Posts filed under 'Honduras'
Leaving Honduras
Yesterday all the loan officers and agency coordinators from all over Honduras gathered in the small conference room in Prisma’s main office summarize, discuss and clarify the way Kiva would be implemented in the coming year. This was the final day and our final hurrah. I was so honored that they considered my assistance and their partnership with Kiva worth the administrative cost of bringing everyone together for a day- effectively halting all normal activity. The loan officers from San Lorenzo and Choluteca were up at 3 in the morning to catch the bus to the capital and surely didn’t arrive back in their homes until nearly midnight.
Sierra and most of Kiva's Staff
I entered the office before anyone to go over the copies one more time, to wipe down the table, to center myself. The worries. “What if it turns out to be a big waste?”, “What if it becomes obvious that still, no one really understands Kiva?”, “I am hoping for a big discussion, but what if my questions fall flat and they respond with deafening silence” By the time I get the projector hooked up and water laid out on the table I’m starting to sweat. And by the time everyone trickles in, and begins reviewing their carefully prepared folders including the day’s agenda, a pencil for everyone, places for notes, and summaries, I’m starting to shake. And by the time Prisma’s director, operations manager and credit manager adjust their glasses in the back I’ve nearly forgotten all my Spanish.
We start and to my surprise the somewhat distant faces open up into big smiles and everyone takes part. People emphatically describe the kinds of journals they want to write and want to make sure that they have the right idea. Orbelina, Prisma’s Director, emphasizes her confidence in her employees, encouraging them to be creative. She reminds them how important Kiva is to their goals as an organization. After nearly 4 hours of pounding out the process, reading examples of profiles and journals and discussing the operational difficulties facing every office we were all relieved to enjoy a big lunch.
Manual and Octavio Enjoying Lunch
In typical Honduran style, the Thank Yous began. Each person took the time to express their gratitude and friendship to me. We spent about 20 minutes reminiscing about the occasional disastrous moto ride. Side trips to visit the grandparents of the loan officers who lived “just beyond that little hill”. Adventurous lunches in the local markets. Funny language mix ups. Memorable clients.
Sierra and Elia
I realized that though I know that Honduras is an environmentally rich country, filled with incredible species of birds, rainforest and arid highlands. I hardly made my way out to these places. Instead, my experience has been colored with the rich culture and individual connection I’ve had with so many people. The family I live with is a true blessing. I’ve witnessed a marital fight. 3 birthday parties. A huge baptism. The daily ins and outs of raising grandchildren, making ends meet. I have been so welcomed into their home and comfortably pass the time with both Doña Elia and Don Carlos. Carlos listens to the radio. A big clunker he carries around the house all day. He watches TV and recounts the plot to me almost as if it were non-fiction. “Then the shark attacked the scuba divers and they thought that it was safe to swim but it wasn’t. He ate all but one. She made it to the island and became a savage. She didn’t even believe in God”. Elia is in a constant state of preparing food for the endless stream of neighbors, God children, sisters, grandchildren, children and strangers that pass through her dining room daily. She turned 60 last night and joking put only 6 candles on the cake. “I’m still a child at heart,” she said. The salsa dancing began a few minutes later.
Salsa Feet
Prisma’s clients have contrasted this incredible affluence. They are honorable and interesting people. Each person has their own incredibly varied background, but their dreams for the future are almost always the same. They want a well-constructed house, healthy nutritious food, and the ability someday to stop worrying. I love the way that Kiva funded clients pat my arm on the way out of their homes saying “Nos vemos”, or loosely, “see you soon”. I feel that I really could come back any time and visit with them, or see them on the street and stop for a quick chat.
