For Sale!

Shakira's puppies are officially for sale. Just this past weekend we started feeding them puppy dog food with milk, detaching them from their mother. We have 10 little pups, none have pasted away! and lots of interested owners. Starting this week our puppies numbers will start to go down. As long as they find a happy home, we are happy. Taking care of 10 puppies is a lot of work!

Talkin' about business

My poor coworkers are getting their exercise today, visiting 3 village banks for loan repayment and business sessions. Unfortunately all banks are located in different extremes of the city, and even one of the banks is located outside of Cajamarca.

I accompanied my coworkers this morning to support Mari and her "marketing" business session. The village bank Estrellitas did an amazing job of participating when Mari asked them questions. Our women already know a lot about basic business tactics, they just don't put a name, like marketing, onto what they do. For example the loan recipient Miriam makes curtains and mototaxi seat covers. At the end of the year she gives her customers a small keychain if they purchase more than x amount of material. That is her promotion, marketing, catch to remain and attract more clients. The women had a lot of ideas and questions about how to improve their marketing. This was definitely a hit business topic.

Yesterday was my exercise day. I went to the bank Margaritas located above Los Banos to visit our knitting group. The group started to make baby blankets 3 weeks ago. The target date was to finish them yesterday, however we had a lot of slow knitters and most of our women weren't finished. I explained to the group we can start another knitting project as soon as everyone finishes their blankets. There were some groans. They want to start on their baby dresses already next week. My rationing is that they get discounted material from DHF, we want to see them finish their projects and not have 1/2 done baby blankets sitting in corners of houses waiting to be finished. We want to see them all the way through their project, no matter how tough it may be. Tough Love.

After my knitting session I ran to the Hope House to see the last bit of jewelry class and finally witness our 3rd village bank this year, Mujeres Emprendedoras, move into their 2nd loan cycle.

Can we say ready for the weekend? Yes!

Sewing Course Graduation

Presenting DHF's 1st graduating class of the 1st Sewing Modulo: Women's Clothes held in conjunction with the local Cajamarcan training institute CETPRO

We arrived at the finale of our sewing modulo. The one that started back in April. Remember those posts? Women that hadn't sewed in a long time, women that wanted to improve their sewing business, women that wanted to learn how to make their own clothes, etc...

That group of 11 women finished their coursework this month and yesterday was our graduation ceremony. We held the ceremony in the 3rd floor auditorium above the House Hope classrooms. The students were there, some accompanied by family members (and screaming kids), other loan recipients (and future sewers!) and we had a table of special invited guests, for example our angel nuns who provided the sewing space, Oswaldo representing Multicredit and CETPRO representatives.

The ceremony consisted of lots of speeches in recognition of all who made this course possible, especially our beloved teacher Sonia who taught with such passion and patience. Vilma, one of our star students, also spoke on behalf of her fellow students, giving thanks and reassuring the crowd that the group will take advantage of their new knowledge and use it in their daily lives and businesses, "because not everyone has this opportunity and we are very grateful." Prizes were given out to the students with best attendance and we enjoyed cake and tea afterwards.

But, really, the best part of the ceremony was our 'Runway Model Showcase.' Yes, we had all our students model their skirt, blouse and suitcoat for the crowd. I turned on the the music. The women were announced by name. And, one by one, they modeled their work. Their beauty. It was fabulous!

The women didn't want the celebration to end, so their was the famous Peruvian broasted chicken and french fry meal afterwards.

It was so rewarding for me to see the pride and happiness that each of our students radiated yesterday. It is confirmation that DiscoverHope instills Hope and Opportunity in the lives of humble women. And the good news continues: the 2nd Modulo Sewing course is starting next week (no vacation for sewers!) and we will have even more sewers taking advantage of yet another Opportunity of learning.

Congratulations to all our Sewing Graduates!

"At first I was scared"

That's what Ingrid from the village bank Mujeres Luchadoras told me, "At first I was scared, I felt all alone. But then as I went walking more into the forest I realized I was surrounded by a lot of beautiful things. There was a river, birds, lots of flowers and trees. I realized I wasn't alone and I felt at peace."

During our 2nd leadership workshop yesterday, our final activity was a 'silent, internal trip' to the place where our internal voice is born. The place deep inside ourselves where we affirm our goodness and strength. All the women closed their eyes, I put on soft music and I lead the women to the spring of their internal voice. When we were done the women drew on pieces of paper memories of their trip. It was interesting to hear their comments, especially Ingrid's. She didn't like the idea of being alone, but once she realized she was in a safe place with herself she felt peace.

