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Guatemala Microloan Delegation Trip March 5-13, 2024
March 6, 2024 Visit to El Progreso
El Progreso is a microloan group in a rural area just outside the city of Mazatenango. This group began in 2018. We met at the home of Reyna Garcia, president of the microloan group, for a delicious lunch she had prepared. We then moved to a beautiful meeting spot under the trees on Rosa’s property.
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Flor led us in an icebreaker called “pájaros y jaulas” or birds and cages. She called for the birds to change places or the cages to change places, and when she called “terremoto” or earthquake, all changed places. Each time we answered questions with our small group, like sharing our favorite food. Flor plans icebreakers such as this with the microloan groups to have fun, build confidence, and to interact with one another.
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The microloan participants introduced themselves and their businesses:
Reyna – sells food and snacks, raises chickens and turkeys.
Delia – sells lotions from a catalog.
Micaela – sells firewood and raises chickens.
Marlyn – sells cakes
Marbely – sells firewood.
Elsa – sells construction material with her husband.
Ana – sells firewood, atole, raises chickens and pigs.
Marbely shared that the thing she likes most is learning in the workshops. For example, when she is angry she has learned to do breathing exercises. Marbely has 3 children, 2 girls and 1 boy.
Marlyn expressed her thanks for the project. Thanks to the support she has been able to start her business making desserts. She also makes food to sell to the teachers. She hopes for continued support so she can continue working and learning.
Sue Barrett, long time prayer partner coordinator for the project, presented each woman with a photo of her prayer partner and an origami crane that she had made.
Some information about El Progreso:
This was a Mayan area, but they are losing touch with that heritage.
El Progreso produces food – fruit, vegetables, and meat – for the adjoining city of Mazatenango. They are also laborers for the city. They are sustainers of the city and should be given more value.
It is important that the young people (esp. girls) see the women doing something different in the community so they awaken to the possibilities. The microloan project is not just about the loans, but about offering opportunities for the women and their families.
Poverty is a result of lack of will of the state; corruption is a big factor. Last year the prices for the basic food basket have gone up. In the short term this decreases the quality of life as people stop eating vegetables and eat more junk food which is cheaper. In the long term it will affect children and their learning and increase the rate of disease. Guatemala is in the bottom 10 countries in the world for the rate of chronic malnutrition.
Note: Jorge Ascension, social worker, did his internship in El Progreso.
Mike and Sarah Brown are starting English classes here.
March 7, 2024 Visit to Morellia
Morelia is a rural community east of Coatepeque. The church here is Arca de Noe and it is the sister church of Banner Elk. This microloan group began in June of 2022. When we arrived, we met some of the women who were hard at work preparing tamales, a time consuming and festive food, for our lunch.
One special joy was that Kathleen’s prayer partner, Olivia, was one of those cooking. Big hugs were exchanged as they met for the first time. Later Olivia brought her school-age son and her daughter to meet Kathleen.
While the women continued their meal preparations, we visited the businesses of 2 microloan participants.
Maira – Maira has a small store of basic supplies in her home. Fortunately, she carried combs! Since Sue left hers at home, Sue was very happy to be able to purchase a comb from Maira! Maira also sells prepared food by special request and carries some at her store. Since her business is across the street from a school, students often buy things when they leave school. Maira has 2 daughters-in-law in the microloan project: Karina and Aide. We also saw the business Maira’s husband runs from their home of bagging purified water to sell.​
Aide – We sat on the front porch of Aide’s home while she told us about her business. She was trained as a nurse in Xela but is not currently working following the birth of her child. In November, she used her microloan to purchase medical supplies so she could provide nursing care to her community. Morelia does not have a health clinic, so this is an important service Aide can offer to this community. Aide showed us the items she purchased with her microloan: A nebulizer with masks for children and adults A test kit to check blood sugars A blood pressure machine A thermometer IV fluids Injections for fever, pain, gastritis, nausea, etc Medications for diarrhea, high blood pressure, fever, etc, Bandages, and scissors to remove sutures Aide expressed thanks for the support the microloan project has given. Her goal is to be a professional, one day working in the government health program. ​
We met Deysi, who was in the microloan project in Cycle 1 and purchased the molino we saw last year. Deysi is now studying to be a chef and would like to open a restaurant with her family.
Sabdy, Mariana’s daughter, is studying computer science at a computer center and is learning to use Microsoft Office programs.
