Can you believe it?

Can you believe it? We are already in the end of March! Between the disbursement of loans, individual meetings, business education sessions, vocational training, donors visits, board field visits, and staff meetings in the five regions (Mazatenango, Suchitipequez, Quiche, Sacatepequez, and Chimaltenango) we have our hands full, so time really flies.

I will describe for you in the following paragraph our experience with the fourth component of our program: Vocational Training. If you remember, we have four components in the Namaste Business Development with Microcredit Program: the loan, a personal business mentor, business education, and vocational training.

On February 17th we held the Marketing Training in Mazatenango which is located in the western part of Guatemala, northwest of the capital.

We woke up at 3:00am in order to start driving 4:00am because James, Elvira and I needed to be in Belen at 8:30am. Belen, one of the rural areas on the coast of Guatemala, was the site of our first vocational training in Marketing in the Mazatenango region. A beautiful dawn was breaking as we left from Antigua. We met with 23 women on Monday and Tuesday and we discussed the 4 P’s of Marketing (Product, Price, Promotion, Place). They discussed the positive and negative attributes of their businesses. Well, dear reader, I have to confess it is not that easy to teach all of these concepts to our clients. Sometimes our clients tell us, “I do not need to promote my business because all my neighbors know about my business” or “I do not need to do promotion, there is no need and I can’t afford it” or “My business is not big enough to warrant promotion”. This is pretty much the idea that many our clients had we started the Marketing Training. After the 4 hour training, they confessed, “Well, I might need to promote and advertise “a little bit” so I can gain new clients” and “I probably can use this nice flyer to give people, so they will know about my business.” We are happy that our clients have realized that they may need to promote her product through flyers, customer service, keeping her business clean and tiny, and other good entrepreneurial practice, so she can gain new clients and raise her business.

On February 6th and March 18th, we held the Design and Colors Training and during these two days, we trained 17 women. This training was held in Tecpan.

It is a real adventure driving on a terrible road full of dust toward to our poor rural communities in our five regions, but seeing the beautiful landscape that Guatemala has; it really makes you forget that you are full of dust and struggling to drive on a bad road.

Well, that’s how we started the Tecpan training on March 18th - driving toward the Pachorotol community. We arrived in the meeting place, but no one else was there yet. The women were late to the training because they were carrying the water from the only water faucet in the entire community. I wondered how heavy that big container was that they were carrying on the top of their head. I was not brave enough to find out; I just observed them. The woman that you see in the picture below was the president of one of the Namaste groups that was participating in the training.

Finally, after all women finished carrying their water to their homes, we started around 9:30am, even though the training was supposed to start at 8:00am. 11 women were ready to learn and I know they really did not know exactly what they were to learn; but they were there eager to learn something new. After the welcome and presentation by each woman, the trainer asked them to draw some things they saw on the table. It was funny how they started giggling and chatting with each other when they were asked to draw a box with a glass and scarf that was on the table. Of course, they all ended up with a different interpretation of these things, which was the point of the exercise. We, as human beings see the same things, but each one of us has a peculiar and distinct point view of things. They all laughed about the different and funny drawings. After few more exercises, it was time to mix color, yes! Our clients have never had the chance to mix primary colors to create secondary colors. Even though they create beautiful and unique weavings, like guipiles that are very colorful (the guipil is the typical blouse that an indigenous woman wears), they have really never had the chance to learn how to formally mix color. The bottom line is that they are all natural artists and we are just providing new ideas for potential designs for their products. The women seemed very peaceful mixing the yellow with the blue and were amazed when they got green. They went on and on painting and enjoying that moment that they were supposed to discover when they were kids; but because of their destiny, they are discovering it only now. During this training, they created a list of potential new products that they can make which will generate income for themselves and for their families. In addition, they were making new designs for their current product which is the guipil. Finally, it was time to evaluate the training. I asked them to tell me one thing that they liked and did not like. They really could not tell me one negative thing. They said that they liked to paint and learn new designs and in addition, to come up with potential ideas for new products. They were satisfied with their time in the training and they want another one. Then the 11 women agreed that they want to learn how to make a belt that is made with ribbons. This belt is very fashionable, so this new product can be sold quickly and it does not take too much time to create it. The group planned to have the ribbon belt training on June 2nd. So; my loyal reader, our great supporter and Namaste family, if you are in town and want to learn how to make a ribbon belt with our clients, you are more than welcome. And I will definitely keep posted with our progress when the time allows me to write you and thank you for your support and tell you that we are really making a difference. My next blog will tell you more in detail the ways in which we are making a difference with our business mentorship in this part of the world. Thank you for reading these blogs and for supporting Namaste!

