Reading the news of the newest Congo tragedies a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but think of the work already done by WMI in the bordering nation of Uganda.  It was a terrible reminder that whatever big or little piece of a nation in which you work to create whatever kind of impact, any progress can be wiped away by events far beyond anyone’s control.  The two nations are not at all politically comparable, but, I still had to entertain a sad thought.  If some political or health-related catastrophe happened to occur around the women I hope I’ve helped in Uganda, despite having improved their lives for a short time, the hope of meeting any long-term goals would be instantly erased.  While some microfinance organizations, such as HOPE International, continue to operate in the Congo in spite of political instability, I wonder just how much impact they can possibly have in that environment.  As far as I know there is nothing like that to worry about with Honduras, but it should still serve as a reminder that the battle against poverty is fought on many fronts, a number of which are open to us.  Does that mean we should offer a broad range of services covering every poverty-related issue that we can?  I’m undecided.

Our goal should not be to feed someone’s children for a day only to have things return to normal, nor should it be to give anyone a fleeting increase in their standard of living.  I consider that a failure given the effort put into this program as well as the monetary and intellectual resources available to us.  Our goal, as a developmental organization, should still be to jump start a permanent positive change in a community as best we can.  I still firmly believe that open financial services are the best way to accomplish that goal, but recognize that an important auxiliary objective is the health of our clients.  It’s common sense that a market of sick producers can’t grow, so what do we need to do to address this?  Should it be simple educational pamphlets or demonstrations or a sale or donation of basic home medical supplies?  Should it even be us?

These are all questions that we absolutely don’t have time to answer before our trip, but they should be considered while we’re in Honduras.  We have limited resources, so how are those resources best spent?  If SHH or another organization is already or plans to promote any health initiatives, perhaps it’s in the interest of the community for us to focus all of our resources and research on how to best provide financial services to them.  If we decide that our clients have specific health needs that are not being addressed and won’t be in the forseeable future, then we should devote more resources to making sure that our clients are healthy enough to efficiently utilize their finances.  If they’ll be best served by a health initative and have little demand for financial services, then perhaps we’ll need to consider a complete retooling of our mission and program.

I’m not making any conclusions, just reminding that we need to allocate limited resources where they can most effectively initiate long term positive change.  During our week in Honduras, we have to carefully and honestly determine where we can do the most long-run good.  I hope that it’s with a microfinance program, but if we can clearly see that it’s not, it’s important to be willing to close our failing programs quickly and move on to what works (all while staying completely transparent to our investors).  Of course, we can’t control nature and I confess political stability is beyond my understanding and likely beyond our influence, but for the fronts on which we can

fight poverty, we have to carefully decide how we do so with the utmost honesty.

I can’t believe how quickly these past few months have gone by.  When I left El Progreso and the Siete women at the end of July, I remember thinking that January seemed very far away.  I know the women felt the exact same way.  In fact, I think it was very hard for them to imagine the time when they would receive their first loans and now they are less than two months away from starting their own businesses!

There is no question that we still have a lot to get done before we arrive on-the-ground on January 3rd, however, we have made significant progress since August.  One aspect of things I have worked on over the past few months is helping Rachel and Dan get the logistical items accomplished.  Thanks to Laurie’s hard work investigating our different bank account options, we have decided to open an account with Banco Ficohsa.  Most recently we have turned our focus towards working out the details of our repayment plan.  To begin we are going to start with a similar plan to Adelante’s (another MFI that works in El Progreso) where the women turn in their repayments individually and receive a receipt from the bank.  The treasurer then collects the receipts from each of the women and turns them into La Ceiba on the due date.  Although we have the basics down, there are details that we have to go over with the bank before everything is ready to go in January.

My other tasks over the past few months have focused on our customer relations.  I have kept in touch with the majority of our clients and have given updates to Laurie on the status of our solidarity groups so she can finish working through the group bylaws and the individual business plans.  WIth all of the documents and updates from La Ceiba, Laurie is helping us get prepared for January!

On a personal note, I am overwhelmingly excited to return to Progreso.  I think it is definitely the case that you don’t realize how much you have grown from an experience until you are distanced from it for awhile.  I didn’t realize until returning to the US how much I had changed and grown as an individual and what I had taken out of the experience.  I can’t wait to get back to see all the women and the Progreso team in January!

