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.

Happy Three Years to One of Our Best!

Gabriel does well because he loves his job at Adelante. When asked what motivates him to do his best, he explains that he feels proud to be an instrument in Adelante’s mission to the rural poor.

This month we would like to introduce you to Gabriel Gomez, our 2012 recipient of the “Best Credit Officer” award. This week marks Gabriel’s third year working with Adelante as a Credit Officer from our La Ceiba Branch Office! He began work on February 14, 2010 and has since impressed all his co-workers here. Oscar Mejía, Manager of Operations, has worked with Adelante for eight years and recently commented on Gabriel, “He’s organized, dedicated and honest. He pushes himself and has a great handle on his job. And there’s a reason for all this, there’s a reason why he does his job so well–he receives great satisfaction from the work that he does and having the chance to work with the women he works with here.”

Gabriel begins most work days arriving a little early to his first assembly to spend some time chatting with his clients. To him, the relationships he has been able to develop with the women borrowers has been vital to his success.  Gabriel explains, “I always work to be more than simply a credit officer to the women; I try to be a friend. These women are my sisters and my mothers.” The respect that he has earned from his clients has served him well as the relationships he has created give the women he works with extra motivation to manage their loans and businesses well.

Here, Gabriel delivers a lesson on how to implement a new business idea into pre-existing businesses for an assembly outside of La Ceiba.

The first trip I made out to the field was to two assemblies managed by Gabriel. We arrived early, giving me a chance to gain some of the women’s confidence by chatting with them alongside Gabriel. Each assembly of women meets every two weeks to receive educational lessons from their credit officer and report on their loan payments. Beyond the formal purposes of these assemblies however, the greatest benefit for many women is having the chance to gather with others from their community who share similar goals of improving their family’s lives and create or strengthen bonds with others. For women who must often simultaneously take care of their children and the household while running their own business, the assemblies offer them a formalized social gathering to get some time outside of the house. The kids that tag along get the extra perk of playing with the other children who have come with their mothers.

Before working with Adelante, Gabriel had previously worked for a local bank. He says what he likes about Adelante that sets this job apart is that clients are not required to provide collateral to take out loans. What he sees as most meaningful is Adelante’s “trust in the word that they have given” and the fact that “they know that Adelante believes in them”. Because Adelante’s stated mission is to support the poorest of the poor women in rural Honduras to work their way out of poverty, Gabriel’s work often brings him face to face with difficult situations. When I asked him how he handles this he explains that his first step when a borrower has found herself with personal or economic struggles, he guides the women around her to support her in any way that they can, explaining “The pain of one has to be the pain of everyone else too. We can always offer moral support even when we don’t have the resources for financial support.”

The dedication that Gabriel commits to the women he works with has been paid back to him with the advice and support that they provide to him in his own life. This however, does not get in the way of doing his job. If anything, the strong bonds that he has created have allowed him to do his job best—last June, Gabriel received an award at our Annual Staff Retreat for having the best results at the close of each month. Nicolas Flores has been Gabriel’s direct supervisor since Gabriel was first hired three years ago. However, Nicolas finds that oftentimes, he has already knows what is expected of him and gets started before even being asked, “He is always one step ahead”.

Individual Loans in Tutule, La Paz

The Intibucá branch office located in the highland town of La Esperanza has been offering mircocredit to the women of La Paz, a neighboring department, since 2008.  The Adelante Credit Officer responsible for loan pool in the area, Rosa Mejía, is based out of Marcala, La Paz, traveling to the branch office weekly.  Marcala is renowned for its coffee trade, with many families dedicated to producing the highly demanded bean. Coffee aside, the department is one of the poorest in Honduras.  Surprisingly many coffee producing families, whether independent or part of cooperative, still live in extreme poverty.

Catholic Church in Tutule

On a recent visit to Marcala, the distances Credit Officers travel to follow-up with their clients and attend bi-monthly assembly meetings became very apparent with a trip to San Pedro de Tutule.  This town is located about an hour’s drive from Marcala.  Adelante Credit Officer, Rosa, spent her younger years living in Tutule, so the commute is worthwhile since she has family and friends in town.  In the center of town, there is an attractive central park and an interesting Catholic church, while the surrounding hilly landscape is doted with the pine and plantain trees.  Plantains are an important staple of the Central America diet, especially crucial to poor families since the starchy fruit is inexpensive and very filling.  Rosa tells me that many families grow plantains to sell in nearby El Salvador.

Cecilia & daughter at restaurant

In Tutule, Cecilia has a comedor or small restaurant located in the center of town.  Cecilia has been a client with Adelante since 2009 when she received her first loan just L. 4,000 or $211.  Since becoming a client, Cecilia has seen her business grow tremendously and recently, she took out an Individual Loan for L. 15,000 or $789.  With this loan, Cecilia invested in a microwave, and she hopes that in the future, she can obtain another Individual Loan in order to start a small convenience store.   A single mother, Cecilia uses the income she earns from her restaurant to support her 3 year old daughter.  As a micro-entrepreneur, Cecilia feels confident that her daughter will enjoy an improved quality of life.

