So you might be wondering exactly why the Pro Mujer link has been in my blog resources section for the past several months. Well FINALLY, as of two weeks ago, I am working with Pro Mujer! I even have the desk and Pro Mujer polo shirt to prove it, but honestly I'm just friggin excited to be a part of this microfinance movement they have going on.
This NGO is no joke, these women work hard! I found myself reviewing Nicarguan Microfinance laws and regulations with my peers at 5:30 on a Friday night. I don't think I would have ever been caught dead in my cubicle on a Friday night in my corporate job. These women take their job seriously and I dig it.
So what exactly does Pro Mujer do you ask?
Mission:Pro Mujer is an international women’s development and microfinance organization whose mission is to provide Latin America’s poor women with the means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance,business training, and healthcare support.
Pro Mujer fights poverty by establishing sustainable microfinance organizations that provide an integrated package of financial and human development services that women require to build and improve their small businesses.
Are you seeing how their mission is directly related to my work in advising small business owners and my personal goal of empowering women? Perfect match! The business training is where I come in.
Gloria Ruiz is the director of Pro Mujer Nicaragua and is located about 30 minutes away in the city of Leon. Pro Mujer was originally started in Bolivia and the model was then replicated to open its second branch in the Leon/Chinandega region of Nicaragua in 1996. They now operate in Argentina, Peru and Mexico. Let me tell yea this Gloria(see pic) chic is a fireball! She is barely 5 feet tall and just overflowing with energy and excitement. She showed up along with the head of HR and the head of the Chinandega office to sign my contract along with my Peace Corps boss Georgia. When the contract was signed, all 5 ft ish of her came over to me to give me "my initiation hug" which I had to bend way down for to be welcomed as part of the team. She told me her vision for me is to find a method to identify the most motivated of our clients with upside potantial and work with them one-on-one, as well as choose a bit larger of a group to do more technical training with such topics as accounting, economics, marketing and the like. The cool part is I get to design and then implement this plan as well as carry it out. Right now I'm getting to know the organization inside and out.
This last week has been spent shadowing credit analysts and visiting community meetings amongst the women in rural communities to ask about their goals and what additional training they could benefit from. All day this last Friday was an internal training at Pro Mujer for all the analysts and also including my boss Anexis. This was such an awesome experience because these women, along with the acception of a few men employees, are a tight knit group and I got to know everyone on a more personal level. We played dynamicas(get to know each other games) and role plays with each other. At one point I was barefoot racing my counterpart to grab a balloon with a question in it as everyone cheered us on. You don't typically see this in the U.S. financial workplace. Something else you don't see either is using documents with client sensitive information as scratch paper in a trianing. That would have violated so many policies on so many levels at Vanguard where I used to work! My eyes were bugging out of my head when I turned my scratch paper over to read a clients account number and whole name, what!?!?
Today I attended a meeting in a rural community where we were assessing 22 women to see if they were eligible to receive credit. The fun thing is that they are already all friends. One of the requirements for the group recieveing individual micro loans is that they are all tight knit because this model draws on the confianza(trust) that brings these women together. If one woman defaults her friends and community know about it and have to pick up her slack. No one wants that type of track record so it basically helps eliminate defaults. See Grameen Bank Model Methodology which Muhammed Yunus earned the Nobel Peace Prize for in 2006. In this rural community I basically walked around to every single small business in Chichigalpa(Nica's main rum producer) asking about what they plan to do with the money they receive from the loan and how they operate their business currently. It was quite an experience. The next day I returned to give a talk about generating new business ideas, leveraging local resources and evaluating competition in the market place.
Over all everyone at Pro Mujer is very welcoming and I'm getting to know each analyst one by one as I travel with them to rural communities. I certainly feel like part of the team. They seem to take me seriously although my spanish is less than perfect. They all think its hilarious to speak to me in tid bits of english, really I just don't see how its that funny. I love the fact that we will travel 45 mins by bus just to stop in and chat with the women in a rural community and build relationships for a half hour and then 45 min bus back. It's all about the relationships and I can really appreciate their methods of getting to know these women they call clients. I can't wait to see how my project with this NGO unfolds.
Work has been really gratifying to say the least. I have also had some fun camping on the beach and waking up for 6 am high tide to the sound of waves crashing. Nothing better than watching the sun rise over the mountains from the ocean just floatin on your surfboard. Well maybe sunset.....I also took a trip to the colonial city of Granada for the International Poetry Festival which was a cool cultural experience.
