African Heritage Month in Honduras

Here at Adelante, April is not just the Month of Microfinance–it’s also African Heritage Month in Honduras! To learn a little bit more about what we are celebrating, check out our new blog post written by three Adelante staff members of Garífuna descent: http://www.adelantefoundation.org/en/read-our-blog/42-from-the-field/170-african-heritage-month-in-honduras

Celebrating the rhythm of La Punta during the 216th Anniversary Celebrations of the arrival of the Garifuna to Honduras

We have now moved our blog posts to our website but will continue to feature summaries here! 

 

A Tragic Fire in Roatán

The closest I got to the beach that weekend was on the back of the motorcycle traveling between clients’ homes.

Roatán receives thousands of tourists each year but the island’s largest peak season is now, with Semana Santa (Holy Week) having just passed. From Spring Breakers to retirees, foreign tourists flock to this island off the coast of La Ceiba in larger numbers to enjoy the beautiful beaches that the island has to offer. However, my trip two weeks ago as the peak season got underway served a different purpose.

While most tourists are not able to venture off the beaten path, neighborhoods such as these are where you will find Adelante clients.

The Roatán zone from our La Ceiba Branch Office currently serves over 300 clients, many of whom invest in businesses to serve the tourism industry, while many more run businesses serving the local communities. Despite the luxurious resorts offered to incoming guests, many locals continue to suffer in poverty. One such woman is Adeline.

Adeline is a proud and bold woman who raised eight children on her own and has had two grandsons, 12 and 13 years old, in her care since they were very young. The difficult economic situations she has faced prevented her from being able to learn to read and write and laments that there simply was not enough money to send her children to secondary school.

Adeline is a native of Roatán–a Caribbean island known for beautiful beaches and expensive resorts. The poverty that her and many other natives of the island suffer from is often left unseen.

As a native to the island, Adeline is a native English speaker but also speaks Spanish. With greater migration into the island from mainland Honduras, Spanish is becoming more widely spoken there and many natives feel an amount of resentment toward this phenomenon. Because of this, Adeline and the other members of the group were thrilled to get a chance to have me there to chat in English.

I met Adeline while the Roatán Zone Credit Officer was working hard to get credit evaluations and other work done before the Semana Santa work holidays. These evaluations take place prior to each loan cycle to review the needs of each individual and their current economic situation.

While helping Orville with his credit evaluations, I arrived to the following standard question with Adeline, “Do you own your own home?” The answer I received was not what I had expected: “Well I did but three weeks ago it burned down.” Luckily no one had been at home when the fire started but she still has not been able to figure out the source of the fire. Where she lived, she did not have electricity, ruling out an electrical fire and did not have gas for her stove.

A dish rack and scraps of wood and metal sheeting was all that was left of her home when we returned to the scene three weeks later.

Until she is able to rebuild, Adeline has moved into the home of one of her six sons, about 15-20 minutes away along the unpaved road. She will continue working hard each day at her butcher shop in the market so that she can once again offer a home to her two grandsons, abandoned by their father.

Although pleased to have their grandmother around, Adeline’s grandchildren share in the pain she has suffered from in this recent tragedy.

Despite the various challenges faced by Adeline she continues to grow her business. With each loan cycle, she continues to take on larger amounts and pays back diligently, proving the success she has had within Adelante’s microlending model. Although she has a long way to go to make progress toward a new home, her loan history makes her eligible for our individual loan products. Once she begins rebuilding, Orville hopes to offer her with the support she needs to finish up the construction via a Home Improvement Loan.

Orville looks on with sadness at all that is left of what was once Adeline’s home.

I was personally amazed by how immediately Orville had responded to her tragedy in order to offer her hope for the future. Bringing our clients’ needs to the forefront and addressing how we can solve them is what we see as vital to successfully operating as a microfinance institution while fulfilling our social mission, and this is exactly what April being the Month of Microfinance is all about.

Her fellow Adelante borrowers also brought forth moral support, immediately displaying concern for what had happened. Adeline is very head strong and independent, which had originally made her reluctant to discuss the fire with her friends. However, the support from each of the women and from Adelante staff like Orville gave her enough confidence to open up and reminded her of just what it means to be part of a solidarity group.

A New Beginning

Continuation from Newsletter starts at 3rd paragraph, please scroll down. 

Adelante client, Martha

Martha is a hard-working single mother and one of 400 Adelante clients on Roatán, which is part of the Bay Islands.  Like much of the population on Roatán, Martha migrated to the island in search of economic opportunities in order to support her family. Over six years ago, Martha left her small town in the rural Honduran department of Olancho with her two children to start a better life.  Soon after, Martha’s nephews came to join her since they did not have access to education in Olancho.  Today Martha’s micro enterprise, a small restaurant and catering service, supports a household bustling with adolescents.

Having never received a loan before, Martha was nervous about taking out her first microloan for just $211 over four years ago.  Nonetheless, Martha realized that by working hard, paying monthly installments on time, and attending bi-monthly assembly meetings, her goals could be achieved through the microfinance model afforded by Adelante.  In 2009, Martha became eligible for her first Individual Loan and has since taken out four consecutive loans for $632, and repaid each loan in less than 12 months. Martha is grateful for the opportunity provided by Adelante, explaining ¨Loans from Adelante have given me what I need to work, which allows me to put food on the table and send my children to school¨.

