Jehova Proveera Group

Thirty-five year old Maria is married to a businessman who sells women’s casual clothing. They have three children who range in age from ten to sixteen. The two younger ones are in the second and seventh grades and the oldest son completed nine years of education. Maria only attended school for four years. Ten years ago, she opened her traditional textile business and sews beautiful and colorful aprons/”delantales” and blouses/”huipiles” to sell in the local market. She also takes custom orders. Every month, Maria can sew a dozen “delantales” and a dozen “huipiles”. Her older children help her. She also raises chickens, a business she started six years ago. She requests her third Kiva loan to buy high-quality fabric, thread and decor at the wholesale level. Her goal is to have her own shop.

Maria joined six other Maya K’iche women and formed the Friendship Bridge Trust Bank “Jehova Proveera” in the department/state of Totonicapan. These women learn to manage their tortilla shops, convenience stores, and sales of regional snack foods via monthly educational training (business, health, family, women), part of the “Microcredit Plus” program. Recently they have learned about the dangers of lending one’s name to another person’s business. Every other month, they have access to basic healthcare services including exams, consults and family planning.

Happy New Year, Kiva lenders! And thank you for lending a helping hand to Maria and her friends!

In this group: Olimpia, Maria Eulogia, Sara Maria, Loren Marisol, Nineth Tomasa , Mayra Consuelo, Eimhy Lileni