Meet Hope

I can't even begin to tell you how excited and proud I am. Today was the start of the 2nd loan cycle for Strength and Blessings. They elected a new Directive to lead them in their 2nd loan cycle. So, new secretary, new treasurer and new president. The new Directive will be fabulous, I just know it, but I am especially excited about the new president. Her name is Esperanza (translated from Spanish is Hope) and she is dynamic. You can not miss her laugh and her energy when you are in the same room as her. She jokes and motivates. She pushes her fellow loan recipients, "Neighbor, you can work with more money. I know you. You are a hard worker. Take out s/600 in your loan, invest it and you will make more. s/400 is nothing for you."
Esperanza is special not only because of her incredible spark, but also because she has been a dedicated literacy student these past 3 months. Esperanza never finished elementary school so when her village bank formed and she had the opportunity to attend literacy classes in her community she signed up. She has learned how to write her name and basic numbers. This month she started her 2nd literacy cycle, together with her loan cycle.

Strength and Blessings is one of our village banks that is located in the countryside. As I got on the combi to head to the countryside this morning I spotted Esperanza. We rode together to the village bank meeting. We stopped in the dirt road next to the river bridge to walk the rest of the way together. Esperanza had two big heavy (30 lbs.?) bins filled with "dirty water" (pig food, but often called agua sucia here in Peru, easier to say than restaurant leftovers) She travels into the city daily to gather 2-4 dirty water bins for her pregnant pigs. Together her two pigs consume 2 full bins of dirty water. They will give birth soon and soon she will need to increase their food availability so that the piglets grow big and strong and ready for market. Since her husband works and her kids are little, she doesn't have anyone to help her. She travels daily, sometimes waiting long hours for a combi that will take her and her bins close to home. Not all combi drivers want to take her bins on their short-of-space minivan. Sometimes they charge her 50 cents a bin, and that is after she pays s/3 a bin for the restaurant leftovers. Esperanza carrys these heavy bins on her back, daily. I couldn't even lift one.

So, these are just a few reasons why I think Esperanza will make a great president. Yeah for Hope!

Little Ones

Some of you are curious...you want to see Shakira's babies. Here they are!It is interesting this time around with puppies. Shakira, unlike Magnolia, has been overly protectively and surprisingly aggressive since giving birth. She won't let anyone except Hugo get close to her nest. She bit poor Sebastian one day when he was playing near the dog house. She also got aggressive with Magnolia another day. We can't wait til the pups get a little older, we can sell them, they can find a new home, and our Shakira will be back to her normal self.

Start of Cycle, End of Cycle

Pictured Above is the Village Bank "Strength and Blessing" during their last loan repayment meeting of Loan Cycle 1.

This week it feels like we are in the middle of movement. Then again, it always feels like that. But, if I sit down and reflect (which I have been able to do quite a bit of since I am sick with a cold again) I found myself one day going to a close of loan cycle 1 meeting with a bank and the next day celebrating the start of a loan cycle 1 with another bank. It is really rewarding to watch a bank grow into their 2nd loan cycle. I don't have kids, but I suspect that it is like watching your child grow and marking the milestones of their life. Pictured below you will see a new member of our village banking team: Mari. She is pictured next to Elizabeth helping the Directive of the village bank Violetas administer their first loan reimbursement. Mari hails from a rich background of helping women in poverty, graduated from law school in Cajamarca and is infusing our business assistance program with dynamic and participatory activities. In our village bank 2nd loan cycles Mari wants to get the women thinking about their accounting. Can they figure out how much they make? If they are making a profit? If so, how big or small? Pictures and more stories to come....

Elizabeth and Mari helping the village bank Directive of Violetas sort through their first loan paperwork.

New loan recipient from Violetas showing off her first loan money.

Let There Be Light!

Folks, the 46 days electric outage came to an end this week. On Tuesday our electric meter was installed and programmed and that night we had LIGHT. Not candle light, but real electricity light. There was stirfry, beers and music to celebrate. Hugo and I almost couldn't believe it. We had partly gotten use to living with out light while simultaneously dreading going home to a dark house every night. We both questioned how we survived for so long. And, we couldn't answer that question.