Finishing Up 2008

December 16th, 2008

It is sunny, the sky is so blue and beautiful, and James and I are wrapping up things before we leave for home. I am going to Ecuador and James is off to Philadelphia. We are also preparing the last general meeting with our business advisors on Wednesday afternoon. I am also looking forward to our Christmas dinner. You may remember that we were looking for business advisors (BAs) - now we have seven BAs. Yes, we have so much to tell you from our last blog. As they say in Spanish: Más tarde que nunca (better late than never)! I will summarize all our standout experiences in the field as our Christmas gifts for you, our loyal reader. Thank you for reading our stories.

We went to Quiche back on October. It was very special and we met with 26 indigenous women. These women speak K’iche. We had an interpreter who helped us to translate the conversations that we had from Spanish to K’iche and vice versa. Our partner in Quiche is CARE and this organization is also doing great things with our clients. The loan officers from CARE explained the program to the women. They liked the program but they really wanted to receive their loan right away. Then we organized a second meeting to give more clear examples about the program. We met with the BAs for Quiche, Jose and Mary, who taught the business education from Freedom from Hunger. The session is about using your loan for your business. All women were introduced to some new concepts: personal money, money from the business, separating the personal money from the business money. Their faces told me that these topics were new for them. After Jose taught a session in business education, he told the women: “Now, we will see how the business advisors can work with you. We are going to analyze a business.” Then he asked, “Who wants me to analyze her business?” After few minutes, a very small and cute lady told him: “Ok, I will do it”. She said, “My business is the kiosk that you see in front of the school. I sell fruit.” Jose asked her how much just the oranges cost and decided to simply analyze the orange sales portion of her business “la venta de naranjas”. He added up her costs and found out the cost of selling oranges is Q0.63 (~$.08) but she has been selling them for Q.50 (~$.05)! Everybody in the meeting hushed when they realized that the lady who volunteered to publicly analyze her business was selling at a loss. After that I told the women, with the help of the interpreters, that this situation is very common and please do not get discouraged. This is exactly the reason Namaste wants to offer an extra service - business mentorship. I asked the BAs to offer advice to the lady. Maria and Jose told her: you just need to raise the price and you will make a profit. The lady immediately reacted and said, well I can’t do that because my competition sells the oranges cheaper than I do.” We asked her, “Do you think that your competition has the same costs?” She said, “Well lets ask her because she is the meeting, too”. Then we turned to other lady and she said, “Yes I do have the same costs.” Everybody in the meeting was amazed and started chatting with each other and having excited conversations. The BAs told them, “You both need to raise the price of the oranges.” Both ladies said, “We can’t do it because people will not pay a higher price”. We asked the rest of women if they agreed that these ladies would need to raise the price in order to make some kind of profit. Everybody hesitated a little bit in the answer, but then they said, “Yes we will pay the price because they are losing money” After this intense discussion, BAs told them that this is basically the role of the business advisors of Namaste. The BA’s will offer good advice to help their clients make a profit in their businesses. Following this explanation all women in the meeting wanted to have an individual meeting with the BAs. The following day, we realized that the lady was selling the oranges for Q1 ($.13) and everybody was paying the increased price. This was one of the immediate changes that we have seen in the field and we are very happy to tell you that the lady is already making a profit on her business of selling fruit. Not only that, but the community is aware of this and they are willing to pay the price to make it happen. Now we have 38 women in Quiche, each one have has an individual meeting with their BA, and participated in the first business education meeting.

After Quiche, we went to Suchitepéquez, which is southwest of Guatemala. This is also in a rural area but it is on the Coast, whereas Quiche is located in the mountains, north of Guatemala City. We are working with RAIZ, one of Guatemala’s largest microfinance institutions. We hired two women to be our BAs in this region. Our BAs know the region very well and they are themselves leaders in this community. For this reason, we formed small groups very quickly. Right now we have about 54 women with loans and each of these 54 women have had an individual meeting and a business education session. Suchitepéquez has a very diverse mix of indigenous and ladino people. Most of women are ladino (ladino is a mix of Spaniard and indigenous people). The communities where we work are far away from the main towns. One day, I was visiting a community in Suchitepéquez where I had to cross wooden bridge in my car. This bridge was so scary. It feels like it is going to break down, especially when you are in the middle of this bridge, but luckily I survived the round trip. The communities are in remote areas, not very accessible by public transportation. But still, the Namaste team is able to reach the communities.