As an Adelante client, Martha has enjoyed a lot of success, but starting over on Roatán was difficult.  Washing and ironing clothes was how Martha used to make a living, which provided her a very limited income.  When Martha would have enough extra cash, she would invest in selling inexpensive foods, such as baleadas (a flour tortilla stuffed with refried beans, cheese, and other fillings).  Over the course of her loan cycles, Martha grew her venture so significantly that she now sells meals out of her home and caters to various local businesses.  Six months ago, Martha’s improved income allowed her to rent a new house equipped with a space facing the street so that she could have a sitting area for her clients.  She is also slowly building up an inventory to launch a small convenience store, a venture expected to be successful given her prime location.  Martha is confident that her new position in town, which is along a central street, will propel her small business to the next level, enabling her to work toward future ambitions.

A scene from Roatan

The non-collateralized loans offered by Adelante on Roatán are invaluable to clients like Martha.  Often the perceived economic opportunities do not materialize for Hondurans migrating from the mainland to the Bay Islands.  They are also burdened by a higher cost of living and usually arrive with very few possessions.  Migrants are fortunate if they manage to eventually purchase land, a big investment that is not easily achieved.  Martha is certain that in the future her micro business will allow her to finally purchase a small piece of land on the island.  Having overcome great hardship on Roatán, Martha has succeeded in sending her two teenage children to secondary school.  In addition, Martha’s nephews will soon finish primary school despite getting a late start. Martha’s story is akin to so many other poor households, but through her entrepreneurship and the opportunity offered by Adelante, Martha has improved her family’s overall quality of life.

Opportunities and Challenges on Roatan

View of cruise ship from mountain top

Off the North Coast of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea, the department of Las Islas de Bahia, or the Bay Islands, is the most visited department in Honduras.  The Bay Islands are made up of three islands, Utila, Roatan and Guanaja, of which Roatan attracts the greatest number of foreign and national tourists. Hundreds of thousands of visitors arrive every year to enjoy the island’s pristine beaches, lush interior and spectacular dive sites along the world’s second largest barrier reef.  Docking cruise ships brought in 470,000 tourists in the first 6 months of 2011 (1). Illustrating the island’s popularity, Roatan was recently named one of the world’s top 10 summer trip destinations by National Geographic Traveler magazine.

In the 20^th century, the island of Roatan has been transformed by the acceleration of the tourism industry over the last few decades.  Many people from the mainland have migrated to the island in search of better job opportunities as a result of the booming tourism sector.  The Adelante Foundation plays an important role on the island by providing microcredit to small businesses since many people do not find the opportunities for employment that they had expected.  The saturation of the job market is compounded by the high cost of living experienced by islanders.  The cost of basic household necessities, such as food, water, and energy are more expensive on Roatan compared to the mainland. Migrants also face the disadvantage of not owning land on Roatan, spending much of their income renting and saving what little they can in order to eventually purchase land at prices significantly higher than on the mainland.

Natalia in her kitchen

During a recent field trip to Roatan, I got to know the island beyond its tourist trail. I met over 30 clients from 12 different communities across the island.  Except for two clients I met in Punta Gorda, the clients I spoke with had migrated from the mainland, primarily from the departments of Colon and Atlantida.  Natalia Guardado came to Roatan 18 years ago from the town of Jutiapa, Atlantida.  Natalia spent years earning money washing and ironing clothes, while raising her 9 children as a single mother.  Four years ago, Natalia was able to invest in a comedor or small restaurant in Coxen Hole, and is currently on her third loan cycle of L 7 500 or $375.00 with the Adelante Foundation.  Little by little, Natalia impressively saved money in order to purchase a small plot of land and build a house. Last year, Natalia completed the construction of her home, and confirms the profits gained from her micro enterprise enabled her to finally accomplish her goal.  

Rebeca´s product in the works

Rebeca Guerrero, who recently withdrew her first microloan for L 4000 or $200.00 from the Adelante Foundation, has encountered obstacles building her life on Roatan. Rebeca moved to Roatan 8 years ago, and started a workshop altering clothes and making dresses.  In June of this year, Rebeca developed a new product to sell: hand crafted ¨Roatan¨ handbags.  However, she was unable to find a source of credit, explaining, ¨the town hall was offering loans so I went there, but they told me I could not use my sewing machine for collateral, they said I needed to own land to receive the loan¨.  Similar to many residents of Roatan, Rebeca is still renting a space for both her workshop and her home.  For that reason, she was excited to hear about the Adelante Foundation’s loan program offering non-collateralized loans.  With microcredit she was able to get her new innovation off the ground, buying enough material to produce 120 bags for the upcoming tourism season.

Having met so many inspiring women on Roatan, I will have to write again about my recent field experiences on the island.  I encourage readers who visit the island of Roatan to patronize locally owned businesses.  Residents of the island do benefit from the tourism industry, but they also face many challenges. By offering microloans, the Adelante Foundation provides the women of Roatan with more opportunities to improve their quality of life.

1) Noti Tur.  ¨Forty millions dollars would have left the arrival of cruise Roatan¨ Honduran Institute of Tourism.  July 4 2011.  http://www.iht.hn/?q=node/245