The country is a mix. Many feel incredible shame and anger at the corrupt system everyone agrees is the problem and which no one knows how to change. They have a curious love-hate relationship with the US. Everyone wants to go there, anything in English is way cooler, and clothes or lotions or food or machinery from the US is assumed to be higher quality. Still, people seem to be searching for the reasons they can be proud to be Honduran. Many have found it, some still yearn to leave. I’ve been asked for help getting a visa so many times I have lost count. Still, each person loves to brag about the parts of their country they love most. Nothing makes them happier than to hear how much I like the food, how beautiful their beaches are, how incredibly open their homes are, how I love the dancing and the visiting and the coffee and the weather and the clean air. “I’m happy you are comfortable”, everyone says.
Honduras is a country that often suffers. Mitch nearly destroyed it in 1998, and they’re constantly battered by rains, draught, disease. They’ve been undermined by economic exploitation by other counties for the past 400 years. Now they have a president that recently raised the minimum wage, in an appeal to the large population living below or near the poverty line. Unfortunately, the majority of small business simply couldn’t pay and the larger ones often refused resulting in a massive lay-off that combined with the drastically reduced remittances from the US has crushed the economy. Worried faces. Small businesses fighting yet another battle. Another complication Prisma has to navigate. But they have a wealth of potential. Honduras has incredible natural resources, a fighting spirit and a country filled with incredible kindness.
Waiting for Change
I’m not sure exactly how microfinance fits into the picture here, but it could not be clearer that Prisma is passing hope to its clients, who pass it to their neighbors, who enact it in their churches and local governments and schools, who continue to struggle to make this a better place. It has been an honor.
6 comments 11 February 2009
Speaking about Poverty
Day in and day out I swerve through Honduran shanty towns, isolated hovels, over exquisite landscapes and into ditches. I can’t open my eyes wide enough, and at the end of everyday I have more questions than the day before. The questions are complex and every one leads me down a rabbit hole. Its starts like this: To begin with, how do we really measure poverty here in Honduras? And once I identify the poor, I wonder, does Prisma reach the poorest of the poor? If not, is it enough that they reach the middle poor, and by virtue of growing small business opportunity, they grow opportunities for employment of the poorest of the poor? Given the global economic crisis, is encouraging debt responsible? Is it more important for the borrower to just feel less poor? Or is that just an enormously arrogant view? And once we move into the realm of feelings, we lose all measurements. But lets say we wanted to measure feeling poor, is that something we should do? And how? My head is swimming.
All my questions really crystallize as I write journal updates. Let me stop asking and begin.
Sometimes I meet people whose situation is dire. They live in garbage. As we drive up, dirty children come to greet us. Big, haunting stares. As we talk I find it hard to focus for the sheer quantity of flies in their open homes. This was the case of Doña Reina Marina Fernandez. She lives in a tiny isolated village. To get there I rode on the back of a motocycle for over two hours of dirt road. We stopped twice to push it through rivers and sludge. We arrive to find the majority of her property totally destroyed by the recent flooding that has decimated the southern region of Honduras. The flooding has changed the shape of her land and her oven is about to fall off a cliff. She is trying to figure out how to move it since she makes her business baking bread and other sweets.
Flooded Property
Her smiling son of about 15 comes to greet us. I give him a hearty greeting just to find that he is mute. Like an idiot I say, “hello, how are you?” in sign language. First, signing in Spanish is as different as speaking in Spanish. Second, of course he didn’t go to sign language school. This person has no communicative ability, because he was never taught to talk. He smiles and gestures and Manuel, the saint of a loan officer that has been taking me around, understands him. Or pretends to. For several months this year, the flooding isolated this town. Most of the crops of every person, including Doña Reina, were destroyed and there is little to eat. They take the bus in now to Danli to buy basic goods, and try to sell them in an economy, that for all appearances, is hardly functioning. It should be stated clearly that she is open about her circumstance and is honest about her difficulties but she was honorable and resolute. She has a quick wit, and asked me interesting questions about the US. She wonders how many people are farmers. I could only tell her that my family was a family farming and my dad still works in agriculture.
Surely, this is “the poor”. Right? But who are the children I see out of the corner of my eye as we whiz through pueblo after pueblo, and in the shadows of Tegucigalpa? They raise their heads out of giant dumpsters as we pass by, faces covered in flies. Are they being reached by microfinance? If not, can they be?
