By Yolanda Fletes | Micro-credit Officer
Antolin and Bertha are from La Venada, a small community located 27 kms away from Self-Help’s office in Quinta Lidia, Nicaragua. After word of mouth spread that elf-Help was teaching families to construct new and improved ovens in several rural communities, Bertha, a member of Self-Help's micro-credit program, and Antolin, her husband and a member of the Los Chiles Cooperative that Self-Help supports, decided to host an informational training session in their home with SHI’s Micro-credit Officer, Yolanda.
“My wife is always taking care of the house and never complains about anything," Antolin said. "After learning about the existence of this type of improved oven, my wife was very excited and asked me to get one for her. I knew it would be an additional expense, but after thinking about it, I realized all of the benefits this oven can bring to my house.”
“My wife could have her own oven and wouldn’t have to go to other houses to rent one," he continued, "which means she can bake at any time she wants, and we can save money on firewood (the new and improved oven uses 70% less than traditional ovens).” Spending less time collecting firewood would give Bertha more time to focus on her recipes.
Antolin and Bertha realized the oven would be beneficial to others in their community, so they invited women from the neighborhood to their home and coordinated a day-long training session to learn about the benefits of the new technology.
Eighteen women participated in the training Yolanda led, as well as Bertha, Antolin, and their two sons. In addition to the oven training, Yolanda taught all present about Self-Help's micro-credit program to support rural women to improve their livelihoods. Four of the 18 women immediately requested to join the micro-credit program, and asked Yolanda organize the next meeting soon, so they too could become independent providers for their households.
After two months of this type of training, the four women have successfully built their own ovens, and said that they are excited to assist their neighbors in constructing their ovens when they request their own. The women are now requesting training seminars for baking with different recipes.
As the group leader and representative, Bertha has a message for you, the people whose support made this free training session and access to financing possible: “Thank you for coming to our community and giving us this new opportunity to keep moving ahead in our daily needs and personal growth.”
As families like Bertha's and Antolin's demonstrate, your gift of economic empowerment not only supports women to improve household income and respiratory health through upgrading their ovens to smokeless, it fosters leadership and community development. Thank you for your continued support!
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