After partaking in an amazing lunch of tamales in the church kitchen/dining area, we moved to the church sanctuary for introductions of those in the microloan group.
Mariana (the matriarch) sells snow cones. She gives thanks to God that through this project they can generate resources.
Olivia (Mariana’s daughter-in-law) – is very grateful for the project. She raises pigs. Thanks to God it is going well and she is making a profit. She is glad we got here safely.
Sandra (Mariana’s daughter) raises chickens.
Sheny (Mariana’s daughter) is the president of the group. She expressed thanks for bringing this project to her church. “It has helped us a lot as women.” She hopes this project will continue. She lives further away and also sells snow cones.
​Mariana (Mariana’s daughter) makes and sells tortillas. She thanked everyone for the support and offered peace and blessings to all. ​
Karina (Maira’s daughter-in-law) – She has a store in her mother’s home selling basic supplies. With the microloan she was able to add gifts to her shop. Little by little she is adding other items like school supplies. She is very happy and thanks God that it is going well. She has been married for 6 years to Selvin and has one son, Wayner. ​
Aide (Maira’s daughter-in-law, we saw her business earlier) – Thanks to this project she has been able to help many in this community and give them access to medical care.​Maira (we saw her business earlier) – She offered a welcome to their church and gives thanks to God for the help we have provided. Thanks to the microloan she was able to expand her shop to sell rice, corn, food, etc. ​
Erica (Pastor Geovanni’s wife) – She has had a business for 4 years running a coffee shop in Tecun Uman (1 ½ hours from here, where she lives.) The shop is open from 6am-2pm. She is grateful to God and to us for our help expanding her sales.
In closing, Pastor Geovanni, the pastor of Arca de Noe, expressed thanks to the sisters who made the tamales. He offered thanks to the Microloan staff, recognizing their talent and skill and the way their work has blessed the church. With the microloans the women are overcoming obstacles. He also shared greetings from the session. ​
Note on Couples in the Mirror – Morelia was a pilot project for the 13-week Men in the Mirror course that was offered to the husbands and teenage children of microloan participants as well as to members of the church and community. Phase 2 of MIM ia now beginning by offering a follow up course to the husbands and their wives called Couples in a Mirror. The kick-off for Couples in the Mirror took place a few days prior to our visit and about 40 people attended.
March 8, 2024 Visit to Nuevo Amanecer
Nuevo Amanecer is a community located very close to Sintaná. Five members of the group in Sintaná moved to the Nuevo Amanecer group to help it get started. The group in Nuevo Amanecer began in June 2023.
When we arrived in Nuevo Amanecer, Nann was delighted to meet her prayer partner, Selene.
We gathered in the home of Maria, a microloan participant, who showed us around her property where she raises chickens and ducks and had an outdoor oven for baking bread.
We began with introductions:
Fabiana – Raises chickens.
Lupita – arranges natural and artificial flowers for events, birthdays, weddings, etc. She also does balloons.
Blanca and Yesenia are sisters who are interested in joining the project in the second cycle. Blanca sells snow cones and has 3 children. Yesenia sells snacks and empanadas at the middle school during school breaks. She also has 3 children.
Evelin – raises chickens.
Selene – raises chickens and also has a greenhouse where she sells succulents and small plants.
Marina – sells shaved ice, raises chickens.
María – welcomed us to her home. She raises chickens to sell their eggs, and also sells some for their meat. They are free range chickens, so they are more expensive. She stated that this project is different from loans through the bank, and she wanted to begin this project in this community. The group is growing as 2 more want to join.
Josseline arrived after introductions but is pictured.
There were 3 participants who were not in attendance:
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Julia is in San Marcos helping her mother who is sick.
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Juana (Lupita’s mother) is planning to step out of this cycle.
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Obdulia has another job requiring more hours.
It was explained that this community was greatly affected by the armed conflict. Many were refugees from Huehuetenango and other areas where the army was carrying out a scorched earth policy. Those who could fled to the mountains, met up, and walked to Mexico where they lived for 15-20 years until the Peace Accord was signed in 1996. The UN set up guidelines for refugees to return and resettle with dignity and restitution, but the government has never fulfilled this. They only gave land to the people. They were brought here by truck and the people had to start from zero. There were no homes, water, schools, clinics, etc.