And in my journal updates how can I represent the poverty here. Telling one person’s story is satisfying, and its my job, but really its not about one person. Its about a system. I write the details of one person but on re-reading every update they seem flat and one-dimensional. I find myself wanting to highlight poverty for Kiva lenders. Then they can feel like their loan meant something. They can feel they are helping. I feel horrible when on my visits find myself looking for the saddest part of their story. Preserving their dignity is important to me, and I try to stop myself. I do, but its hard. I so badly want to see an extreme transformation that I have to make sure I’m not fabricating it. Progress is so incremental, often non-existent.
Sometimes I have a totally different problem representing the borrowers. Sometimes the borrowers don’t seem nearly as poor. They definitely needed it, accordingly the loan was helpful, but in no way life altering in the Muhammad Yunus sense. This was very true on a recent visit.
I meet many people like Victor, who really make me question the system and the goal of microfinance. He is a former professional football player in Honduras. He played 10 years in the professional soccer leagues of this country and for many teams. I’m told that 10 years ago soccer players didn’t make the money that they do now. Still- this seems to indicate a level of opportunity Doña Reina can only dream of. He now operates his own taxi business. We talk on his outdoor patio while workers finish painting his two-story house a nice new shade of vibrant yellow. His lovely, stylish wife passes through on her way to visit friends, high-heels clicking past my filthy, dusty tennis shoes. He owns his taxi, and his personal car, and needed a loan to fix a broken transmission. This sounds like the kind of debt I have. He supports two children who live in Tegucigalpa while the attend University. As an unpaid Kiva Fellow, with little to no plan about how I’m going to finance my life in the U.S when I return in 5 months, saddled with student loans, I wonder if Victor is actually richer than me. Surely not. Right?
Victor
Though this doesn’t feel like the microfinance of my imagination, the Victors of Honduras are a crucial cog in the microfinance machine. In order to reach the poorest (assuming that they do) Prisma needs him. Before they are a development organization, they are a bank. Their technical abilities, and sound internal policies make the humanitarian arm of their business more effective. Obviously this is a simple concept, but will Kiva lenders feel emotionally fulfilled when they learn the true details of his life? Is this a breakdown in the system? I want to accurately describe what I see here, really shedding light on the whole system, and thereby foster true understanding. But something about Victor’s loan doesn’t feel like microfinance. Still, it was a small loan, so that counts. Right?
Understanding what poverty looks like here, how microfinance fits, and whether it’s addressing the real causes of poverty, where cultural differences begin and end, how to speak to truth, and where I am in the whole system is hard. I’ll admit freely: right now, I am lost.
11 comments 11 January 2009
Christmas in Honduras
Christmas in Honduras sunny and delicious. Christmas parties are everywhere, and come with very royally dressed women and scantily dressed girls. Office beauty pageants. The days are a warm 80 degrees, toasty not humid. I’m eating Tres Leches cake like my heart is made of iron, not soft, susceptible tissue.
I can’t get enough of the Christmas trees. Like everything here, color is supreme.
Christmas Tree in Prisma's Office
Don’t forget that they don’t grow pine trees here, and that these are all fake.
Always Popular Ribbon
The center of town is grungy as ever, but filled with bustling shoppers wiping sweat, not snow from their brow. The main Christmas tree of Honduras is clearly adored.
Downtown Tegucigalpa
I have seen one living tree- in the home of a Kiva borrower. It is my personal favorite.
Iris and her Children
Christmas to me smells like sharp pine mixed with musty paper as we unwrap the ornaments. I love to decorate the tree. Each ornament bought in a different year. Many older than me. In Honduras, trees are new every year. New ornaments. New beginnings. I helped build the tree in my home here.
Sierra Lends a Hand
Giant metallic globes compete with gold garlands and plastic bunches of grapes. Each sparkling piece is attached to the wire branch and polyester needles. I adore it.