Just some observations I've had over the last few days that have made me chuckle. I never drink purified water or out of a regular glass anymore, its always a Nalgene bottle and its always straight from the tap. Only in Nica can one loose their cell phone while mountain biking and then ask the rural communities of shacks if anyone has seen it and actually get a response like" ya the girl in the shack down the way has it". What?! awesome! And then the little girl who is 5 says she'll give it back to me for 100 cords, seriously? at this age? I no longer use bug spray daily or get eaten alive by mosquitos, I think I've finally adjusted. I wear ear plugs every night, but have no problem passing out on a loud crowded bus with the wind in my face, who would have ever thought this possible!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Somoto Canyon and Superbowl
February has gotten off to a great start! I am now as busy as ever between my NGO Pro Mujer, preparing for the school year, Coco Loco, business advising and now working on HIV/AIDS education as well.
But, with all of that going on I have had time to do a little traveling before the school year officially starts. I traveled last weekend to the northern parts of Nicaragua which are known for their coffee, cigars, mountains, and cool weather. I rolled in to Managua on a Friday night and picked up two of my friends Jake and Noelle to head north. Standing on a 6 pm crowded bus three hours north was not the highlight of the trip, but what awaited us in the town of Esteli was worth the trip. We arrived in Esteli to a cool breeze which was foreign to me at this point after only a month back in Nica. I busted out my sweatshirt and had legit chills before putting it on. We met up with some fellow volunteers and our new friend Rodney who served as a volunteer back in 2004-2006 and has written much of the Nicaraguan Moon Book Travel Guide. He promised to show us a good time, but we really had no idea what was coming. After some wings and beers we headed to a club called Cigarzone. In my mind the north was cooler cowboy country so I sported some jeans, toms, and a knit t-shirt. As we walk through the dirt to the entrance of the club, I start to realize that I may be under dressed, but what the hell I'm typically out of place in this country in every way anyways. Not until I entered the Vegas-style club did I realize just how "special" I looked next to some of Nica's finest! I'm talking stilletos, lether stretch pants, and cocktail dresses kind of joint. Who knew this existed here! To top it off there was a live performance by Rasta Jam with his hit song Borrachos se Cae(the drunks fall). Watch the video, its hilarious that this represents popular Nica music. Then picture several Niacarguan women with bellies flopping over their pants dancing along on stage with the black dude with horrendously long dreads.....classic!
After a night that lasted in to the wee hours of the mornin we woke up the next day to head to Somoto Canyon. This is Nica's only canyon, just recently discovered in 2006 surprisingly. As you wind back in to the steep crevices, the canyon reveals just how truly beautiful it is. The walls get so steep at points that you have no choice but to swim the cool clear water that runs through the canyon. We spent several hours in the canyon on Saturday hiking in and relaxing on sandy beaches. I thought it was such a neat experience I had to go back the next morning to hike farther in. At points there are small waterfalls to boulder up and high ledges to jump off in to the cool pools of water. What really impressed me about the whole experience was that the locals were hiking and boating the canyon, taking full advantage of the canyon's beauty. This is rather rare in my experience with Nicaraguans. Typically Nicaraguans don't go seeking physical activity and swimming especially is not a common skill set, but the Somotans know what an awesome thing they have going on. Many locals will take you on a guided hike of the canyon and then put you up with their family on the canyon ridge for the night. I am definitely going back to camp and rock climb it!
But, with all of that going on I have had time to do a little traveling before the school year officially starts. I traveled last weekend to the northern parts of Nicaragua which are known for their coffee, cigars, mountains, and cool weather. I rolled in to Managua on a Friday night and picked up two of my friends Jake and Noelle to head north. Standing on a 6 pm crowded bus three hours north was not the highlight of the trip, but what awaited us in the town of Esteli was worth the trip. We arrived in Esteli to a cool breeze which was foreign to me at this point after only a month back in Nica. I busted out my sweatshirt and had legit chills before putting it on. We met up with some fellow volunteers and our new friend Rodney who served as a volunteer back in 2004-2006 and has written much of the Nicaraguan Moon Book Travel Guide. He promised to show us a good time, but we really had no idea what was coming. After some wings and beers we headed to a club called Cigarzone. In my mind the north was cooler cowboy country so I sported some jeans, toms, and a knit t-shirt. As we walk through the dirt to the entrance of the club, I start to realize that I may be under dressed, but what the hell I'm typically out of place in this country in every way anyways. Not until I entered the Vegas-style club did I realize just how "special" I looked next to some of Nica's finest! I'm talking stilletos, lether stretch pants, and cocktail dresses kind of joint. Who knew this existed here! To top it off there was a live performance by Rasta Jam with his hit song Borrachos se Cae(the drunks fall). Watch the video, its hilarious that this represents popular Nica music. Then picture several Niacarguan women with bellies flopping over their pants dancing along on stage with the black dude with horrendously long dreads.....classic!