Werewolf: The Devil’s Hound divx

In 46 days, we leave for Honduras.  As we prepare to go back to Honduras, there are many things that we haven’t quite finished.  Strangely enough though, I am not too worried.  We have a dedicated team here at UMW complemented by Megan at W&M.  But it doesn’t stop there either; we have SHH long term volunteers in Honduras that have been helping us along the way.  Rachel and Megan were vital over the summer with collecting information, and building a relationship with our customers. 

Now, we have Alex and Laurie, current SHH long-term volunteers who are helping us with many of the necessities to make our trip run smoothly.  Alex is locating a bus and a driver for us and Laurie is setting up a bank account in Honduras.  They are doing much more than this, but those are the large tasks they are currently working on for us. SHH and their long term volunteers have been crucial and will continue to be part of our support through our upcoming trip and possibly through the spring.

I am excited about going back to Honduras. 

• Fierce People movie download

This will be my third trip, but hopefully not my final even though I am a senior this year.  With a year between trips, a lot changes occur on the ground.   It was great to see the one of the families I met on my first trip to Honduras.  Miguel’s children grew a little from the first year and I am thrilled to see them again.  The first year I went to Honduras we worked on repairing the roofs of the homes of many of the families of Siete de Abril.  While working on these homes I met Miguel, his wife Margarita and there children.  Last year when we were in Siete, I was greeted with a large smile and a hug from Miguel when he saw me walking through the town.  I don’t speak much Spanish, but he got his point across. 

There are so many of the families we met for the first time while surveying their homes and administering health surveys just last year as well.  I am eager to see if there are any changes in the health of the families who received any of the improved cook stoves in the spring.  I hope that there is a noticeable change for them as well as for the other people in the community.  I am also curious to see their reactions to the new stoves.  Do they think they are worth it?  Hopefully they will.  Also, what do the people who didn’t purchase a new stove think of the improved cook stove?  If they like it, why didn’t they buy one in the first place? 

I am just intrigued as to whether the stoves sufficiently provide all the various benefits (reduction in smoke, more efficient, larger cooking surface, easier to clean, more durable, etc.) that we read about them before they were implemented.  I am just ready to be in Honduras!

Dan

Heart and Souls psp

          In less than two months, we will be leaving the comfort of our 8AM class for El Progreso, Honduras to  put our work into action.  I cannot wait to see the energy and passion of my classmates transfer into the field.  Lately, we have been working on several big things.  First off, we have been working on opening a bank account for our clients in Honduras.  Dan, Megan, and I often draft repayment plans that end in more questions.  Since we aren’t on the ground, we place a lot of pressure on our long-term volunteers to answer questions like, “What do we if our clients don’t have official identification?”  Sometimes it’s frustrating, because our work can only go so far without being on the ground. Laurie has been a true lifeline for Dan, Megan, and I to Honduras.  Despite our distance, we have managed to begin the process of opening up a bank account with Banco Ficohsa.  Due to Laurie’s hard research, we’ve discovered a bank that supports our project.  They would also allow us to wire money to Honduras through Bank of America without a wiring fee!  This account will be open to wiring loans and eco-bag profits.  Once Laurie returns from a research project on Honduran orphanages, she can officially open the account within a few weeks. 

          It will be strange returning to Honduras for just one week, after spending 10 weeks in El Progreso this summer.  I am still processing the things that I experienced and saw this summer.  I am mostly excited to see the women, particularly the women involved in the eco-bag project, “Esfuerza de Amor.”  It will be amazing to see the women working on a project that started in the summer.  I recently just got a shipment of new bags from a volunteer.  The women have really improved, and although there are still some flaws and glitches, I have faith in the forward direction of the project.  So far sixteen bags have sold in less than three weeks.  Ten more were recently given to Georgetown University to sell at a big SHH fundraiser, meaning this project will be exposed to a new pool of people.  I’ve been taking orders through sietebags@gmail.com, however most bags are sold face to face to family members, friends, and students.  