Home
Merry Christmas!
1 comment 20 December 2008
MFI Prisma wins a prize!
On December 4th, I had the wonderful opportunity to accompany Prisma employees to the Premio Impulso Microempresarial 2008.
This was an event put on by a Honduran Magazine called Micro Empresas & Finanzas that seeks to unify and inform the microfinance sector here in Honduras. Prisma was a recipient of the Premio Impuslo Microempresarial, which recognizes their contributions to the microfinance sector.
Orbelina Valeriano, Prisma Director, Holds Award
There were a variety of speakers that addressed changes in the country, and gave inspirational words to those in the audience, encouraging them to continue to have faith despite worsening global economics and recent flooding which hit some communities in Honduras.
By the time we got to the last speaker, I was struggling to keep my head up, and look as though the concept, “We want to thank you and thank God for the successes micro-enterprises has had this year”, was exceedingly interesting the 6th or 12th time around. However listening to the final speaker, Emilio Santamaria, the conference magistrate, re-ignited some of the idealistic vigor I brought with me when I came here. He gave a long powerpoint presentation that began with a story:
“There was a man that walked to the local pulperia to get some mantequilla and there was a dog sitting out front crying. Not barking, not whining, but truly crying. The man went into the store, saw a friend and ended up chit-chatting for a while. Nearly half an hour later, he left to store to find the dog still crying and crying away.
The man asked the dog’s apparent owner, ‘why is the dog crying?’ and the owner said, ‘he’s crying because he’s sitting on a nail’. ‘I don’t understand’, said the man. To which the owner replied ‘the nail hurts him but still, he does not move.”
This story caused murmurs throughout the crowd. Magistrate Santamaria then went on the eloquently explain that Honduras shouldn’t be like the dog, crying over its pain, but should instead move itself. And move itself forward. “Technology is the wave of the future! And we Honduras must take hold of it! Harness it! It used to be a crime not to teach your children to read, and now it is a crime not to teach them to use a computer!”
“YES YES YES!!” I wanted to stand up exclaim.
By the time we left the event, everyone from various microfinance organizations were comparing how they use their computers. Everyone seemed to have a pretty good system for data management and bookkeeping, but I was surprised by how few viewed the Internet as a crucial resource. Not even all of Prisma’s field offices have Internet, which creates an added challenge for them as they implement Kiva.
Nevertheless, I think Prisma feels proud to be ahead of the curve, and I’m proud to work with them. Its wonderful to work in an environment and in a country that isn’t crying, but is moving itself.
Prisma Staff
I am a Kiva Fellow, Class of KF6, serving three months in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and three more in La Paz, Boliva. Please check out my current MFI, PRISMA, and see all of their fundraising loans here!
1 comment 15 December 2008
The Internet People
I’m floored by the magical connections we can make through technology. Some people say technology is flattening the world, shrinking the space, and homogenizing our cultures. I appreciate the argument, and do see that the internet is a democratic space, which in a sense, flattens our difference. And yes, technology can shrink space. But the idea for me, that technology robs us of our diversity is ludicrous. Rather, technology, and the Internet above all, bring voices to parts of the world that have never had a voice, technology paints our differences in bright, beautiful colors.
On Friday I had the wonderful opportunity to hear some unique voices. I traveled to Prisma’s field offices in Choluteca and San Lorenzo to deliver a presentation about Kiva to new loan officers. I met some Prisma clients who where trying to gather in the Prisma San Lorenzo office to get their picture taken for the profile on the Kiva website.
This is a group of five women who are trying to get a group loan to improve their respective businesses. I had the fortune to meet three. Maria and Carolina, sell shrimp that they buy from local fisherman. They sell each shrimp for 3 Lempira (about 16 cents). Sarah, sells jewelry ranging from 100 Lempira to 140 Lempira ($5.25- $7.50). They take their wares on the road. These women travel to different pueblos in Southern Honduras bringing their items to small communities who can’t bear the cost, or choose not to travel to the fisherman, or to Tegucigalpa where imitation gold earrings are readily available.