You probably are wondering how we are doing with the third region: Sacatepéquez, where San Mateo is located. Now we have 20 women with loans and business mentorship. We are not able to get more clients because there is a strong competition amongst microfinance institutions in this area. These institutions are giving credit away very easily and people are receiving loans that are rarely pre-qualified. Our program is very specific that the loan has to be used for the business. This proliferation of microfinance institution in the field is very intense and this makes the recruitment of new clients in this region very difficulty.

Besides all this field work, we have had other exciting activities in Guatemala. We had the wonderful conference and a great donor trip. The conference was a huge success. It was wonderful to put all these businesswomen together. They shared their information with each other, learned from the workshops, and made some international and local new friends. Our donors- perhaps you are one of them- are really amazing people. They are generous and they are incredible. Many of them told me that the experience of sharing with the borrowers is very special and they feel like they learned from each other. I was lucky to get to know some of them and I feel very honored to be with them during a few days of their trip. I really admire them; especially knowing they have taken time from their busy lives to get to know our clients’ worlds. I know everybody got something very special to keep and remember for many years to come.

That was my “brief” update of our activities. I hope you have enjoyed reading these blogs this year and from the bottom of our heart I wish you a Merry Christmas and Great New Year full of Happiness and Love for you and your family. Thank you for being a loyal reader and supporter.

2008 Conference - Un Exito!

I had hoped to blog much more often, but as it turned out, everyone was constantly working hard to make the event a success. And what a success it was!
I am still feeling overwhelmed emotionally and physically from the conference. The three days were jam packed with activities and new experiences. The one complaint was the weather - it was so windy, I imagined a hurricane was coming. Of course, I have never experienced a hurricane, but then again, this forceful, wicked wind was 100% new to me, too! We adjusted though and moved activities indoors. Day 3 was a combination of work and fun. There were two workshops in the morning, followed by office hours. The office hours were newly implemented this year. I hoped that the women would attend to ask any outstanding questions, or perhaps to speak to an instructor from a course they could not attend. To my surprise and pleasure, the office hours were attended very well and they had to be cut off of they would have missed the boat! This reinforced the determination of the women to take every advantage of learning opportunities.
I unfortunately missed the boat trip around Lake Atitlan because I was running all over town withdrawing money and paying instructors and other tasks, but from the photos, everyone appeared to have a wonderful time!
The evening concluded on a very positive, happy note with diploma presentations and photos. We lost the marimba band momentarily because they were still eating when we finished the ceremony. Luckily, Ron Waslohn from Vacaville surprised us all with his Kenny Rogers impersonation! The women danced the night away - doing the Som (traditional mayan dance), the Mexican Hat Dance, a Conga Line, and more until 10pm, wind and all!
I am already looking forward to 2009.

Jen

Hello from the second annual conferencia de mujeres microempresarias! This is Amy Hillyard, I'm a member of the Namaste Direct Board. Today was a beautiful and productive day. The borrowers started their day with a panel talking about their experiences working with different MFIs. The most moving part of the program was whenn Nelly lead them to look at each other and proclaim "Si Podemos" (Yes we can!) and then hug their companeras. There was much energy and support in the group and even a few tears of emotion where shed.

The rest of the day was spent in the various programs offered. There were classes on international marketing, display of products, textile design basics, technology and animal husbandry. All the sessions were well attended and the woman where very engaged for the full session.

In the afternoon the woman shared their products in the conference marketplace. Many of them also took the opportunity to purchase the beutiful textiles for Christmas gifts.

As we speak the woman are enjoying a tasty dinner of chile rellenos and afterward will watch a movie together! Que devertido!

Tommorrow we start again in the morning with more classes and in the afternoon the woman will have the opportunity to have 1:1 sessions with the Business Advisors. Followed by dinner, diplomas and celebration. All in all it has been a very successful conference. You can see the delight and inspiration in the women's eyes...we look forward to learning how this experience transforms their business and ther lives!

Conference Prep Has Begun

Just a quick note today from Jennifer. I am in Panajachel and had a great afternoon with a team of volunteers. Sandi is from Canada, Simone is from Washington, and Elvira is a local girl from San Pedro La Laguna. We spent the afternoon shopping, which is a big adventure. There is no such thing as Office Max or Staples where you can buy everything you need in one convenient place. Plus, you get to barter when purchasing large quantities! We later worked from home base - imagine your home base in a beautiful hotel, surrounded by lush greenery and a swimming pool. We giggled like a typical pack of girls and prepped the materials for Wednesday's opening ceremony. Tomorrow is a busy day of making sure everything is ready to go for 100 excited women from far parts of Guatemala. Stay tuned!