Getting light back into the house was not easy. The electric company didn't cooperate very much and my poor mother in law was making trips twice a day, daily, to get someone to install our meter. At first they claimed they couldn't install a meter for us because there was an electrification project finishing in our neighborhood (which we weren't a part of) and another entity was in charge of electricity in our neighborhood. Talk to them. Well, once we established we weren't part of the project and were not going to be part of the project, they accepted our petition for an electric meter. Once the technicians finally got out to the house to put in the meter, they installed it wrong and Maritza had to go back to the meter (on the same day when she had already spent more than 3 hours with the techinicians) so they could program it right once and for all.

We have a pre-pay meter. This means we put so much money on a card, swip our card in our meter and it charges for that certain amount. We have to recharge the card, then the meter when it looks like our electric credit is low. With this new re-charge system and our 45 lightless days we will be very careful about our electricity consumption.

Let There Be Light!

Leadership Drama at Hope House

Another Leadership Workshop started this week, but this time in the Hope House in Cajamarca. We invited 6 village banks to participate ( 3 banks participated in Los Banos). There was participation from all 6 village banks: a total of 23 women. This time around I took into consideration the literacy levels of our women and added a new activity to the 1st session - Theater! We (me and my lovely co-workers) introduced the theme of leadership using Sociodramas and asked the women themselves to participate in acting out scenes from repayment bank meetings. We acted out 3 scenes to show the group different types of leadership styles. After the 3rd scene we reflected on how the different leaders reacted to bank problems and what is the best type of leadership we can practice within our own banks. It was a hit. The dramas got the women laughing and participating much more than in the first series of workshop that we did in Los Banos. However, to be fair, we are working with a different group of women this month. The literacy levels are a bit higher in this group, but the group itself is much more active and talkative. And, this made for a excellent workshop.

I received headnods (women agreeing with me), questions and really great comments throughout the workshop. A couple of my favorite moments were :

1) When Juana, president of Amigas por Siempre village bank, asked me during our brainstorming activity, "I have never heard of leadership? What is it?" I replied, "Well, that is why we are here. If I tell you the answer now then you will all leave and the workshop will be done. What do you think it is?" Then a couple minutes later she replied, " Isn't a leader a responsible person who is in charge of a group." BINGO, she answered her own question!

2) Ingrid (our super star computer student) asked me at the end of the session, "Isn't this a capacitation? Because we are learning new stuff. Does that mean we get a certificate at the end?"

During one of our dramas. Elizabeth, our bank promotora, is acting as the authority (president) and different bank women are acting along with her.
We did group work within our village banks, reflecting on a leadership story and what it means to be a leader.

Wedding and Puppies

Eventful weekend.

My volunteers, Amy and Blake, left. So we went out til 4am on Friday to have a proper good bye (although they went home way earlier, but what ever).

Then, Hugo and I got the reminder call on Saturday at 10:30am that we had a wedding to go to at 11am. We left our house at 11am, showered at Hugo's parents and got to the church by 12. There was still an hour left of the ceremony. (Or maybe it had just started?)

Hugo's cousin got married in one of the oldest churches in Cajamarca. Stunning. Then, we went to an elegant reception where there was endless drinks and dancing. And, Crazy Hour. After the band had played for at least 3 hours, the clowns and magicians and guys on stilts came in with party favors and the dance floor turned wild. I guess that is the big thing now - Crazy Hour - but since I am not hip, I didn't know what was going on. We danced during Crazy Hour and then we were done. Two consecutive nights of dancing is rough on the body.

Finally, yesterday Shakira gave birth to 10 little puppies that look like rats. They are all, except 1, female. That means it
will be more difficult to sell them.

Back to work!

Cajabamba Again

The painter, waiting for his bus.The spot. Hugo painted up this dry hill, with absolutely nothing else around, except beauty.

Vicki and her clan (aka family), our company throughout the week.

We are back from Cajabamba, from the 2nd annual Open Air Painting Competition. It was a little different experience this year, compared to last. We traveled with Vicki and her family, which meant lots of time with 7-14 yr. olds. We stayed in her cousin's living room, in a tent. The road outside was noisy, and despite having electricity, we did not have a bathroom. Just a hole in the ground.

The competition itself was different this year. The artist were more spread out. I ended up hiking 4 hours to only see less than a dozen artists at work. Last year Hugo and I walked around the town of Cajabamba and saw close to 3 dozen artists.

Prizes were given out the last day and one of Hugo's fellow Cajamarcan artist (and good friend) won. Hugo didn't win a monetary prize, but his work was selected in the top 50 (out of 350) to be exhibited in an exposition in Lima.

We are now back at home, happy to have a bathroom, but not happy to still be without electricity. This week we will start looking for an apartment in town, WITH ELECTRICITY!