollutants yet are more difficult to access and require more expensive stoves than biomass (the traditional fuel source).  More energy efficient houses to reduce fuel needs are also a costly and frequently impractical intervention.  The remaining option–improved stoves– is possibly the best option, for it reduces fuel needs and decreases harmful smoke emissions. By evaluating these interventions, my research helped direct our decision as to which interventions with respect to the source of smoke are most likely feasible and effective in reducing the problem of IAP.

            An extensive literature review of IAP yielded only a few helpful studies.  In fact, the first randomized controlled study to examine the health effects from combustion pollutants (IAP) only recently was conducted and then depicted by Smith-Siversten, Diaz et al. (2004).  The Dancer in the Dark rip subsequent results were published in a series of papers that refer to this study as RESPIRE (Randomised Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects) Guatemala.  The main findings indicated that the improved stoves decreased the problems of IAP, with respect to harmful emissions and associated health problems.  This series of papers, in additional to several other case studies and background research, led me to support the rather prevalent solution of reducing indoor air pollution via improved stoves because of its (i.e. availability and cost) and effectiveness.   It is important to note, however, that while some studies find strong correlations between improved stoves and decreased problems of IAP, other studies find mixed results, insignificant results or point to other factors as the solution to decreasing IAP. The Muppets Take Manhattan dvd

            In any case, improved cook stoves contribute to combating IAP although they might not be sufficient in eliminating IAP.  Most likely, a multitude of interventions are necessary to completely combat this problem.  Even more so, which mixture of interventions effectively decreases IAP has clearly been shown to be dependent on individual societies and their constraints, and thus was an important focus during our field work in Honduras in January 2008. 

References

 “Siete de Abril.”  Students Helping Honduras          <http://www.studentshelpinghonduras.org/sieteinfo>. While She Was Out movies

Warwick, Hugh and Alison Doig. “Smoke- the Killer in the Kitchen: Indoor Air Pollution in         Developing Countries.” Intermediate Technology Development Group. 2004. Stargate: Continuum psp

This summer is the last time I get to take a summer off, the last time I will come back to academic work after putting it on pause for months.  Going into it I had conflicting thoughts, I wanted to experience it instead of working forty hours a week at a grocery store or gas station, which is what I usually do, but I still needed to earn some money if I was going to be able to buy books and potentially afford going to Honduras.  Eventually I opted to babysit (something I have always managed to avoid!) so I could earn more money in fewer hours, and live in Philadelphia since I had housing there for free.  This choice allowed me the freedom to spend a large amount of time working on La Ceiba, and that I did.

La Ceiba was fortunate enough to have interns through Students Helping Honduras that were our contact over the summer.  This has let us get so far ahead, not only do the people in the areas we’re working in know about the program, but the solidarity groups for the first round of loans are formed, the bylaws mostly written, and many of the women have business plans started.  However having the interns down there pushed us over the summer to sit down and make things happen, we had some very good abstract ideas about how things would work, but that didn’t answer our customers’ questions.  Sometimes we had definite answers, we were only going to give two loans per group at a time (in a group of five) so that the group would stay together and no one would have an incentive to bail.  This makes sense, right?  Talk to the women who are involved in the project and they answered that question with a resounding, “NO!”  Right now we’re making these women work for us, they have to form groups, attend meetings, write business plans, etc.  All of these require effort and take away from any current jobs or roles in their homes.  We have women that are willing to trust us and work with us, but only because of our connection with Students Helping Honduras, and expecting them to wait over a year for their first loan is a lot to ask.  Even now we’ve had women concerned, and at least one woman drop out of the program because of the long wait between now and when the loans are disbursed - the second week of January, 2009.  Though we are not changing that date, we did modify our initial plan after much reading and decide to extend loans to everyone in the group simultaneously.  This summer was a lot of information gathering, we had the opportunity to have direct access to our client base and ask them what they think of what we’re doing, what services they would like, and how we can better serve them.  Each customer is looking at it from their own perspective, which is not necessarily the best because we must take into account long term effects, sustainability, etc., but they are still the customer so their input and satisfaction is a large part of the equation as well.  We are taking their input into account as well as reading the past and present research on microfinance and best practices and modifying our plans accordingly. 

Personally I found myself overwhelmed at times.  Who made the decision that I was qualified to do this!?  I can read about microfinance and understand it in both practical papers and academic theory papers, but does that mean I should make a decision which determines whether a woman gets a loan and therefore whether her family has food, clothes, or the opportunity to go to school?  This is my inspiration, I do not want to meet someone who would like to but isn’t able to participate in La Ceiba’s programs because of a decision I made unless I know 100% that the decision is based on the best information available of both microfinance and the country-specific circumstances.  Then I will be able to look at it as my dad said, I am helping to provide opportunities to those who do participate, not harming any who can’t.

