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THREE NEW MICROCREDIT BANKS ARE OPEN!
College Hill Presbyterian funded a bank in Las Brisas! A gift in honor of Sharon Little and Barbara Grogg made a bank in Las Lomas possible! And the new bank in La Arenera was funded by All Souls Unitarian! Thank you to all who have participated in these dreams!
Several years ago, a group of women asked JustHope to help them with empowerment... They needed jobs, an income.
They said they needed small loans to start small businesses. There were other microcredit organizations working in the area at the time, but the women said the interest rates they were charging were so high they were unable to pay their loans and make a profit. (Most microcredit organizations have high overhead costs and charge their clients a series of fees along with interest rates. The average total APR is often 30% or higher.)
JustHope worked together with the women to create a program  that would be specifically and uniquely designed for their context. They talked about the risks and the benefits, the needs and the possibilities, their dreams and their capacities. In the end, they established an unofficial organization called "Mujeres Unidas" (Women United).
6 years later, they continue to have a 100% repayment rate! AND over 100 women involved...impacting hundreds of lives! Read individual women's stories here.
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The Dreaming Together Hardware Store (Soņando Juntos
Ferreteria) is experiencing fantastic success with its addition of a "general store" or tienda.
The women in the community who raise pigs as their microcredit business can now buy their pig feed locally, which saves them time and money!
And the hardware side of the business is still booming as well...
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Elba Update: She went to Managua for minor surgery today. The fixture in her leg has to be removed; it is causing infection, which must be cleaned out. She will be in a cast. Her bones are healing slower than they had hoped, but they are healing. She is weary and a little discouraged, but still hopeful that she'll have a full recovery.
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