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El Salvador, November 15-22, 2009
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by Chris Megargee
PartnerTrip Coordinator |
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Tuesday, November 17
 We’ve been in El Salvador for a bit more than two full days now, and we’ve been enjoying what has truly been an adventure. We’ve learned a lot, met some amazing people, eaten great food, seen some interesting wildlife, and made the most of our time here to experience este país tan impresionante—a country that really makes an impression on you. Yesterday we began our week sharing an in-depth conversation with a manager from our microfinance institution (MFI) partner, Enlace, to learn about their work serving people at the lowest levels of the economic spectrum. To get additional background on the context in which microfinance is taking place, we then had an enlightening discussion with a local relief worker who helped us understand some of the most pressing issues of the day for Salvadoran society (including climate change, crime and immigration). We then spent the next day and a half visiting clients of Enlace to really get to the heart of what microfinance is making possible for people seeking a way out of the poverty that grips so many here.
 Take for example Santos Garcia Girón, whom we visited this morning. Santos bakes bread in his home, in a neighborhood high up on a hillside outside Colón, La Libertad. Walking up to his house, we were reminded of the many neighborhoods like his that suffered tremendously from landslides during heavy rains here last weekend—thankfully his community was not affected. He shared with us how he used his first loan from Enlace to buy a machine which kneads the dough. With his second loan he bought a large gas oven. And with his third and most recent loan, he bought an industrial-size mixer to make the dough. This last machine saves him 2.5 hours of manual labor each day—time he is able to dedicate to improving the sales of his product and to being with his family.
Along our journey we enjoyed (?) gathering around a “little” tarantula that crossed our path, a first for many of us—and quite entertaining for our Salvadoran hosts, who were clearly more accustomed to the sight. This afternoon, in Puerto La Libertad, we watched fresh fish being brought out of a small wooden boat just in from a night spent on the Pacific Ocean. This evening we shared a meal of perhaps the most classically  Salvadoran dish—pupusas—which are tortillas stuffed with beans, cheese and pork. And last night we took part in a moving, public commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the assassination of six Jesuit priests and their two assistants which took place during the tragic 12-year-long civil war here. It was a celebration of sacrifice and hope which for Salvadorans is akin to our honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the U.S.
It’s truly moving the sense of gratitude that the loan recipients we have already visited these past two days expressed to us and to Enlace for the help they have received through microfinance. Our very last visit this evening with Miriam Cuellar in Zaragoza was no exception. Miriam described how her house used to be nothing more than a shack made up from pieces of corrugated tin resting against a timber frame for its walls and roof. But microloans helped her create and grow her variety store, and those profits, along with a home improvement loan from  Enlace, helped her build the sturdy cinder block house with its cement floor that she proudly showed us today.
Tomorrow we’re going to visit historical sights here in San Salvador, and then we’ll drive some three hours east to San Miguel to meet up with the second MFI we will be visiting, Apoyo Integral. Thanks so much for traveling with us through these reflections, and I’ll look forward to sharing more with you later this week.
Saludos,
Chris
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Thursday, November 19
 We arrived here in San Miguel yesterday just after dark. Before embarking on our three-hour journey to this eastern part of the country, we started the day visiting with a professor at the University of Central America and touring a number of important historical sites in San Salvador. While not directly related to microfinance, learning about the complex history of this country helps us gain perspective and better understand the circumstances of the daily lives of the people who live and work here.
This morning we got an early start and had an engaging dialogue with the staff at our microfinance institution (MFI) partner, Apoyo Integral, at their San Miguel branch office. Through this conversation we learned that in addition to traditional microcredit loans, Apoyo Integral has  started offering different products including affordable life and health insurance. They also have a financing program for simple but sturdy homes for clients who had before been living in truly inadequate dwellings.
We visited two remarkable women today, Maria del Rosario Moreno and Gumercinda Vigil. Both run small stores and restaurants based out of their homes. While the details of their loans and businesses vary, they have much in common. Both work at least 12 hours per day, seven days a week. With their earnings they’ve been able to provide for their families and improve their homes by replacing dirt floors with ceramic tile, plastic tarps with stucco walls, and tin roofs with solid materials.
