Full House at Hope House

Yesterday we had a Full House here at the Hope House. Days like this feel good and crazy and satisfying. In our computer room we had 6 students take their pre-test to measure their initial computer skills. Our computer course that began yesterday is focusing on creating documents in Word and a brief introduction of Excel. The course that began yesterday will end in November; thus completing 12 sessions in total. The students that finish the full course will receive a course certificate that may help them find a job and definitly beef up their computer credentials. The idea is to prepare them for a job with computers, for example as a secretary or computer lab "typer," which is a popular job here in town.


In the other room we had 14 knitters creating a new poncho stitch. Last month our loan recipients reported a total of 408 soles of additional income due to new techniques that they learned at the Hope House and then used in their knitting businesses. 408 soles = about $150 of new income! Every month I encourage women to fill out their earning/savings sheet that indicate to DHF how much our classes are helping our women economically with their businesses. In August our knitters had good business sales, compared to other months where the women collectively reported less than 300 soles ($100) in knitting additional income.