“Show her the earings”
These women were AMAZED to hear that people around the world would see the picture they were about to take. Unfortunately, not all five members of the group could show up, so after three hours of waiting, they left. They will try to meet again next week so they have their picture taken, and be eligible for a Kiva funded loan.
As they left, the asked to take a picture of me with their cell phone. They said, “they would send it to the internet people.”
***I am a Kiva Fellow, Class of KF6, serving three months in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and three more in La Paz, Boliva. Please check out my current MFI, Prisma Hoduras, SA , and see all of their fundraising loans here!***
Add comment 8 December 2008
Microfinance Adventures: Training
I’m nearly a full fledged fellow, simply waiting a few more intense sessions and a final knighting. Once all that formality is over, it will be a whirlwind two months while I sell everything I own, say goodbye to friends, family and co-workers, stuff myself full of vaccinations and purchase the ticket to begin my new life in Tegucigalpa, Honduras as a Kiva Fellow!
Training highlights have been really inspiring conversations with Matt and Premal (and yes, I do have a crush on him now). Its wonderful to be a part of this great organization! Please tune in…
2 comments 18 September 2008
Coming to America
There are two themes to this: First, I´m coming home. And second, there are a lot of people who want to come with me!
I travel quite a lot, but it’s been a while since I’ve stayed in a foreign country for an extended period of time. All of a sudden, I’ve come to feel intensely proud and lucky to be an American. I was born into a country that gave me an opportunity to become anything that I’ve ever dreamed of. Sure, there are barriers, and it’s harder for some than for others, but I live in a country where most people have clean drinking in their home, where you don’t see children begging on the streets, and where if you try hard enough, you can find some sort of job that will allow you to put a decent roof over your head and feed you. I’m even lucky that I’m allowed to visit almost any country I please.
I’m amazed at the number of people who have jokingly asked me if I could take them home with me when I return. I have had more than a few offers to find me a good Honduran man to “import” back home. I’ve also met many people who have tried to cross the border by foot (often more than once), only to be caught and deported. I think the statistic here is that 1 in 4 families have a family member in the US. Many of the borrowers I interviewed have husbands, sons, and daughters who have immigrated, illegally or legally, to the US. One of the big education campaigns in Honduras is to encourage people to stay in their country, and help make it a better place. The belief here is that if one could only make it to the US, they would find this utopian society where all their problems would disappear and they would have a better life. For many people, their life does improve, but for others who are working illegally, it’s still a hard life in the US. I even know people here who don’t want to move, they just want to travel to the US on vacation, and they can’t get the visa.
Immigration is a controversial subject in the US, and I don’t know what the answer is. I only wish everyone else could have the economic opportunities that I have been given. There are a lot of countries that offer natural resources, rich cultures, and scenic beauty that just need a chance. Despite the downsides to Honduras, there’s another side to it that is equally impressive as the United States. So you can get a feel for just how beautiful and varied this country is, I’ve attached a few photos. It is abundant in natural resources – coffee, tropical fruits, shrimp, cocoa; tourism opportunities abound – the Bay Islands with its coral reefs, numerous national parks abundant with wildlife, the Mayan ruins of Copan; and most importantly – incredibly friendly and hospitable people who have welcomed me with open arms. I can’t say enough how much I am going to miss all the people I have met along the way that have been open and honest and willing to tell me their stories. Hopefully the next time I come to Honduras (and I will someday!) I will hear stories of change and progress.
2 comments 13 August 2007
A day in the life…
Some of you out there may be wondering what a typical day is like “in the field.” Yesterday was one of those days. I spent the morning driving around with Mario Cruz, one of Prisma´s loan officers.
We zig zag around town, dodging traffic in a 1982 Toyota Corolla disguised as a taxi. Esau, the husband of one of the loan officers, is driving us around town as he usually does. I’m more than happy to take the front seat today, as like most cars here, there are no seat belts in the back. (Although I’m not sure how much a seat belt would help in an accident given that most of the cars I’ve been in here feel as safe as a tin can on wheels!)