After a night that lasted in to the wee hours of the mornin we woke up the next day to head to Somoto Canyon. This is Nica's only canyon, just recently discovered in 2006 surprisingly. As you wind back in to the steep crevices, the canyon reveals just how truly beautiful it is. The walls get so steep at points that you have no choice but to swim the cool clear water that runs through the canyon. We spent several hours in the canyon on Saturday hiking in and relaxing on sandy beaches. I thought it was such a neat experience I had to go back the next morning to hike farther in. At points there are small waterfalls to boulder up and high ledges to jump off in to the cool pools of water. What really impressed me about the whole experience was that the locals were hiking and boating the canyon, taking full advantage of the canyon's beauty. This is rather rare in my experience with Nicaraguans. Typically Nicaraguans don't go seeking physical activity and swimming especially is not a common skill set, but the Somotans know what an awesome thing they have going on. Many locals will take you on a guided hike of the canyon and then put you up with their family on the canyon ridge for the night. I am definitely going back to camp and rock climb it!
Entering the Canyon
We had to swim most of it because the walls are so steep
Noelle and I swimming our way up
This shot reminds me of AZ
The crew
That evening we made our way up even further north to the city of Ocotal to join about 50 other volunteers to watch the Superbowl. We never fail to have a down right good time when all of us get together. I got to reunite with my training group from Nandasmo as well as represent with all my Chinandegan site mates. When I came to Nica I was with the rest of my business group as well as a group of Agricultural volunteers who are generally places up north in more rural sites so it was a nice chance for them to come out of the wood work share what they've been up to.
The next day I basically ate my way back to Chinandega with a cuban lunch back in Esteli and a dinner of ribs in Leon. This made a long day of traveling much more enjoyable with good food and good company.
To counteract that beastly music video I provided a link to earlier I'd like to share some actual tasteful Latino music that I've been really in to lately, they have a lot of great songs but Corre! by Jesse & Joy is their main hit. Not a fan of the video really but hope ya like the music!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Summer in January
January marks the beginning of dry season here in Nica, but it's also considered summer vacation for the students so I'm technically on break too. I've been doing my fare share of surfing in my time off this January, weird no? In my opinion, January has been the most pleasant month with cool temperatures, a nice breeze, and no rain. I encourage you all to come around this time next year, if you can even wait until then!
January also marks the end of baseball season here. Los Tigres is the name of Chinandega's professional baseball team and this year we made it to the finals. Honestly it's not saying much since there are only 8 different baseball teams total in Nicargua. We were up against Managua for the championship and I got to go to game 4 out of 7 in Chinandega! It was an awesome experience! I have never seen the stadium so packed with 5,000 of the most obnoxious fans. The noise was overwhelming as the entire city was engulfed in the game. In fact it was a total bonding experience with my community. I ran in to all three of my judges from my local business competition, some of my local surfing buddies and my Peace Corps Doctor in Chin amongst several other people I knew. We cleaned up in the last inning with Chinandega 8 and Managua 6. At the end of the game everyone rushed the field with Nicarguan flags as fireworks filled the sky. That was by far the most exciting game of the series, but I'm sad to say that we ended up loosing the championship title to Managua. There is always next year!
School does not start up again until mid February so I have been working on my relationship with the NGO Pro Mujer. After six months of building this relationship I'm finally working with them! No surprise I already have a strong relationship with my counterpart(aka boss) Anexis and met her entire family, that's just how business goes here. Gotta get in with the fam first! This week has been dedicated to getting to know the staff and their different roles. I will mostly be working with my counterpart Anexis who is the manager of the Chinandega branch of Pro Mujer as well as the credit consultants who make sure that the women's businesses are sound enough to receive micro loans. I will be helping assess these women and administering training before they even start the micro loan process with Pro Mujer. Today I observed community bank meetings while women elected each other for such positions as president and treasurer. So far everyone is extremely friendly and all the offices have air conditioning! This is huge! I'm coming up on the dead of summer or dry season here which is hot, dry and dusty. Apparently I will be begging for rain by April. I don't think I will mind escaping to the Pro Mujer offices come mid-afternoon in dead of summer.
Baby Thais, or my "niece", grows bigger every day and seems to bring my family even closer. I honestly thought that I would be annoyed with a baby int he house, but I don't even notice when she cries. If anything she just brings more joy to the household and more family comes over to visit.
