Newsletter - September, 2011
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September, 2011 Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matt. 25:40 Published by the Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210. (717) 349-7033 |
Over the past three years, the Society of the Good Shepherd has been working with a microloan program in La Paz, Honduras, as well as in Siguatepeque. The directors in La Paz meet with the beneficiaries twice a month to pray together and have a time of teaching. It has been hard work, but it is also gratifying to see the results. We can see an example of this in one of our new beneficiaries there—Mirian Ferrera.
Mirian is a hard-working Christian housewife who has lovingly cared for her family (three children and husband), while trying to earn some extra money to help the family budget. So for the past 15 years or so, she has been selling spices as a part-time job. She buys spices in large quantities and then repacks them into smaller packets to sell. This is not high-paying work, but it has helped her family. For many years, this supplemental income was sufficient for the family needs. However, recently, as a result of the world-wide recession, her husband lost his job.
Mirian had heard about the Society of the Good Shepherd’s program in La Paz, and so she applied for a loan to start a neighborhood mini-mart (pulperia). This is a popular and—for many people—a successful business in Honduras. Even though she lacked experience in such a business, Mirian wanted to give it a try. After receiving the loan and attending a few of the Society business meetings, she started her pulperia. However, after several months, she saw that the results were not as good as she had expected. Some people would have thrown up their arms and quit at that point. But not Mirian!
After praying and asking for advice at one of the Society meetings, Mirian decided to change her business. However, she didn’t know how she should reinvest the money. One of the local Society members suggested making flour tortillas to sell. This seemed to be a good idea, so she immediately put her energy into that. She started selling tortillas, and business was good from the very start. At one of the Society meetings, she told the others about her success, and one of the other loan beneficiaries (who has a food stand at a local school) offered to start buying tortillas from her. Through this contact, other food stand owners started to buy their tortillas from Mirian. Her business quickly flourished
Currently, Mirian makes close to 1000 tortillas daily, and she has had to hire a girl to help her. She makes tortillas from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. each morning. Then her husband delivers them to various pulperias and food stands throughout La Paz. During the rest of the day, Mirian continues to work at her original business of selling spices. The Society has taught her how to keep good accounting records, and that is helping her to improve her business.
Mirian and her family moved to a different house a few weeks ago. She has seen that in her new neighborhood there are needs for other products besides spices and tortillas. So she is now thinking about selling a few other items. But she intends to do this little by little, as she wants to be cautious with her decisions.
Mirian and her husband are just one example of the resourceful, hard-working brothers and sisters in Honduras. Very few Hondurans are looking for handouts. They just want the opportunity to be able to rise out of poverty through their own hard work. Through the interest-free loan program of the Society, we help to give them that opportunity. Mirian and her husband are also typical in that they are using much of their income to enable their children to get a better education than they themselves had. So the Society loans not only help the present generation, but they open the doors of opportunity for the next generation through better education.
On behalf of Mirian and all the other beneficiaries in La Paz, thank you so much for your support and prayers! Nancy Barahona and David Bercot
Click on the following link if you would care to make a donation to the work in Honduras: Donations
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