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.

Holiday Preparations in Intibucá

The twin cities of La Esperanza and Intibucá were already in full holiday swing last week. With many locals, I ended the week at a Christmas event in the main plaza filled with dancing, music and ponche–a delicious pineapple drink served hot to cope with the cold weather.  Paintings from Intibucá, Marcala and Choluteca were on display farther from the stage, giving people a chance to appreciate the local art scene as well.

Here, a group of dancers perform in La Esperanza’s main plaza.

When I arrived to the plaza, the event was already underway, with a folk dance performance. The act ended with a few audience members of all ages brought up to dance. A young singer came up next to perform a couple songs, followed by a reggae duo from Corozal, a small town outside of La Ceiba where we also have clients.

Amidst the holiday preparations, Adelante clients were busy at work preparing for greater sales. It was great to meet so many women preparing their businesses for a Christmas sales boost. Although the increased profits made during the Christmas season will unlikely be kept up for the year to come, the extra money helps these women to save, and to offer their families a little bit more in the weeks to come.

On a stroll through the market with another Credit Officer, Yovanny, we saw Ricarda, who had stayed late at the market just to chat with a fellow Adelante client. Ricarda had sold out of her tortillas quickly and was happy to spend a couple hours supporting her friend as she finished off her tortillas sales. With such high demand for the staple, they don’t have to worry much about competing with each other. And by the time I met with Santos, she told me to come back early the next morning so that I could take a picture when her basket would still be full of rosquillas, quesadillas and other sweet breads popular in the area.

In anticipation for Christmas, Carmen has been busy making dulce de leche and preparing delicious chicken tacos.

I met Cintya at her stand, who has enjoyed greater shoe sales as customers are busy buying gifts and looking for new shoes for themesleves. Carmen was hard at work making dulce de leche when I popped in for a visit and lunch with our Intibucá Office Supervisor Ethel and Carmen’s Credit Officer David. From her home, Carmen prepares typical food like the tacos we ordered for lunch, but also started making and selling dulce de leche a couple years ago.

Ethel gets ready to dig into her order of chicken tacos!

Serapia’s convenience store will soon be ready to sell meat and other frozen products, thanks to her coming Individual Loan!

Serapia, however, must be the most joyful of them all. I met Serapia at her house where she lives with her husband and four of her five children. Here she runs a small convenience store and raises animals to sell. With Christmas approaching she has already sold two of her three turkeys and is getting ready to sell her three pigs. Unfortunately, she has struggled to keep her chickens safe from the mountain cats who come out at night, making these less profitable.

After four loan cycles Serapia has qualified for an Individual Loan, which she will be receiving this Friday! The loan of L. 12,000 ($600) will allow her to purchase a freezer for her store. With a new freezer, she’ll be able to see her profits increase, telling me, “The fridge I have is only good for storing drinks. With a freezer I’ll be able to start selling meats–products that my customers have frequently asked me for.”

From her home, Serapia is able to engage in multiple activities to support her family–selling basic goods, raising animals, attending to household chores and caring for her children.

She started her store three years ago with about $40 of earnings left over from selling her fattened pigs. After hearing about Adelante and becoming a member of a local assembly, Serapia is now able to make much larger investments into her business. Her first group loan was for about $192 and is now paying back a loan for about $305. The Individual Loan will now give her the opportunity to invest and grow her business in a way that she would not have been able to previously.

The Christmas season is a busy time for everyone at Adelante, as many clients look to take out new loans to take advantage of the holiday boost in the economy. As for me, I’m looking forward to my first Honduran Christmas and New Year. The holiday spirit shown in Intibucá and La Esperanza was just the thing to get me ready.

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.