 When we arrived at Gumercinda’s home in Perquin in the northeast corner of El Salvador, we enjoyed watching her put the finishing touches on preparing ingredients for the all-natural horchata mix that she sells in her store. Her special recipe for this Central American beverage included corn, peanuts and cinnamon, and its aroma was inviting. Gumercinda then spent a good deal of time with us describing how she and her family had to flee their home during the war with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs. Amidst such tragedy, it was impressive nonetheless as she described how she continued to provide for her family during that time of displacement. She made and sold tortillas in a relatively calmer part of the country and then worked for a while in coffee fields before they were finally able to return to Perquin after the peace accords which ended the conflict back in 1992. The community she once had to flee is now a beautiful town, and with the help of business loans from Apoyo Integral, her store and eatery are doing well. Clearly microfinance has been an important tool for many people as El Salvador continues to rebuild and heal from that past conflict.
 As we drove back to San Miguel this evening, we were treated to a spectacular sunset behind volcano peaks, and even here in the city, the night sky is now filled with stars. Tomorrow is our last full day with our microfinance partners and among the clients we will be visiting is Maritza Jiménez, the inspiring young woman who traveled to Seattle to share her story at our Business of Hope Luncheon last month. It will be a delight to see her again and to bring her greetings so soon after that event.
It’s been a full day, and ya es hora de acostarse (time for sleep!). I’ll look forward to sharing a third and final update with you soon.
Buenas noches,
Chris
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Sunday, November 22
 As I write now, we are in flight from San Salvador making our way back to Seattle. The last two days of our journey together were a great completion to a very full week. On Friday we started our day by driving west from San Miguel back toward the community of Cañaverales, a housing project facilitated by our MFI partner, Apoyo Integral. There we had a happy reunion with Maritza Jiménez, our featured speaker at last month’s Business of Hope Luncheon. She was absolutely delighted to see us and had prepared a meal for us all to share. Her two young boys, Jefferson and Douglas, were there, and her husband, Saúl, joined us as well. It’s the first time we’ve been able to bring an entire group of travelers to visit a speaker from the Luncheon, and it was a special treat since everyone in our group had had the opportunity to spend extra time with Maritza in Seattle before hearing her speak at the Luncheon. While we had heard her story of courage and perseverance at that event, we were moved to see with our own eyes the store she created with loans from Apoyo Integral and the sturdy house they helped her build. She is truly a shining light of optimism and hope, even after having had so many setbacks in her life.
 After sharing some gifts we’d brought her and taking several photos of our group, we said an emotional good-bye to Maritza and her family and drove into San Vicente. Our drive into that town was a sobering one as it was one of the hardest hit by the floods and landslides of two weeks ago. The devastation was still quite evident. Once in town, we visited the first of two clients we would meet that day who particularly demonstrated the commitment that Apoyo Integral has to providing entry-level loan products to people with very few economic resources.
 Ana Gomez Funes describes herself as “both mother and father” to her three children. This single mom supports her family by preparing between 175-200 tamales every day, which she then sells in the local market. (Those of us who frequent some of the taco trucks in Seattle gasped to learn that she sells her tamales at only 6 for $1!) Her first loan six years ago for $200 helped her in buying the ingredients for the tamales—which her grandmother taught her how to make when she was a little girl. Since then she has also taken out loans to improve her house and her current loan is for $550 to help increase her tamale production.
 At the end of the day we paid a visit to Maria Engracia Martinez in the small community of San Bartolomé Perulapia, just outside of San Salvador. Maria was the last client we visited this week, and the visit was a powerful one. She has received loans of between $100 and $150 to help her buy the bamboo needed for the large baskets she weaves and sells. The baskets were truly works of art, and she makes them using strips she cuts by hand off of the large bamboo stalks that she purchases. Her home was tucked away at the bottom of a hill, and especially after knowing the danger of landslides in settings like hers, the dream she shared of saving enough for improvements to make her home safer was striking for all of us.
On Saturday, our final full day together, we made a day-trip to the beautiful and tranquil colonial town of Suchitoto, where we shopped for artesanía, strolled the cobblestone streets, and enjoyed an incredible lunch overlooking Lake Suchitlán. All in all, we enjoyed a more leisurely pace, which allowed us time to reflect on the past week. Throughout our travels around the country, we saw excellent examples of the success and progress that microfinance makes possible for so many families here in El Salvador. We also  saw the reality that there is still a great deal of need in this country. The people we’ve met all demonstrated a strength of spirit and a determination to improve their lives that, when combined with the opportunity microfinance provides them, is really building a hopeful future.
Thank you for traveling virtually with us through this travelogue. I hope you’ll check out our Facebook page for an extensive photo album from the past week. And if you’d like to experience this kind of journey for yourself, please consider joining us on our April 2010 PartnerTrip to Bolivia. To learn more you can reach me at cmegargee@globalpartnerships.org or 206.652.8717.
Hasta la proxima,
Chris
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