August 2008 Articles
Ismelda Recino - El Sastre- by Shannon Clohosey
Ismelda Recino talks excitedly about her plans and hopes for her Fundacion Adelante savings: she and her family hope to build themselves a new house. Currently they live in a house with mud earth walls and a palm-thatched roof; they look forward to a sturdier house made with cement blocks. Ismelda and her family won’t have to look far to find the cement blocks to build their new house. Their small family business is a bloquera, a factory that manufactures cement blocks for construction, which is right beside their home.
Ismelda and her husband have eight children, four of whom still live with them in their community, Rio Piedra. The four eldest children have moved away; two live in Tocoa and two have moved to Roatan. The three sons still living at home – aged 27, 24 and 16 – work alongside their father in the bloquera, waking up before the sun rises to mix the sand and cement to make the blocks. Her youngest son is also studying, and her husband works in construction. If he has a construction contract, her husband puts in some early morning hours in the factory before heading off to work, leaving his sons in charge of the bloquera. This has been the family business for the past eight years.
Ismelda has used her four loans with Adelante to invest in her family business. With one loan, they can buy 50 bags of cement, or eight tractor-loads of sand, the two main ingredients that are mixed to make cement bricks. Another benefit of the brick business, Ismelda says, is that when an order is placed, people have to make a deposit of 50% of the cost of the order, which helps them be able to buy the right materials. Small family businesses such as these are common in Honduras. The whole family contributes, all doing their part to support the work and family. Often this may be the only work for children as they grow up, and only by having the full participation of the family can the family make ends meet for everyone.
Ismelda first heard about Adelante when her daughter-in-law told her about the organization, and invited her to come along to a meeting. Her daughter-in-law no longer has loans with Adelante, but Ismelda is working on her fourth loan. Throughout the Asamblea, she smiles and laughs easily, and talks openly about how much she appreciates Adelante’s support, and how much she enjoys working with the organization. Her face lights up as she talks about her favorite aspect of participation with Adelante, which is amistad, or friendship. She enjoys the bi-weekly Asamblea meetings, meeting new people, and getting to know the people in her group.
The 2008 Socially Responsible Advisor of the Year - Macro Success from Micro Strategies
Boomer Market Advisor magazine and the Adelante Foundation have teamed up and named John Ledford, president of Ledford Financial and a Commonwealth Financial Network-affiliated rep, 2008 Socially Responsible Advisor of the Year. As reward for gaining this title, Boomer Market Advisor gave him the opportunity to experience the work we do first-hand with a trip to Honduras, during which Ledford experienced a weekly Adelante meeting, among many other things. An article published in the August 2008 issue of Boomer Market Advisor magazine explains Ledford's interest in micro-finance as well as why so many people from the baby-boomer generation are looking for new and effective ways to help. >Read Article
GoodSearch.com and Goodshop.com
We are excited because starting June 24, 2008, the Adelante Foundation is now on Goodsearch.com and GoodShop.com! With more than 62,000 non-profits and schools participating, GoodSearch has become a popular and unique way to help raise money for important causes.
All you have to do to participate is visit GoodSearch.com or GoodShop.com and under "Who do you GoodSearch for?" search for the "Adelante Foundation." It is free for you and helps us to raise the money we need to continue providing micro-loans to women in Honduras. >Visit GoodSearch.
Adelante Foundation joins Facebook
We have joined Facebook and would like it if you would join too. Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study, and live around them, and helps to encourage solidarity among those who would like to help different organizations at the grassroots level. Help us to spread the word about our efforts to end poverty in Honduras through micro-finance by joining us today. >Visit us at Facebook.
Photograph of the Month
Jorge, one of our hardest-working credit officers in Atlantida.
