Microfinance is nothing new. In fact, I won’t credit Grameen Bank with “founding” the idea because the concept has been around for centuries. Nevertheless, it continues to be, in my opinion, one of the best ways to really help transform someone’s life. I’m broaching this subject because it relates directly to the work I’ve been doing here. While I was conducting interviews in the communities, I asked a lot of specific questions about income, spending, food, etc. but I also asked a lot of open ended questions about the women’s hopes, needs and ideas. It was the responses to these open ended questions that really got me excited. Basically, after meeting with 8 different communities I had found at least four women that I personally wanted to give loans to (Polina, can't you just see my inner CEO getting all excited). Juana in Chuicutama wants to start a panadería, Santa in Pacutama hopes to open a store, Dominga wants to grow more tomatoes and potentially start making salsas and pasta sauce and Hilda (who works for AMA) wants to help a group of midwives start a medicinal herb garden. And obviously, I want to help all of them. Rather than becoming a personal micro finance bank, however, I decided to apply for a grant, which is what I’ve been working on this week….and finally finished last night! There’s no guarantee that it will amount to anything but it feels really good to have completed my research and to have actually applied for funding for projects pertaining to it. My work here is done (for now) and I can start to look forward to sunshine and quality time with my mom in Costa Rica.
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