We are excited to introduce Elevate the micro-loan program.
It has been amazing to watch this program develop. Daphney recently expanded her business. She paid off her first loan and took out a second loan. She now has 500 chickens, she employs 4 people and has her own location to keep the chickens. She has never missed a payment.
Daphney's loan allows her to pay for her children's education and meet her families basic needs. But more than that, Daphney helps others in her community. She has adopted a young family with three boys. She is working with the husband to teach him how to do raise chickens, she is helping them with money management, and helping them get their children in school.
Daphney's loan is a loan that continues to give and impact the community.
Another one of the loans is a young man in his late 20's. He is incredibly intelligent and has struggled to find a job. He came to us requesting a loan to rent land for a garden. The garden had been started by another man, but that man ran into financial difficulties and could not wait for the end of the growing season. He sold his land to this young man for half of its value. Gardening is hard, dirty, but honest work. Everything is done by hand; the weeding, the watering, the harvesting. There are many gardens located in one area so that they are able to help each other with security, with the watering and also with harvesting. They have formed a type of co-op. This young man will take 6 months to pay off his loan and then all profit will be his to keep.
We have also partnered with a Haitian couple that are doing micro-loans on a smaller scale. Their loans are between $52 and $100. Most of their loans are given to women who are selling in the local market. These ladies sell food items like rice, beans, corn, oil, garlic, etc. The women make daily payments on their 33 day loan. This program works within the Haitian culture by making sure that the ladies never have too much money in their hand, as this creates the tempation to use the money for other needs. These small micro loans allow the women to meet their families' daily needs.
Our hope is to increase this micro loan program by 10 people in the next 6 months. If you are interested in hearing more about this program, we would love to sit down with you and share our vision.