Adelante’s Individual Loan program rewards AA clients like Cecilia with the opportunity to secure larger loans, anywhere from $600 to $5,000.  Women who consistently attend assembly meetings, invest diligently in their small businesses, and have an excellent repayment record are considered AA clients.  Loan amounts are large enough that it would not be fair to the solidarity group to vouch for such a big loan.  Even still, recipients of individual loans must solicit a small group loan in order to maintain their standing in the solidarity group.  Loans over $2,000 are collateralized like a traditional loan, but in Cecilia’s case, her collateral is based on trust given her proven dedication to her micro enterprise.

Norma at the workshop

Another client I met in Tutule, Norma, is the recipient of Adelante’s largest Individual Loan in the Marcala area.  Norma has been a client for two years and she and her husband run a mechanical workshop out in front of their home.  After successfully paying back her first Individual Loan for L. 20,000 or $1,053, Norma solicited a loan for L. 50,000 or $2,632.  Given the convenient location of her workshop and the lack of gas stations in the area, Norma’s business venture necessitates major purchases of equipment, gasoline, lubricants and other items for vehicle maintenance.  Thanks to her micro business, Norma has succeeded in providing an education for each of her five children, ages 6 to 25.  Currently, she has two teenagers studying in secondary school and a third who just entered university in Comayagua.  The examples of Cecilia and Norma illustrate why it is important to reach out to distant communities like Tutule.  The need for microfinance is immense in rural Honduras and there are so many women eager to improve their standard of living through the hard work and discipline it takes to become a successful small business entrepreneur.

Thousands Affected by Relentless October Rains

Photo Credit: La Prensa Honduras

In the month of October, heavy rains caused landslides and flooding all over Honduras. Across the country, 29 people have tragically lost their lives, and nearly 70,000 have been affected (1). Dozens of roads, highways and bridges have suffered damages, disrupting travel and hampering relief efforts.  Losses to agricultural production include an estimated 18,963 acres of crops throughout Honduras, part of which are basic staples, such as rice, beans and corn, hindering national food security (1).  Public sector engineers are currently assessing the total cost of damages to infrastructure endured during the month of October.  The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates 1.2 million people have been impacted by October’s torrential rains in Central America (2).

Photo Credit: La Prensa Honduras

In Southern Honduras, where the rains were most intense, surging rivers flooded whole communities. Landslides and flooding made roads impassable, and even collapsed a section of the Pan-American Highway, which connects Tegucigalpa to Southern Honduras.  The highway closure not only caused economic losses to commercial enterprises, but also obstructed efforts to send aid to the area. The department of Choluteca experienced the worst human impact, with 27,227 people affected, 1,880 dwellings damaged and 3,311 flood victims housed in shelters.  Large tracts of sugar cane remain underwater, and the Ministry of Agriculture reports that some 2,000 producers of various crops are affected in the southern zone (3).   Relief aid has been contributed by various countries and international organizations, such as the UN World Food Programme, as well as by the Honduran government, which spearheaded a solidarity campaign to raise funds for flood victims.

Data from COPEC report on damages

The rains that have disrupted life for so many Hondurans this October were largely not the product of a hurricane or tropical storm. On October 10, weather forecasters announced a low pressure system hovering off the Pacific coast that would produce torrential rains over several days.  Last week, Hurricane Rina raised fears of further destruction when the tropical storm strengthened into a category 2 hurricane.  Fortunately, the storm did not provoke significant damages, but Rina did generate heavy rainfall in the Bay Islands and along the Caribbean Coast of Honduras.

The relentless October rains have affected clients in each of the eight departments where the Adelante Foundation operates.  The road conditions have deteriorated during the month of October making travel for both clients and Credit Officers a challenge.  In the department of Yoro, travel between the departmental capital of Yoro and the city of El Progreso became precarious, as a result of potholes and landslides along the major highway that connects the two cities.  In the department of Colon, heavy rains caused flooding in several areas around Tocoa and Trujillo, delaying a pending field trip I had planned.  During the week of October 24, the Adelante Foundation held a bread making workshop for clients in the department of Intibuca, and although the workshop was a success, disrupted travel routes caused by heavy rains prevented some clients from attending the event.  In addition, Intibuca has suffered enormous damages to agricultural production, with an estimated 6, 875 acres (36% of national losses reported) of primarily corn and bean cultivation (1).  Across Honduras, downpours prevent many people from venturing out to purchase goods, which reduces small business sales for the Adelante Foundation’s clients.  While the rainy season comes to a close in parts of Honduras, the hurricane season and rains still impact the Caribbean coast through November.