      I can’t wait to see the women again. Living in Honduras was difficult, but it was the connection I felt to women like Keyla and Carmen that gave me strength and motivation.  Even though I’m over a thousand miles away, my relationship with some of the women continues to grow (thanks to Skype).  The other day Carmen and I were talking about how she finally purchased her own cell phone with the bag profits (everyone in Honduras has a cell phone).  Before it was impossible for Megan and I to reach her, because her husband controlled the phone.  Now she has her own phone, which is a real sign of independence.  She kept emphasizing, “MY phone, not his, MY phone.”  We began talking about the role of husbands in Siete de Abril.  Often the men will travel to work in a near city or downtown.  Sometimes they don’t come home until late at night.  Women like Carmen are left with the labor-heavy duties of childcare and housework.  I can remember Carmen spending several hours just to cook lunch, and then several more hours to do laundry. 

       One issue we’ve been focusing on before we leave is security.  I am nervous about husbands like Carmen’s reacting to their wives’ financial independence.  According to my classmate’s research, it’s important to make the husbands fully aware of the loan process to avoid household conflict.  How do we ensure the women are safe, when they’re storing revenue under their mattress in a crime-heavy community?  The women will probably know the best answers with their knowledge of El Progreso and the community, which is why we’ll have an open discussion about their security this January.  Megan is currently working on a clients’ safety packet, while I’m working on volunteer safety with Dan.  While we want to be productive and flexible in Honduras, it is incredibly important to remember the realities of working in Siete de Abril.  I’ve drafted safety guidelines for our group.  We must always be in eye-sight of each other, preferably working in homes next to each other.  We will work in groups of three, in which at least one male is present.  Each group will always have a cell phone with an emergency contact list. These are just some of the guidelines Dan and I have been working on. We’re also in the process of securing a group van and a driver/local guide.  It’s important for us to imagine every possible scenario, in order to prepare and protect ourselves.  The problem is when you start imaging every possible scenario, you start to feel slightly paranoid.  I think La Ceiba is the only class in UMW history that requires you to purchase mace in bulk.  

   There are many thoughts and emotions that come with preparing for the field.  I cannot wait for the “first-timers” to see Honduras for themselves.  I am really excited for Erin and Melanie in particular, because they work incredibly hard for these women that they have never met, which really amazes me.  I think beyond Siete de Abril, it is important for people who have never been to Honduras to see Copprome Orphanage, Villa Soleada, and the Nutrition Center.  The kids at Copprome to the incredibly weak babies at the Nutrition Center are all connected to the cycle of poverty in Siete de Abril and Honduras.  I hope everyone, whether it is their first time or not, is left with a strong sense of connection and responsibility to the lives they encounter in January.  The face to face relations our class will form, will become La Ceiba’s fuel and inspiration for the next six months.

Rachel

Population 436 rip

After all of the time spent researching, debating, writing and discussing, it’s a little intimidating to realize how close we are to actually issuing loans in Honduras. This will be my first trip to Honduras. I’ve heard so many wonderful things from people who’ve already been there, and I can’t wait to experience it for myself. I won’t say I’m not nervous. We have a lot to get done in the week we’re  there, but with all the planning and organizing we’ve done, I’m confident that we’ve laid the groundwork for a very successful first round. 

The past couple weeks have been a blur of articles, pictures and layouts as Katie and I, as she said, spent our time getting the newsletter ready for distribution. I was excited to see how it came together, and I look forward to preparing the next one when we return. 

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to getting down there and meeting all of the women I’ve been hearing so much about. I’m so impressed by their willingness to take a chance on our organization and their dedication to the program. They’ve been very motivated, and now we’ll finally begin to provide them with the skills and resources we’ve been working to prepare. 

I’ve been working on the ceremony planning. A ceremony is supposed to help an MFI increase the sense of solemnity and responsibility inherent to the assumption of debt through an unsecured loan. It serves as a means of strengthening the peer pressure incentive and as a reward for the women who have made it through the self selection process and fulfilled all of the MFI’s program requirements as well. I’m anticipating a large turnout. It will be so exciting to meet the families and get an idea of the support system each of the women will have around her. 

Now that we’re in the final weeks before the trip, everyone has been finalizing their projects. The training materials, customer information packet and other resources are the ones that have been undergoing the most changes lately. It’s so fascinating to see the evolution of the program over time. As someone who likes consistency, it can be difficult to live in flux for weeks on end on each issue, but at least we know that in the end, we have a well thought out program that reflects the ideas of everyone involved. Our work represents our best efforts to figure out what will meet  the needs of the people with whom we’ll be working. 

I’m proud of the effort everyone has put in this semester and I’m looking forward to seeing it all in action.

Virus full

The Man with the Golden Gun trailer

Independence Day movie