Dr. Humphrey and I went back and forth on many of the papers produced this summer, including the Customer Information Packet, the Required Capabilities, the Default Policy, and the Savings Program.  The Customer Information Packet was possibly the most demanding and I am working through it still.  The purpose of this is to supply all the information a potential customer would need or want before agreeing to participate in the program.  Thankfully because of our relationship with SHH people in the community trust us enough to sign on without all the information being settled, but since October 31st is the deadline for groups joining we want to finish it and send it with our long term volunteer who will be living there for the Fall so she can answer any questions that come up and help to clarify anything that has changed.  The Required Capabilities is the thought out on the ground process.  Everything from how to first recruit women (town meeting?  talking with community leaders first?) to the logistics of repayment this document attempts to have all the details hammered out to ensure security and preparedness.  The others are simply policies which have been evolving over the summer and which are going to be resolved soon.  I also outlined a working list of what our Point of Contact will be expected to handle, kept a running list of questions or topics that we will need to address as the development of La Ceiba progresses, and researched how to incorporate and get 501c3 status separately from SHH.  However, the document I may be personally proudest of is the Bylaw Manual.  This includes an outline of Solidarity Group Bylaws with specific questions to ask and prompting questions/suggestions to facilitate discussion within the group so that if any conflicts arise later the way to resolve the issue will already be written by the women themselves.  Unfortunately this document was too much too late, sent to Honduras with just a week left I believe, and the summer interns weren’t able to get it done.  Thankfully we have a long-term volunteer who will be there soon to take over, and the summer interns kept amazingly detailed files so the transition will be smooth. 

As I look forward I am nervous, this is a lot of work to commit to with consequences far greater than a drop in my GPA.  This is an opportunity for us to form a partnership with some amazing people in need, to help provide them with opportunities and services from which they’re currently excluded; sometimes I cannot believe this is truly what I am doing with my time.  This summer was hectic at times, as I’m sure this Fall will be, but ultimately this project has so much potential and I am going to do everything I can to make sure it fulfills that potential.While She Was Out full The Violent Kind hd

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This summer it was my job mostly to compile a bunch of papers on micro finance institutions and make them into a more easily used outline. The outline could then hopefully be used to help us make decisions regarding La Ceiba. I found this task very dull and boring which made it hard for me to get the desire to accomplish it. I found it hard to want to do this with the other things going on during the summer such as a job or seeing family and friends that I don’t normally get a chance to see. Other than this my summer mostly consisted of trying to get up to speed with what a micro finance institution was and what we were trying to do with La Ceiba. The reason for this was because I had no prior knowledge to this topic. It was a little frustrating feeling like I was on the outside looking in to a group that already knew what we were doing. However, most of the fault was mine because I didn’t take the time I should have taken to read up on micro financial institutions prior to finishing my task. Over all the summer was a little frustrating but getting back to school and meeting together helped eliminate a lot of this frustration.

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       This summer I worked in El Progreso, Honduras as a Students Helping Honduras intern.  I was primarily working with a small group of women to form a women’s cooperative that sells recycled bags and wallets. This project was my main focus for the nine weeks.  Megan was the primary contact for La Ceiba, while we were in Honduras.  However, because Megan and I were both working with the women in Siete de Abril, we tried to help each other with our seperate projects.  During the first week, I helped Megan introduce the concept of microfinance to each woman in Siete de Abril.  We gathered information about each woman, and distributed flyers for an interest meeting.  It was difficult to tell if the women grasped the concept.  We were afraid of rumors spreading that we were simply donating sums of money to groups of women.  It can be difficult to control information in Siete de Abril.  Marcio, one of our best local staff members, warned us to be careful in our explanations, because rumors of free handouts had circulated in Siete overnight.  From then on, Megan and I made a point of emphasizing the hard work and responsibility that would be involved in this project.  After emphasizing this aspect, several women told us that they were “not interested in working.”  There was also a lot of mistrust among the community members.  The concept of peer pressure lending caused some women to shy away from the project.  Megan and I both agreed that we wanted to see a stronger community among the women at Siete de Abril.  

      During our one-on-one consultations with the women, I noticed that most women wanted to use the loans to either sell clothes or food.  I was concerned that there wasn’t enough variation between the different business plans.  The second thing I noticed was a lack of confidence.  Abstract questions about self-esteem and character traits were difficult for the women to grasp.  It was as if no one had taken the time to really ask them.  However, I noticed more assertiveness in the women from my eco-bag class by the end of the summer.  Megan and I were both frustrated how petty arguements or grudges could break apart solidarity groups.  We quickly realized that no matter how much prep work you do, you will always run into road blocks like these.  They are inevitable, so it is best to be prepared for them.  Working in Honduras forces you to put theories into realities, and this is an amazingly great challenge.  Now that I’m back in class, it’s strange to study development theory.  Although Honduras was a difficult experience, I just want to take action versus discussing theories of action.  This class is so amazingly unique, because it gives me and other students the freedom and power to be active about poverty versus theorizing about poverty.  On a more personal note, I really grew to care about the women in Siete de Abril, particularly the women in my bag class.  They are so strong and beautiful, yet suffer from the constraints of a male-dominated culture, where domestic and sexual violence are rampant.  It was almost revolutionary to see these women drafting their own business plans for financial independence.  Beyond loans, I see La Ceiba as a vehicle to promote women’s rights and equality. 

Rachel

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