Lagoon alongside a client's home, El Botadero

The onslaught of rain in October left the team at the Adelante Foundation branch office in Choluteca very concerned.  Credit Officers were unable to reach 25 assemblies, where overflowing rivers made several communities completely inaccessible.  The office supervisor, Pedro Ortiz, comments ¨all of our clients have been affected, their homes, their businesses, by illness, the situation for October loan payments is going to be complicated¨.  The prognosis looked bleak, but once the rains calmed and the rivers receded, the assessment indicated that remarkably only 6 solidarity groups were so severely impacted that they could not pay their next installment.   These clients have been given an additional 15 days to make their microloan payments from mid-October.  However, Pedro contends, ¨they are not going to be able to recuperate in 15 days, in some cases they have lost their homes, their businesses, so it will take time, but eventually they will recuperate¨.  If clients are unable to pay their loan installments, the microloan will be refinanced in order to help them get their lives back on track.  The rainy season on the Pacific side of Honduras is coming to an end, but the struggle continues as flood victims try to rebuild their lives.

At the beginning of October, I met clients that reside in the community El Botadero, in the department of Choluteca, which borders a lagoon near the Pacific coast.  This assembly group consists of four of the six solidarity groups that were severely impacted by the heavy rains.  During my next trip to Choluteca, I will meet with these courageous women again and report on how they are recovering from the flooding that has devastated their communities.  What are your thoughts on the relentless rains affecting Honduras and their impact on clients of the the Adelante Foundation?

---

(1) Resumen de Danos Registrados Por Condiciones Provocados PorLa Zona Intertropical de Convergencia. COPEC. October 25 2011.

(2) ¨UN Agencies Step Up Assistance to Flood Ravaged El Salvador¨. UN News Center. Oct 25 2011.

(3) Alvarenga, Fanny. ¨Mas que 8 mil manzanas de cultivos afectadas por las lluvias¨ La Prensa. Oct 20 2011.

Microcredit in Jesus de Otoro, Intibuca

During a recent trip to the Adelante Foundation office in La Esperanza, I spent a day in the nearby town of Jesus de Otoro, in the department of Intibuca.  A 45 minute bus ride from La Esperanza, Otoro is nestled in a valley making the climate much hotter.  Large segments of the fertile valley are devoted to rice cultivation, but the people of Otoro also produce beans, corn and coffee.  The rice fields are primarily owned by large land holders, so a common outlet for earning wages is through the rice cultivation sector.

A Tour from a Client turned Credit Officer

I am invited to visit Otoro by Lilyana, a credit officer who manages the Adelante Foundation credit pools in the area.  Before becoming a credit officer only four months ago, Lilyana was an Adelante Foundation client.  Lilyana thought the transition might prove difficult given that she would be the credit officer assigned to her old assembly group.  Thankfully, the transition has gone smoothly and Lilyana receives the support of her compatriots.

Central Park, Jesus de Otoro

Touring the town, Lilyana points out the municipal courthouse, the town hall, central park and the Catholic Church.  Otoro is well serviced with small supermarkets called ¨bodegas¨, banks, a municipal market, primary and secondary schools, private bilingual schools, and an ample supply of small shops selling goods from appliances to used clothes.  Walking around town, I am shown numerous businesses belonging to clients of the Adelante Foundation, including what seems like half the storefronts in the municipal market.  Despite the municipality’s apparent advantages, there are few job opportunities other than farming.  Most of the farm work is carried out by men, so women especially have fewer options for employment.  Small businesses represent an important economic activity for the women of Otoro, and the microloans offered by the Adelante Foundation enable these enterprising women to increase their income through small business ownership.

The Clients of Jesus de Otoro 

Near the center of town, I met the elderly owner of a well-stocked pulperia (convenience store), Ercilia Funes Perdomo. Ercilia has been operating her store for years, and in the past, took out loans from other institutions.  She confesses that the Adelante Foundation offers the best product, and affirms she will never go back.

Ercilia & her Pulperia

¨Other institutions demand more, they make you sign too many papers, they take off fees for administration costs and social security, and they waste a lot of time,¨she states.

Over the course of the day, I hear similar accounts from other clients who agree that the Adelante Foundation offers microloans at reasonable interest rates, without extra fees, and with no collateral required, using instead a method developed by the Grameen Bank over thirty years ago, called solidarity group lending.

Eva Salazar

One of the most adamant supporters of the Adelante Foundation is Lilyana’s own mother, Eva Salazar.  Eva founded the first assembly group in Otoro when the Adelante Foundation had just begun offering microloans in the municipality.  Eva was also the first client in Otoro to receive an individual loan in order to expand her product inventory significantly. Presently, Eva sells an array of manufactured goods, such as toys, school supplies, shoes, gardening accessories, jewelry, and so much more, just look at picture of her store!