This community organized themselves. Some were assigned to be teachers and taught under the trees. Others were organized to oversee housing, etc. They began to work together and planned where the houses would be. They organized public and private places. Guadalupe is the secretary of the community women’s organization. There are now 100 families and 58 homes in Nuevo Amanecer. The community is very clean, quiet, and peaceful. They have internal laws regarding alcohol, violence against women, etc. They watch who comes and goes. (They were aware we were coming; we rolled down the windows of the van so they could see us.)
The indigenous group of these residents is MAM. They arrived here in the middle of the night and woke up to the sunrise. The name Nuevo Amanecer means New Beginning.
March 8, 2024 Visit to Sintaná
​Sintaná is a rural community north of Coatepeque going toward the mountains. The microloan group in Sintaná began in 2018. We met at the home of Adelia, who graciously offered her home for the microloan meetings even before she was a participant in the project. She joined the project this past loan cycle.
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We met on the covered porch of Adelia’s home and began with introductions:
Maria Magdalena – attends Nuevo Jerusalem church. She has experienced some difficulties and now lives in La Mercedes which is an hour away by bus. Her business was selling tamales and she hopes to restart that business in her new home.
Sebastiana – She gave thanks to God that we are seeing each other again and passes on a blessing. She attends the Neuevo Jerusalem church and sells tostadas and snacks. She has recently
added pickled items that are spicy. She takes orders and sells house to house. Sebastiana is the president and secretary of the group.
Gladys - Also attends Nuevo Jerusalem church. She raises and sells live chickens and sells eggs as
well. The eggs usually sell quickly 2x/week. They are free range chickens and only eat corn. She also sells gelatins (Jello) that are most often bought by children.
Alma – She attends Nuevo Jerusalem church and is very happy to be here. She sells free range chickens.
Adelia – She welcomed us and said she was happy to have us in her humble home. She sells agua pura and sodas on Sundays at the soccer field.
Mónica – She expressed thanks to God for the opportunity to gather, she is new to the group,
and it is a blessing to spend time with us. She sells cosmetics from a catalog and has products at her house as well. She uses social media (Facebook and What’s App) to advertise. When she places orders, she
buys extras to have at her home to sell. She lives 15-20 minutes away by foot and also attends Nuevo Jerusalem church.
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The group reports that Nurian, a former participant who helped the group get started, has been sick and is not in the project this cycle but still attends the workshops. Following the introductions of our group, we were served a delicious snack of diced fresh fruit and enjoyed a time of fellowship together.
March 9, 2024 Visit to San Felipe
Sadly, we were not able to visit with the San Felipe microloan group as we had planned. Just a few days before our visit one of the members of that microloan group, Olivia, died of kidney disease. Given the circumstances the group was not able to gather, but we stopped to visit Olivia’s family and share our condolences.
Olivia was featured on our 2019 Christmas Card:
Olivia was the mother of 9 children. She was widowed many years ago while she still had small children at home. She worked very hard in sales to be able to support her family. She sold her products from the front of her house. In the early mornings she would sell chicken by the pound. Later in the day she sold snow cones flavored with fresh fruit. She had a good location since she lived on the main street, and there was a school nearby that provided customers.
Microloan staff shared parts of a conversation with Olivia last fall. Olivia reflected on her work and her family:
"My goal was for them to study what I didn’t because my parents didn't have that idea, that's for these new generations. I went to work early every day, got up to make food and went to sell. Sometimes I didn't sell all my product, I had half or more left, and there was no light (electricity?) to refrigerate it, and what did I do? I had to find a way to make it so that I wouldn't lose my sale. And that's why my idea of my children studying, having a profession, and working for a company. If something happened in the company, they didn't have to figure out how to solve it. If not, the boss takes care of that. Because you suffer from not having a way to do things well. My thought was that they wouldn't lack anything, at least food, even if it's tortillas and beans."
Olivia’s life illustrates what we see over and over in the lives of the microloan participants; women who work hard and struggle to provide a better life for their children. Thank you to all who pray for and support this project. Thanks to God and to each of you we are able to provide opportunities for the participants and their families.
Pictured is our group with some of Olivia’s family. Olivia’s 20-year-old daughter in the gray shirt on the left has just begun studying nursing at the university, motivated in part by her mother’s illness. Another daughter, Ilse (wearing the dark t-shirt and shorts), is part of the microloan project.
Even though we did not meet with your prayer partners this trip, we left your pictures with Microloan Staff who will see that they are delivered the next time the group meets.