Day 1: A Photo Blog from Cartagena
I’m Jeannie Buckner from Minneapolis, Minn. and this is my fourth Insight Trip. I’ve traveled with Opportunity International to Ghana, India, Rwanda and Kenya and I’m excited to be in Cartagena, Colombia and then Nicaragua.
Here are my observations from our first day in Cartagena. I’m amazed how similar clients are all over the world—all wanting the best for their family and children. As a family life educator, I’m very impressed with the creative and uniform training programs created by Jim Frantz (Chief Transformational Officer for Opportunity Colombia). At this week’s Trust Group meeting we viewed a training DVD with a character “Cartagena Jones” teaching the steps to get out of debt. What also sets Opportunity’s operations in Cartagena apart is their pilot project called the Roof and Floor Program. So far, they have given 106 individual loans over 18 months to clients who have successfully completed their third loan cycles to fix up their homes.
(Pictured: Client Ena Luz Terribia)
Ena is on her ninth loan cycle with the Neevo Amanecer Trust Group, and she has received a Roof and Floor loan to expand her home. Her restaurant business is attached to her home. She told us that she has never been behind in either her Trust Group loan or her Roof and Floor loan. She also saves, which reduces her stress. With her first loan she bought plates and pots and with each additional loan she has enlarged her business, purchased better tables and chairs and a TV for customers, and increased her sales to 100-150 lunches served each day. With future loans she hopes to put an awning on her business. She is an inspiration to her other Trust Group members (and she is the group’s coordinator) and her loan officer stated that she is “one of the pillars of the group.” It was amazing to hear that she started saving right away by putting money in a jar each day. She paid her loans from this jar and she has always had extra money and less stress having these savings.
(From left: Client Luz Marina; Loan officer Rocio Villadiego Gomez)
Luz is also a member of the Nuevo Amanecer Trust Group and she heard about Opportunity International from her friend Ena Luz Terribia. She had never had a loan before but she had a good business and wanted more money to expand. She cuts hair and sells products from magazines. Her loans have enabled her to invest in more beauty products in bulk and at lower prices, and purchase a glass showcase for her supplies. Her first loan was 250,000 pesos (approximately $135 US). She has two children and she is eager to complete her third loan cycle so that she can take out a Roof and Floor loan to expand her house. She expressed her gratitude to Opportunity and my fellow visitors for our support. Her loan officer Rocio Villadiego Gomez is also in the photo and what an amazing gal! Rocio has 120 clients in 12 groups spread over five areas around Cartagena. She says that her favorite part of the job is “teaching clients how to work with money and teaching the work of God.”
(Client Dominga Mendoza)
Dominga has been a hairstylist for 10 years and she is in her 6th loan cycle with Opportunity with a loan valued at 450,000 pesos ($244 US). We toured the front of her home and her hair salon and she showed us samples of the hair treatment products she makes. She sells them locally and ships them to Bogota and Venezuela. She also sells products out of catalogues, as well as clothing. Her salon’s daily profits range from 30,000 pesos ($16 US) to 50,000 pesos ($27 US). She is very proud of her 19-year-old son who is also a member of the Trust Group. He paints business signs and beautiful paintings. His mom kept bringing out more of his work for us to see. Dominga told us that she is very thankful to Opportunity for helping her and the other Trust Group members progress in their businesses.
(El Oasis Trust Group meeting outside of Cartagena in Pozon)
In the afternoon we met with this amazingly close fourth-loan Trust Group on the front porch of Dominga Mendoza’s hairstyling business and home. The warm breezes blew as we listened to members of this group (15 members) describe their businesses including: hairdresser; shoemaking and repair; community daycare and nutrition training; seamstress; painter; seller of snacks, ice and frozen goods; and seller of sheets and bedspreads. Members of this group described how the loans have helped them to establish better credit, and freed them from the loan sharks who charge anywhere from 20-40% interest (that’s close to 240% for the year) and can harass and threaten if the loans are not paid on time. This group also has an emergency fund that members can use to pay their loans if they have problems. We were the first visitors to meet with this group and we enjoyed ourselves so much (lots of giggle and laughter). They even asked each of us to explain where we are from and what we do back in the USA!
(From left: Loan officer Roselle Sierra Payaro; Client Jairo Garcia Cardenas; Staff member in charge of Roof and Floor Program, Astrid Suarez)
Jairo—President of the El Oasis Trust Group—makes and repairs shoes. As well as maintaining his group loan, he received a Roof and Floor Loan enabling him to double the size of his home. He’s in the photo with Astrid Suarez who oversees this program, as well as his loan officer Roselle Sierra Payaro. After he received his loan, with the help of a construction worker, he raised his roof and added on to his house.