Our first stop is to meet Luz Arel Castillo. She runs an auto repair shop. We pull into the shop and I see Luz, the lone female among her four male employees and those at the used car lot next door. I’m sure I look a little surprised to see a woman running an auto repair shop. I asked her how she learned the business. It´s a typical story. Her husband passed away two years ago and she had to take over the business to feed her family. After asking her a few more questions, I finish my interview, and we hop in the car to visit the three other women who are in her lending group.
About 30 minutes later, we arrive in the “Santa Isabel” neighborhood of Tegucigalpa. The last 10 minutes consist of driving on bumpy dirt roads, dodging potholes and rocks at a whopping speed of about 5 miles/hour. Glenda Yamith Duron and Hortencia Diaz Castejon are cousins who share a small house with their respective families. Glenda is married with three children. Hortencia is a single mother also with three children. Each family shares one bedroom amongst the four or five of them. As we sit in the living room, I peer back into the rest of the house. I see a dark room with a dirt floor. It is meant to be the kitchen, but like many families here, they “pay as they go” to build their home, and haven’t been able to afford the kitchen yet. Next door is Thelma Elizabeth Giron. She is also a single mother who lives with her two children. Her “house” consists of one room with two beds, a dresser, a small TV, a sink, and a hot plate. Two of these three women are the sole breadwinners for their family. They make a living by selling products from their home – shampoo, lotion, used clothing, etc. It’s quite incredible to believe that with a $275 loan, these women are able to feed three to four people each. Their income varies week by week depending on how much they can sell. My guess is that on average, they each net no more than $15 a week. Sometimes this job can be depressing. But at the same time, it can be inspiring to see so many people who won’t give up. In one form or another, so many people I meet face hardships and they continue to move forward.
Finally, it’s on to the “Honduras” neighborhood to visit Maria Isabel Obando. I’m pretty impressed to see paved streets and sidewalks, and rows of neatly constructed homes. Maria eagerly invites us in. She starts talking a mile a minute in Spanish, and I’m trying to keep up with all that she is saying, politely nodding my head as if I understand it all! She tells me how much she enjoys working with Prisma because the loan officers give her such personalized attention. (This is something I hear a lot from Prisma clients). As our conversation continues, Maria invites us to stay for lunch. Mario and I look at each other – hmmm….free food? Actually, one of the perks of my job is that most of the clients are so grateful for their loans, that if you try to buy something from them, they usually want to give it to you for free! Some of the foods I’ve tasted made by Kiva borrowers include coconut cookies, corn on the cob, tortillas, and homemade bread. Hey, it’s due diligence, right?
As we finish up our lunch, Maria tells us her neighbor is interested in a loan and she directs us to her business. We head down to the corner and find the potential client in her restaurant where she sells chicken and other local specialties. She wants a loan because she doesn’t have the capital to grow her business. Judging by all the customers she has, we can see that her meals are in demand. Mario walks her through the requirements for obtaining a loan, and promises to return in a few days. Finally, it’s back to the office. But we get stopped again. Another one of Mario’s clients waves us down as we drive by. She has a cousin who wants to apply for a loan for her piñata business. Hmmm…we might see some new Kiva clients soon!
3 comments 11 July 2007
Here’s to all the loan officers out there!
I’ve been hanging out with the Prisma staff for almost three weeks now. The moment I stepped off the plane, they made me feel right at home. They’ve been eager to take me out in the field to meet borrowers, and educate me on the intricacies of microfinance in Honduras. It’s hard to believe it’s only been three weeks.
