New Money!

As I may have alluded to in previous posts, this month has been busy, busy.

Since this week is Semana Santa, Holy Week, I didn't program activities at the Hope House. But, that doesn't mean it hasn't been busy. I went out to the countryside yesterday to visit loan recipients in their homes and businesses to invite them to our April activities. The women were really excited to see the new calendar and new classes that will be offered. Some of you may remember Precila from last year. She is part of the village bank Jehova es mi Pastor and was involved in literacy courses last year. She had shared with me in a previous visit that she was calling her literacy teacher from last year for help this year. She forgot how to multiply and wanted some quick tips on the phone so she could help her son with his homework. Starting in April she won't have to do that, since we will be offering literacy classes again. I visited her in her countryside store, which has grown since last year, and she looked over the class list and signed up for 3 classes right there on the spot. This is usually rare as the women I work with don't have extra change laying around. I meet all kinds of women on this microcredit journey, and I have learned that when you find women that have inspiration, drive and desire, You Invest in Them.

After walking along cow pastures all day, my day finished with yet another new village bank formation. A village bank called "Margaritas" formed outside of Banos de Inca. This group is talky, active and full of energy. After their loan dispersement I invited the women to participate in our April activities and nearly 1/2 of the village bank signed up for classes. Below is a new loan recipient receiving her new loan money! Gotta love it!

Machine Power

DHF has really increased it's machine power this year. We went from 2 old Singer sewing machines last year to 8 machines this year. Where our Hope House is housed, with a small group of nuns that believe in serving the poor, there is the capacity to hold sewing classes like we never have before. We held an Introduction to Sewing class yesterday, where women learned how to make a simple apron pattern. In the beginning of class all the women gathered in the sewing room around the long tables where they were instructed to cut their material. The 18 women in class divided into 2 smaller groups and it was really fun to watch them help each other and even teach each other. Our new sewing professor, Sonia, hails from a technical institute in Cajamarca and was so calm, patient and composed as she made the rounds of all 8 sewing machines to get them working. Once material was cut, some women made their way straight to the machine, while others handsewed their material pre-machine pass. I only got to witness a few finished aprons, as I had to run off to a new village bank inauguration, but from the sight of the work level, the women I am sure went home content with their newly made bright aprons.
As the sewing class was finishing their aprons, I ran to another new village bank inauguration, thankfully in the same building complex as our class. The village bank "Women Entrepenuers" formed last night with a 'semilla', or seed money of s/2,000.00 soles (roughly $704) . This bank is composed of many recovering mental health patients that the nuns here have served and rehabilitated. They are women with work skills, but up until this point haven't worked with business capital to use and grow those skills. The best part of the inauguration was the ending when one of the women said, "too bad we couldn't do a toast for this special occasion." At that moment I remembered the extra orange Fanta soda that I had leftover from our business charla. I ran downstairs to grab the sacred orange drink and served the new village bank members their plastic toast glasses. There were heart warming words and the actual (orange) toast, which made the meeting complete.

The Smokey Cheesecake

There is always room for something crazy to happen in Peru, and DiscoverHope classes are no exception. Let me share with you some of the events that unfolded in our bakery class this week. First of all, we had record breaking participation in our class. There were 22 women that attended class, and many more that had expressed interest in coming but didn't sign up. So we had a very full house of eager students. Which also meant we had a full house of little children running around, and if it wasn't for Socorro, our amazing childcare provider this month, our full house would have turned into a crazy house.

Class started, women receieved their recipes and the baking got underway. I skipped out of the classroom to meet with another teacher and when I came back I found all the women gathered around a plastic chair. They couldn't find the socket to plug in the blender, so the entire class moved to the only visible plugin and were cooking on a plastic chair. I quickly showed the teacher the plug in close to the cooking table, but the women seemed very content with the current set-up so they continued to work in their huddled position.

We put the cakes in the oven, first the Cheesecake and then the Lime Pie. While we were waiting for the oven to do it's work, Oswaldo joined the class for another Business Charla. He had a captive audience until the moment when we noticed that the kitchen was filling with smoke. Upon closer examination the actual oven was leaking smoke. The rescue team, Oswaldo, our teacher and another student, opened the oven to try and resolve the problem, meanwhile all the women had fled the classroom because they couldn't breathe from all the smoke that had traveled out of the kitchen into the classroom. Oswaldo solved the problem. A piece of cloth was stuck back in the oven, caught on fire and was causing all this chaos. He removed the cloth, we faned the kitchen and eventually all the women returned to their seats to finish class. Thankfully, both our Cheesecake and Lime Pie were not damaged. Everyone had a chance to taste the baked goods when our class ended. But lesson learned, check the oven before baking.

