Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Winter 2004 : Pascuala and Veronica
Pascuala and Veronica
In October 2003, Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) Development Committee member Lucy Billingsley led a group of 30 women from Dallas to Chiapas, Mexico, to meet the borrowers of Alternativa Solidaria (AlSol), a GFUSA partner program. Joining this delegation was Randi Nordeen, GFUSA’s newly appointed Director of Development. Randi served previously as the Director of Development at Sojourners, a faith-based social justice advocacy group, and brings more than a decade of development experience to her position. Below, Randi shares her encounter with Pascuala, a single mother who has rebuilt her life and given her children a future with the help of microloans from AlSol.
Before we stepped out of the van into the rain, Pascuala had hurried across the dirt road to greet us, her face shining with a broad, delighted smile. A couple of boys from the village stared curiously at the scene as she invited us into her mud-brick home. We Americans stooped to walk through the doorway, which was not quite five feet high.
In the single room, just barely larger than my small office in D.C., our group of seven gathered in the center, careful not to knock over the cabbage in the pot to our left or bump our heads on the lone light bulb hanging from the tin roof. The chair in the corner seemed fit for a large doll, but it was sized perfectly for Pascuala, who, like many indigenous Mayan women in Chiapas, is just over four feet tall. Pascuala was as eager to tell us her story as we were to hear it, and it took all of us an extra measure of patience as we waited for translation from her native Tzotzil to Spanish, and then to E English. She proudly recounted how she had finally left her abusive, alcoholic husband in the mountain village of San Juan Chamula. When she circled her right eye with her finger and pointed to her broken teeth, we didn’t need the words to understand.
When Pascuala brought her daughter and son to live safely in a town outside of San Cristobal de las Casas, she heard about the opportunities AlSol offered. She joined the program in 2000 and received her first loan of 500 pesos (less than $50). She used the money from that and five subsequent loans to buy material to knit scarves, weave belts, sew shirts, and make dolls that she sells to tourists in the city’s central plaza. Her profits were invested in the purchase of a small piece of land and the house where we were meeting.
Her daughter, Veronica, 13, was deftly weaving together a friendship bracelet from brightly colored thread anchored to her belt. She reached over to a plastic bag on the floor, pulled out dozens of finished bracelets, and offered to sell them to us. A couple of
us jumped at the chance and Veronica, already a burgeoning entrepreneur, quickly calculated the costs in her head.
Today, with her growing business and membership in AlSol, Pascuala can more easily buy necessities such as food for her family. She told us that the loans gave her the opportunity to improve her economic situation and hinted at the fact that her self-esteem had perked up too. But we had already figured that out, without the translation.
Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Winter 2004 : Pascuala and Veronica
Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people. With tiny loans and financial services, we help the poor, mostly women, start businesses and escape poverty. Our global network of 55 microfinance institution (MFI) partners including our Growth Guarantee partners has touched more than 34 million people in 24 countries. In addition, we introduced and now sustain technology initiatives (Mifos and Village Phone) in Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, bringing our total country outreach to 28.
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