equipping churches to transform communities

For many years, wife and husband, Dolores Sanchez de Oporto and Pablo Oporto lived in a one-room mud house with a cardboard roof. Some might think that perhaps they couldn’t find jobs or there was some sort of problem that put them in this situation. Facts are, however, that Dolores, a high school graduate, was working a factory job 12 hours a day and Pablo, who finished ninth grade and could read and write, was taking care of their two children during the day and selling gum and candy on busses at night. They didn’t want this to be the way they lived, the way their children would grow up, but living this way in their impoverished context was all they could manage.

 

Today, Dolores and Pablo live in a better home with four rooms, a kitchen, bathroom and metal roof. Both their children, Walter and Vanesa, go to a private school. Walter has dreams of becoming a mechanic and opening his own shop one day.

 

This is what Dolores reported to us last week as she stood proudly at her small pharmacy stand in the middle of the San Martin marketplace. She patiently answers our questions, nodding occasionally toward her husband who is working another of their stalls nearby. Dolores speaks slowly and thoughtfully. She answers our questions with a shy smile. And after interviewing Pablo, a man of few words who continues to do business as he talks, we find out just how far this family has come. Over the years they managed to inch forward, and they saved as much as they could.

            

Their savings, however, were never enough to create a different life. Dolores and Pablo found out about ENLACE’s credit program called Credatec from Carlos Herrera, a credit officer in the San Martin market. And as they had always made the most of every opportunity, they did so with this one. With a loan of $100, they opened a stand in the market, and bought the store’s inventory, items such as medicines, toiletries, and bandages. Their stand has now grown to two which Dolores and Pablo run themselves.

 

They are now the owners of their market stalls and pay a daily tax of $.72 cents to the city. It wasn’t too long ago that paying these expenses would have been out of reach. Today, however, they have also been able to buy a lot next door to their home opening a “pupuseria.” When Dolores closes shop at 2P.M. she goes home to make pupusas, a typical dish, for their family’s third successful business.

Credit is a necessary tool for the hard-working poor. Too often industrious people like Pablo and Dolores are forced to seek out loan sharks, paying up to 360% yearly interest, in order to start or expand a business operation. Providing a tool that is based on integrity, honesty and care, is not only fulfilling a great need among the working poor, but also, as ENLACE believes, is a fulfillment of our mission to help churches reach out and participate in Christ’s love, thereby transforming their communities.

FALL UPDATE 2006 community economic development

Credit recipient, Dolores de Oporto, in one of her family’s two successful pharmacy stands in the San Martin market

 

 

Or for more information on how you or your church can partner with ENLACE’s ministry contact  Larry Kasper: lkasper@enlaceonline.org

tel 1-888-675-2313

Make donations payable and sent to:

ENLACE 

5405 Alton Pkwy

Suite 5A Number 458

Irvine, CA 92604

Or you can donate online:

ENLACE makes the most of your donation to impact lives. A 98% loan repayment rate insures that your donation is lent year after year. For example, a donation of $100 will be lent  an average of 9 times in 5 years for a total of over $900.

Church and community program

· Pastoral training

· Leadership development

 

$29,000 STILL NEEDED TO MEET 2006 GOAL

ENLACE ag technician, Francisco Gonzalez, with Pastor Miguel Duran

CREDIT… just one of many ways to say, “god loves you”

Dolores’ husband, Pablo Oporto, in the second family pharmacy stand.

opportunity to give Make the most of your donation

Economic development program

· Technical assistance

· Start-up financing

· Coaching

· Market research

Healthy communities program

· Health education

· Medical clinics

· Latrines

· Improved stoves

Infrastructure initiatives

· Roads

· Bridges

· Housing

· Risk mitigation