The" Plus" of Microcredit

I was incredibly motivated by our new village bank on Monday. They surprised me and filled me up at the same time. After a new village bank forms I ask the group to gather to have a microcredit "plus" meeting. During this gathering I explain to the women the work of DHF and why we believe that loans coupled with education are key to providing support and a path towards a successful businesses, as well as opportunities to grow personally.

So we do a couple different activities in this meeting, first so that I can get to know the women and their individual businesses. Secondly, I want to know what their desires are, where they need/want support, what they want to learn. I use pictures of activities (for example literacy, sewing classes, etc...) we have done in the past or would like to do in the near future and ask the women to prioritize if any of these activities would help the women in their lives. "Strength and Blessings" village bank had a lot of ideas yesterday; they want to learn more about how to care for their animals, get their pigs good and fat for market day. They also want to learn more about sewing clothes, since almost all of them sew in some way, shape or form. Finally, a number of women want to improve their math skills, so they can keep better track of their business money. The ideas just kept flowing all afternoon. On top of that, 5 of the village bank members signed up for bakery class yesterday. The group of women are meeting at 2pm at the presiden'ts house so they can go together and be early, .."we don't want to get lost." Class starts at 3pm. There are really no words for me when I witness a group of women coming together, organizing amongst themselves, and motivating for self-improvement. It is my inspiration.

Birthday and Goodbye Meals

We have been eating really well the past couple of days. Partly to celebrate Hugo's 31 years today and also to say farewell to our neighbors Sandro, Heydi and little Dylan. Hugo and I love having Sandro, native to Italy, and his family in the countryside house complex. They have provided lots of laughs, shared meals, freshly made ricotta cheese, and just good company since we came back from our honeymoon. They are heading to Italy next week for 6 months to 1 year, and then will be back in Cajamarca, when hopefully our paths will cross again.

On Sunday we had a BBQ in the hot mountain sun and stuffed ourselves with really good food in Sandro's family honor, for being such good neighbors. Then, in Bedard style, this morning for Hugo's birthday I prepared a bunch feast with eggs, potatoes, cheese and carrot cake. Everyone I think was a little overwhelmed at the breakfast spread, since breakfast is not the main meal of the day here. We will continue eating throughout the day and until Thursday when Sandro and his family leave for Lima. I am hoping my stomach ache will go away soon, too much good food has it's consequences.

Buen Provecho!

Strength and Blessings

Strength and Blessings, translated in spanish as "Fuerza y Bendicion," is the name of the new village bank formed yesterday. I went to the bank formation thinking I would witness, take pictures and invite women to classes at the Hope House. I did that and a little more.

So the bank formation went like this:
Women trickle in two by two into the open patio space that was surrounded by mud walls in the countryside, Tartar Chico, outside of Banos de Inca. The rain softly reminded us that we were safe and dry under the tin roftop. Elizabeth took the newly elected President, Secretary and Treasurer aside to give them a quick pep talk about how the meeting would go. The formal speeches started. A meeting in Peru is not complete without a long winded formal speech. Then, yours truely - with no advanced notice - did the swearing in ceremony. I admit, I tried not to fall into the long winded speech category. Since our new bank members are all evangelical we had a toast with Pepsi, instead of the wine Oswaldo brought, and congratulated one another on the bank formation. Oswaldo presented the loan money to the president, who together with her new directives counted the money. It was all there. The 3 directives then sat down in front of a wobbly wooden table covered with a blanket to give the corresponding loan amount to each respective bank member. It ran so smooth and it was all so well orquested by Elizabeth. We had little chickens running around at our feet and small children asking for more Pepsi, but nothing crazy. After the loans were dispersed Oswaldo explained the pay back system, including savings account and accrued interest. I also added my invitation to the group to participate in classes. The final part of our meeting was a plate full of potatoes covered in spicy yellow sauce. A perfect end to a perfect village bank formation.