Eva´s Store

With her most recent individual loan of L 25 000  or $1,200.00, Eva invested in creating a separate space for her growing business.  Prior, her business occupied what is now the living room in her home.  Eva built an additional room off the side of the living room to develop a proper storefront.  The roof, tile flooring and cement walls totaled nearly L 20 000 or $1000.00!  Without an individual loan, she would have never been able to undertake this construction project.  Currently, she is paying off a group loan of L 3 000 or $150.00, but she hopes to withdraw another individual loan for the holiday season to enhance the inventory of her store.  Similar to North America, the holiday season means greater demand and more profits.  Eva echoes much of what Ercilia says, and she adds, referring to her fellow borrowers, ¨you must appreciate the Adelante Foundation and take care to pay your loans, there are no other institutions like the Foundation, so people must take care of it and pay back their loans.¨

Next Time in Otoro

I look forward to returning to Jesus de Otoro in the future, and I have two great reasons for another visit.  The clients I had the pleasure of visiting are based around the center of town, and akin to any other municipality, the people who live in the ‘aldeas’ or communities on the periphery are likely to share a different perspective.  Secondly, most of the clients I met are part of the enormous Santa Cruz assembly group, totaling 53 women!  An assembly group of that size is normally discouraged, but Lilyana informs me that the women refuse to downside and that the group manages well. Stay tuned for when I get a chance to attend such a lively assembly meeting, and of course, take a picture!

A Spotlight on Small Business Education

Did you know that education is an integral part of our loan program?

We’re well known for granting short-term loans to rural Honduran women, but part of what makes the Adelante Foundation unique is that we also provide our clients with small business education.     

A credit officer presents to an assembly group outside of La Masica

The Backstory:

Our education program first began in 2000 with credit officers providing advice, when asked, to selected women on how to start a small business.  This eventually led to the creation of an official education program in 2004.  At this time credit officers began presenting to entire assembly groups on topics related not only to business but also health and human rights using brightly-colored poster sets, which allowed clients who weren’t able to read the ability to understand the content of the presentations.  In 2007, the community educator program was launched where one client from each assembly group attended workshops presented by Adelante staff to train them in giving the educational presentations to their respective assemblies.  The community educator program was discontinued, however, due to a lack of measureable results.

In 2010, we’ve revamped our education program to focus exclusively on how our borrowers can increase their business related income. 

The Program Today:

Over the years we’ve learned that training and education are crucial to our client’s financial literacy and overall success.  In fact, the Adelante education program strengthens the educational and financial literacy base of a client’s entire community.  The average education level of our clients is second grade.  Many of our clients have learned the skills necessary to run their businesses (they are “street-smart” and creative) but lack the knowledge to expand their businesses beyond the daily routine tasks.  Much of the time the material presented is forgotten.  Using the idea that adults learn best by doing, we decided to make the presentations more interactive. 

A credit officer engages an assembly group

We’ve kept the poster sets as tools to guide the presentations, but credit officers now encourage clients to participate in role-playing, brainstorming activities and to contribute ideas to the collective group.  Rather than sitting and listening to credit officers lecture on a given topic, our clients are encouraged to play an active role in the presentations which are typically 30 minutes long.  Every 14 days credit officers will present to assembly groups on topics such as “The Art of Salesmanship”, “Working Hard” and “Making a Plan”.  Each presentation ends with a homework assignment which our clients are expected to complete and share at the next assembly meeting. 

The benefits of education are numerous and include:

• Increased family income,
• The ability to provide more nutritious food for themselves and their families,
• The ability to obtain necessary medical care for themselves and their families,
• Investing in home improvement projects such as replacing a dirt floor with cement,
• Investing in the purchase of books and uniforms which are necessary for their children to attend school, and
• Improved self-esteem and confidence.

A secondary benefit, and maybe the most important, is that the next generation will grow up in a household where his/her mother has become a successful business woman. 

 Final Thoughts

The feedback from our clients and staff has been extremely positive.  For example:

Angela Gonzalez states, “I don’t know how to read or write, but I understand the presentations with the drawings.  I like that they allow me to share my life experiences.  I enjoy each meeting and I always learn something new; now with these new topics I am improving my business and trying to find new clients.  I believe that education is important and I try to instill that belief in my children.  My first four children only completed primary school, but my last two are now in high school.”

Helping enterprising rural women to start and grow a modest business such as a small store in their home as a source of supplemental income is a critical step in overcoming poverty.  As Gloria Hernandez states, “the business training and loans from Adelante have allowed me to move forward.  Now my business is better than ever, thanks to Adelante it is better organized and more profitable.” 

Learn how you can help support our education program!