These last couple of weeks with no classes has given me time to work with my kid's club at Coco Loco. I paired my kids with Norma, the jewelry lady that I have been working with to improve her small business, so they could learn the art of jewelry making. Even the boys got in to it! I also did yoga with the kids. Granted the class lasted about half an hour due to their attention span, but they all loved it. I stole a few moves from your yoga book mom, thanks! Not sure if you all are aware, but my mom published a book on Yoga for special needs children from a speech pathologist background last year. Check it out on her website.http://yogatherapy4children.com/products.html
It was very applicable since you can imagine that several of the children I work with from the poor rural areas of Chin have several different issues ranging form attention deficit to mental retardation. Obviously their parents can't afford the proper therapy or attention these kids need and I love being able to help them in any way that I can.
I've also been working with Norma, my jewelry lady, and we have made great strides on her jewelry business. She now has a new pay structure for employees which we created together as well as new pricing for her items. We took a look at her unitary cost and calculated how much she needs to charge to break even and then maintain her business. Last but not least I found a great little jewelry store in Chinandega which features items from all over Latin America where we put her jewelry on consignment. This store owner who lives in Panama absolutely loved her work and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it sells and creates another avenue of income for Norma. If anyone is interested in buying some jewelry for yourself or for a small shop back home, please let me know! I'm going to try and see if I can set Norma up with Nest, a network for exporting women's artisan work to the states. You can even check out the store on Facebook as well, it's called Chrekes.
January also marks the end of baseball season here. Los Tigres is the name of Chinandega's professional baseball team and this year we made it to the finals. Honestly it's not saying much since there are only 8 different baseball teams total in Nicargua. We were up against Managua for the championship and I got to go to game 4 out of 7 in Chinandega! It was an awesome experience! I have never seen the stadium so packed with 5,000 of the most obnoxious fans. The noise was overwhelming as the entire city was engulfed in the game. In fact it was a total bonding experience with my community. I ran in to all three of my judges from my local business competition, some of my local surfing buddies and my Peace Corps Doctor in Chin amongst several other people I knew. We cleaned up in the last inning with Chinandega 8 and Managua 6. At the end of the game everyone rushed the field with Nicarguan flags as fireworks filled the sky. That was by far the most exciting game of the series, but I'm sad to say that we ended up loosing the championship title to Managua. There is always next year!
School does not start up again until mid February so I have been working on my relationship with the NGO Pro Mujer. After six months of building this relationship I'm finally working with them! No surprise I already have a strong relationship with my counterpart(aka boss) Anexis and met her entire family, that's just how business goes here. Gotta get in with the fam first! This week has been dedicated to getting to know the staff and their different roles. I will mostly be working with my counterpart Anexis who is the manager of the Chinandega branch of Pro Mujer as well as the credit consultants who make sure that the women's businesses are sound enough to receive micro loans. I will be helping assess these women and administering training before they even start the micro loan process with Pro Mujer. Today I observed community bank meetings while women elected each other for such positions as president and treasurer. So far everyone is extremely friendly and all the offices have air conditioning! This is huge! I'm coming up on the dead of summer or dry season here which is hot, dry and dusty. Apparently I will be begging for rain by April. I don't think I will mind escaping to the Pro Mujer offices come mid-afternoon in dead of summer.
Baby Thais, or my "niece", grows bigger every day and seems to bring my family even closer. I honestly thought that I would be annoyed with a baby int he house, but I don't even notice when she cries. If anything she just brings more joy to the household and more family comes over to visit.
These last couple of weeks with no classes has given me time to work with my kid's club at Coco Loco. I paired my kids with Norma, the jewelry lady that I have been working with to improve her small business, so they could learn the art of jewelry making. Even the boys got in to it! I also did yoga with the kids. Granted the class lasted about half an hour due to their attention span, but they all loved it. I stole a few moves from your yoga book mom, thanks! Not sure if you all are aware, but my mom published a book on Yoga for special needs children from a speech pathologist background last year. Check it out on her website.http://yogatherapy4children.com/products.html
It was very applicable since you can imagine that several of the children I work with from the poor rural areas of Chin have several different issues ranging form attention deficit to mental retardation. Obviously their parents can't afford the proper therapy or attention these kids need and I love being able to help them in any way that I can.
I've also been working with Norma, my jewelry lady, and we have made great strides on her jewelry business. She now has a new pay structure for employees which we created together as well as new pricing for her items. We took a look at her unitary cost and calculated how much she needs to charge to break even and then maintain her business. Last but not least I found a great little jewelry store in Chinandega which features items from all over Latin America where we put her jewelry on consignment. This store owner who lives in Panama absolutely loved her work and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it sells and creates another avenue of income for Norma. If anyone is interested in buying some jewelry for yourself or for a small shop back home, please let me know! I'm going to try and see if I can set Norma up with Nest, a network for exporting women's artisan work to the states. You can even check out the store on Facebook as well, it's called Chrekes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)