A little warm fuzzy

OH, how we are eagerly waiting for the raining season to end here in Peru. Yesterday was a perfect example of rainy season madness. I had left the Hope House to buy some things for our afternoon class. The sky was cloudy, but I didn't pay any attention to that. I made my way to the busy market street, when not even 2 blocks later, I found myself hugging the outside store walls and thanking the overhang for protecting me from the brutal downpour. The streets turned into grey rivers and everybody stopped in their tracks. 15 minutes later the downpour disappeared, but the riverflow in the streets stayed heavy. My shopping trip that normally would have taken 20 minutes took almost an hour.

When our afternoon class started my shoes were still soaking wet. The women took pity on me and suggested we make a 'chanchita,' the commonly used word for piggy bank when a group of people all put together a little money to buy something. With the chancita the women bought sugar, hot tea and bread and we had a warm little snack that didn't dry my shoes, but definitely warmed me up.

Today the sky is cloudy, but I am proceeding with caution

Business Charla

We are trying a different approach to business classes this year - businesses charlas, or chats. Before some of our more popular classes at the Hope House we want to give business advice to the minds and bodies of the women that come to classes. They are already here in the Hope House and an extra 15-20 minutes before classes to get business advice takes away very little class time. Plus, it gets our women thinking 'business' while they are working on their scarf, jewelry piece, etc... Oswaldo, our business advisor, talked about business plans with the 10 women that came to class this week. He did a great job of speaking to their business level and relating to them. The women were quiet during the charla time, but after Oswaldo left I heard the aftermath..."It is really important to seperate our capital business money from personal money, that is why we don't make money. I use to have a name for my business, but didn't think it was important. It is important to think about price of our products, otherwise we don't make money....." and on and on.

Oswaldo gave the women some business homework, the charla ended and the class started on their scarf project. It was interesting that throughout the afternoon the women kept coming back to the business themes. That means the ideas are ringing in their ears.

The next business charla will be next week where Oswaldo will repeat the same business themes with a different group of women.

Chapter 2: Immigration Paperwork Trail

Hello all,

As I am sure many of you are getting into springtime mode I am recently recovering from a bad sunburn. I know there are no pity feelings for me, since I brought it upon myself. Hugo and I went with a group of friends to the beach this weekend, before our immigration oreal on Monday, finding some peace in the Pacific waves and relaxing with plates of seafood. My white skin was attacked by the harsh sun this weekend and made for a difficult ride back through the mountains to get to Cajamarca.

Remember when I told you about the getting paperwork for getting married in Peru? Well we are moving onto the next chapter, getting paperwork ready to change my immigration status (from tourist to resident!) and the final chapter is Hugo's visa. We started the 2nd chapter yesterday. We waited in line for a half an hour and paid $5 so we could get a legalized stamp on our marriage certificate. 2 weeks. It takes 2 weeks to stamp a piece of paper in this country! That means we will travel again in 2 weeks to do the main meat of paperwork in Lima. I know, this is all very dry and unentertaining, but who knows - some of you down the line may need some of this information in some way, shape or form. So, don't go away! Follow the paperwork trail with me!

My best wishes as you spring clean, plant, grease your bike that has been in storage and frolick in the new grass.

Love, Nora

Ponchos

Hope House classes have officially started. Woo-who! Yesterday we started our March classes with a crochet class - to be more specific the women made Ponchos. We had three tables and three models of ponchos, so women were directed to select their table according to the model they wanted to learn. The women didn't make a full adult size poncho, but a number of women finished their small poncho model, so they can go home and replicate the stitches to make a bigger poncho. Although we offered this class last year, we had lots of new poncho makers in the class. In reality when I asked the class, who has made a poncho before?, only 4 women replied with a Yes. That means that 11 women learned a totally new skill yesterday. I love it!

On and Off the Field

Let me catch you up to date with the latest of Maggie's visit, that has now ended. This past weekend we had some time to play, run, relax after an intense week of work. Sunday soccer game - Peruvian and North American blood on the same team and field. Multicredit (our new and amazing Peruvian local partner) and Maggie and I (representing U.S.A. DHF) headed out midday on Sunday for international sports day in the campo/countryside. We let loose and played some hardcore soccer, volleyball and shared many spirited "cheers" as we drank beers under the shaded picnic tables. Walking today was a little painful, but the joy of coming together as a team, both on the soccer field and in the office, makes all the pain and work worth it.

