A little money goes a long way

Our gracious tour guide Molly, with two potential borrowers. The woman in blue is the proud owner of this sewing stand at the marketplace.  She is looking for a loan to be able to buy thread in colors that her clients have been requesting.

A few weeks ago, Susan and Norman joined us on an En Via Micro-Finance Tour to Teotitlan del Valle.  En Via is a small non-profit lending organization that has a wonderful system in place to loan $100 each to three borrowers.  The women must apply as a group and vouch for each other as worthy and responsible borrowers.  Then they all make sure that each one pays their $100 loan in the time period agreed upon.

We visited six different workplaces on the tour, we saw two groups of three women.  The first three consisted of a shop keeper, a weaver and a baker/weaver. 
 

Walking to the second borrower's home workshop

This self supporting weaver needed wool so she could make more rugs, coasters and hand bags.

The third woman runs a small baking business to supplement the family's rug weaving income. She is seeking a loan to buy baking supplies.

En Via charges $50 for a one day tour to visit the potential borrowers, that money is then used to finance the loans.  We got to visit workshops, which are usually in their very humble homes, to meet the borrowers and their families, and to ask them about their businesses and their hopes for the future.  It is a very special and respectful way of learning first hand what the local people must do to provide for their families.

Home sweet humble home

The baking money supplements the family's rug weaving income.  You can see the loom in the background.  This warm, caring woman broke down in tears as she spoke to us about her family and her concerns.

The great majority of the people in Teotitlan are weavers and have been for generations. Most of them are of Zapotec descent and that is the language they speak at home.  Children learn Spanish when they go to school, but they learn about wool as soon as they can move about.  Someone in the house is always carding or spinning wool, and the children will learn those skills very young.  They will also be able to dye the wool and to weave it into beautiful rugs and other useful items well before they are twelve years old.
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This second group of three borrowers consists of a young weaver seeking to branch out by raising chickens, a family of weavers who need dyes and raw wool, and a widow with a three year old daughter who has lost everything and needs to buy wool for her rug making.

The granddaughter of the first family shows us a rug she is working on. She is seeking a loan to buy live chickens.

The matriarch of this first family

The grandfather of the second workshop we visited.

  He stands the entire time and works the loom with his feet on the pedals and his hands moving all the time.

Two more generations of his family.  The young son looks on as his father cards the wool, getting it ready to be spun into yarn.

The third borrower of the group, our last visit of the day.  We were all deeply touched as this woman told us of her life since her husband died last year. She is in desperate need of wool to continue her weaving.

This is her beautiful little girl

Everyone on the trip was touched by the dignity of the people and their incredibly tedious and beautiful work.  Our tour guide, Molly, really made the whole experience happen.  She was able to communicate beautifully and respectfully with everyone we visited. Her deep respect for the people as well as her knowledge of their customs and lives made for a comfortable and warm experience for both visitors and borrowers alike.  Because of Molly's wonderful presence, the people we visited spoke openly about their families and their hopes for the future. I think each of us was humbled by their ability to maintain hope in such difficult situations.   It was a very moving and special day.

After our visits were over we had tacos and tlayudas in a local shop to keep to the spirit of the day.  The restroom is the shed with the green curtain.

Hasta luego!  See you soon!