A formal ceremony has started…

Yeah! Finally women have gathered to get the loans that they wanted since we started talking about loans and education business in San Mateo. 

The pre-credit phase for the first group is done. Now 10 women in San Mateo have received their loans. The loa

n average is $20

0. All these women were very happ

y to get their loans and the president of the group gave a nice speech. The executive director of FAPE gave another speech and made an oath with each client -the oath promised to use  the loan for a business and to be responsible and practice solid

arity with the group.  The new group 

borrower is called "Sembradora de San Mateos" (San Mateo Seed Planters). 

You probably want to know what happe

ned with the 50 that I have talked to back in July. We met with around 50 women, but 10 women wer

e prepared to get the loan and business education. We advised some women that the loan was not going to help them, especially because they were going to lose money on their business or because they already h

ad a loan.  Other women had a viable business plan, but they did not want to participate in the business edu

cation courses. Other women did take out a loan but from other organization that is not our partner. These women just wanted a loan because this was more suitable for them.

FAPE, our partner, is forming a new group of borrower so we will have 100 borrowers who are

 ready to be in the program of credit and business education in San Mateo. At the same time, these new 10 borrowers are going to have the first individual meeting as part of the follow up process. Business Advisors (BAs) will have a semiformal conversatio

n

 with each client to give business advice and

 to monitor the client's business progress. 

Namaste now is moving to the second region, Quiche. You can even see the main town of our second region, here is a link of the municipality: http://www.inforpre

ssca.com/chiche/#

 and here is the map, now we are in zone 18:

 http://inforpressca.com/municipal/mapas_w

eb/guatemala.php

Keep reading we will tell you about first "encu

entro" (meeting) with indegenous women in Quiche in 

next blog. 

If you are following our blog, you probably are wondering how we are doing in the field.

Well women did a good job being

 prompt during the interview week. We were kidding with them saying that we are not working

 by the "hora chapina" and that

 we work on "gringo time". We started  at 8:00 am. on Thursday, Friday and we finished at 11:30 on Saturday with the diagnostic or poverty assessment for the potential borrowers.

Most women told us "no se asusten de mi casa" (do not by shocked by my home). Many of these women felt embarrassed of their home. Of course, we told them that for us it is a privilege to be in their home. And yes it is definitely a real privilege for us to be in such humble and simple homes. Most of the houses are made of sheet-metal, wood or block. Half of the floors are made of dirt and many of these houses only have two rooms. All houses have old latrines. These women cook with wood and their house is filled by the smoke of "la lena" (wood). 

All women opened their doors to us with the hope that they are going to get something good for them and their family. These women desperately want money. 

First we interviewed a women with her husband, they were a very humble family. The husband talked with us, the wife said very little. The person who is charge in this family, definitely is the husband. We can understand that, he provides the daily support for the family and she takes care of the children and the house. In addition the culture here is that men make the decisions. We would like to work with this family and generate a business for the woman so she can start being empowered like her husband. We want to introduce something new in this culture. We are sure that we are doing this work with all our good willingness and heart.

We interviewed around thirsty-five women. Each case is different and similar in many ways. 

Many women who have a business do not have a clear idea of how much they are making or their profit. Other women would like to set up a business, but they do not know the cost of her 

 business, the marketing aspects of their business, or the client and

 competition. We explained to them that the business advisors are going to help to elaborate a complete business plan with these aspects. We use the simplest words to explain this role to them, and why we think that it is important for each borrower to have business advisor. We took time to go through their business's expenses and sales. We did this with the

 goal to make them realize that in many cases they are not making any profit. That they invest 600Q to make tortilla and 

they sell 600Q with no profit at all. We also realized that these women use their business to feed their children and this may count as their "ganancias" or their return, and they are satisfied if they at least can feed their children with the food that they are selling in their business. 

Doing this poverty assessment was hard because I had to tighten my heart and hold my tears because it is absolutely very sad to see so much poverty around us. I will never get used to see so much poverty, and we should not rest until everybody reaches a better standard of living, we are definitely blessed to have what we have and we should really do our best to help others to have a fairly living condition. Thank you for being part of Namaste's family working in many ways to reduce this poverty  and create a better reality for the most vulnerable. We know that it is possible and we only need to have the patience and perseverance to reduce poverty through one loan at time and many other social projects. Thank you for reading these blogs and being part of this army against poverty.