Maggie is heads back to DHF headquarters today and leaves us - the field workers - with the enormous task of changing the lives of poor women in and around Cajamarca. I can say with full confidence that our team is ready to do just that. We had a full and powerful week of prep for our work ahead of us. Our time together with Maggie was spent not only mapping out the work plan for village banking and development classes, but also getting to know our fellow "teammates" and their strengths and ideas. It is an uplifting and powerful thing to connect with co-workers in a deep and personal space. It creates a work path that is so much more meaningful and supportive, thus allowing amazing changes and ideas to take shape.

Our last activity together before Maggie left on the early bird flight this morning, was a village banking repayment meeting yesterday. It was so amazing for the 2nd time in a row this past week to watch a completely successful women-run bank meeting. Women leaders gathered round with soft, yet firm, instruction from Elizabeth (our awesome bank officer) running their own repayment. Dirt floor, sunlight streaming in, little dirty faces running in and out.... There was a missing .40 cents that was somehow recovered, saving accounts that were misunderstood, and group decision being made....it was all figured out.
Pride, Joy, Team.
On and Off the Field.

Buy Day Success

The excitement hung in the air before and throughout our first activity with loan recipients yesterday. DHF had a great turnout of women and jewelry yesterday at our first official event of the year, Buy Day. This type of activity is held on various selected dates during the year when DHF purchases jewelry creations from our loan recipients and sends them to Austin, TX where our supporters can witness and purchase the products created by our women as a result of our classes. We had a mix of women - new loan recipient soaking in the creativity of old loan recipients showing off their jewelry creations. The new twist on Buy Day this year is that our loan recipients placed their jewelry on very slick and professional earring cards. You could feel the pride as women were asked to sign their earring card and place their earrings 'for export' on the branded DHF cards. And this Buy Day for me was especially great because Maggie picked out all the goods that we were 'exporting' (I usually stress when I have to select women's jewelry) while I got to take care of other business throughout the afternoon.

My favorite part of the whole afternoon was my conversation with Nancy, pictured in the middle of the picture below. Nancy was a very active loan recipient last year, trying to attend classes as much as she could while juggling her fried chicken restaurant every evening. She loves making jewelry and when I called her days before the event she reassured me she wouldn't miss this Buy Day. After all her jewelry was selected we calculated her payment together. She sold almost 100 soles, or $30, worth of jewelry to DHF. I paid her and her eyes got teary. " Thank you. Thank you." I reminded her that I wasn't gifting her any money. She said, "I know, but with this money I can pay for my children school inscription that I have to pay this Monday, so they can enter into their classes. All three of them. Without this sale I don't know how I would have paid for it. I worked so hard to make this jewelry, it hurt. Look at my hands (arthritis). But, I didn't want to let you down, I wanted to come to the first activity this year. And it was worth it, because now my children can go to school on Monday."

We are indeed touching and changing lives....

Maggie, Present

So this week is flying and it is only Tuesday. Maggie, DHF founder and director, arrived bright and early yesterday to start her whirwind of a Cajamarca village bank work week. Maggie started her visit by a wheelbarrow suitcase ride to the countryside art pad (The kiddos loaded up her travel suitcase on the wheelbarrow for easy travel to the front door). She is staying with us in the country, which makes for lots of early morning and late night work opportunities.

It is always so good to have Maggie come down she brings loads of positive energy and pushes me to brainstorm, think big and make adjustments or changes in the programming part of what I do. Today we met up with our new village banking partners and started to brainstorm, discuss, break-down our methodoly and best practices. It was a very interactive and succesful first meeting, catching me offguard as I felt a bit like we weren´t in Peru. I am use to dry, unproductive meetings in this country. Together we made an agenda for the week and and talked about some delicate and important issues in the village banking processes. Our new partners, Multicredit, are very professional and dedicated to doing genuine, good work. You can feel it in their ideas and energy. This morning was like a re-charge battery pack for village banking.

Tomorrow we will meet again to hash out more details of our work together, Thursday we will buy some jewelry from our women and Friday will be an excursion to a new village banking site. Will try to make some time to blog as there is really cool stuff going on right now.

Til then, Nora