I am based out of the main office in the Loma Linda Sur neighborhood of Tegucigalpa. However, Kiva clients are spread throughout Prisma’s five offices so I am traveling between all of them. In addition to Loma Linda Sur, there’s the Pedregal office which services Comayagüela, Tegucigalpa’s neighboring sister city; the Danlí office about 1 1/2 hours east; the Choluteca office about two hours south; and the San Lorenzo office also two hours south but on the coast. Each branch has on average, two loan officers, who are out in the field every day meeting new clients or checking in with existing clients. So far I have had the pleasure of accompanying five of them to meet their respective Kiva clients. The work that these officers do is in my opinion, the most critical to increasing microfinance in developing countries.
Every client I meet tells me how much these small loans have helped him or her. Time and time again, I hear the same comment: that slowly but surely, these loans are changing their lives. Access to credit is empowering people to create economic opportunities in countries that for one reason or another, are unable to support their own.
As beneficial as it is, the one thing I’ve noticed is how hard it is to physically reach all those people who need loans. First, in big cities like Tegucigalpa, the traffic is horrendous and it could take 45 minutes to make it across town. That’s assuming one is traveling by car. Usually the loan officers will travel by motorcycle, bus, or foot (or a combination of) to reach clients because cars are too expensive to purchase and maintain. Second, whether it is an urban city or rural village, the roads in the poorer parts of town are usually in poor condition. In most of my trips around the city, I’ve been fortunate enough to get a ride in a taxi owned by one of the loan officer’s husbands. Even so, we usually have to get out of the car at some point and walk because the roads are too steep, poorly maintained, or haven’t even been built yet! It is physically demanding work – traveling all day, being out in the heat, and sometimes even having to watch out for would-be thieves.
I feel really lucky to be in the company of some very experienced and dedicated loan officers. They are tireless in their efforts to meet new clients and build long-lasting relationships with their existing clients. These officers, and all the other loan officers out there should be commended. It’s because of them that microfinance has been able to reach as many people as it has to date. They are instrumental in reaching those clients who need loans most, helping them pull themselves out of poverty. So thank you all!
1 comment 27 June 2007
Just like home…well, almost
I arrived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras last Wednesday. Two of the staff members of Prisma Honduras, Orbelina and Lucy, were kind enough to brave the rush hour traffic and pick me up at the airport. You can read more about the staff members and the various Prisma offices on Dr. Kendall Mau’s informative blog: http://microfinancetravels.typepad.com.
My first impressions of Tegucigalpa were that I could be in any large suburban US city, albeit with a little Latin flare! In my first three days here, I visited two different malls, both packed with people shopping at many of the same stores you find in the US, went to Wal-Mart to get a phone, and had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. And if you’re wondering, this was not all at my suggestion! Even the prices for goods and services in Tegucigalpa are not much different than at home. Where am I again? When you see all this, it’s hard to believe that Honduras is the second poorest country in Central America (according to the 2006 CIA World Fact Book). Furthermore, in 2006 the unemployment rate was estimated to be at an astonishing 27.9% compared to 4.8% in the US. How can this be, when everybody is shopping?
Living in a nice section of Tegucigalpa, it’s really easy to forget that there is another half (or more) that lives below the poverty line in Honduras. There is an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income between the rich and poor here. This week, I finally was able to get out and meet some of the Kiva borrowers in Prisma’s Danlí office, about 60 miles away from Tegucigalpa. Danlí is colonial town with a cowboy feel. Cattle ranching, coffee production, and cigar production are the economic mainstays. Now I remember what I am here for! I spent most of my time with Manuel, one of Prisma’s loan officers, driving around to meet various borrowers at their homes and businesses. Manuel knows just about everyone in Danlí and the nearby town of El Paraiso. He remembers everyone’s name, their family situation, where they live, and how much they have borrowed without needing to bring his files. I could tell that Manuel’s clients have a lot of respect for him. Everyone welcomed us in their home with open arms. Furthermore, I am told that none of his clients have ever defaulted on a loan!
As I return back to my apartment in Tegucigalpa, I remind myself that there are many sides to this country: the one where I am living with all the creature comforts of home, and another one, where many people are working hard every day just to meet their basic daily needs.
Add comment 14 June 2007
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