Archive for 21 August 2007
A Women’s Group Paperwork Meeting
Ever wonder what a real women’s group meeting looks like? Here’s a Guatemalan example, a paperwork meeting for Friendship Bridge in Tecpan. This is where they make the all-important and sometimes stressful decision about how big a loan they want to ask for. Everybody has to come and bring their “cedula” or national identification card. There were 30 women in the group last time, and this time they’re adding four new ones. All 34, with various children and other relatives (and the occasional dog) are crammed into a little unfinished room with a dirt floor and a table set up in front. In case you were wondering, these women speak the Cakchiquel language, one of the 21 or so Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala. I got to interview 7 of them for Kiva loans that will go up in the next couple of days. What an inspiration these women are.
