PHPG would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the BFA Fairfax NHS group! Last night they raised $320.00 for PHPG at the fun and amazingly tasty St. Patrick's Day Valentine's Day Pancake Supper!

The menu was delicious! 3 Types of pancakes, GREEN eggs, sausage, fruit, the one and only really amazing VT pure maple syrup, juices, coffee and smiles! :D

This group did a wonderful job. Thanks so much you guys!

$320 dollars is enough to fund two new microloans in Nicaragua. This will allow two new families to begin their journey out of poverty. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!

Borrower Profile - Dalia

Meet Dalia, she's one of PHPG's loan recipients in Matagalpa. This month she received her second loan from PHPG.

Five years ago she started her small store in the city of Matagalpa. At first, she started selling pastries from her home. Dalia had been making cakes and pastries for many years, so this new store was a natural fit for her. She had only one display case for her goods. 

   In her third year in operations a large stationary store on her street closed down. People kept stopping by her store to ask about the stationary store and where they could get supplies.  Dalia saw an opportunity to expand her business. She started selling school supplies and paper goods to fill the void that the large stationary store had left. 

Before she had access to credit from PHPG, her sister lent her some money to widen the entrance to her store. Dalia has slowly added more display cases and new merchandise to her store. Now with her second PHPG loan, she plans to buy more merchandise for the coming school year (The school year starts in January, here in Nicaragua).  She is also planning to add an awning to her store so that she can move a few of her display cases outside, where they will be more visible to passing clients.

Dalia has two sons. The youngest, Alejandro, is in high school. The oldest, Kevin, is in his very first year of college and is studying Civil Engineering. Dalia works so that she can provide a better future for her sons. 

Workshop in Matagalpa!

Today we had our first workshop in Matagalpa! It was a great success! 16 women micro-entrepreneurs joined us to discuss how to improve their businesses. The goal was to think more about their businesses, their costs, profit, and operations. The women were all very active and the discussion was lively. 

Here's a taste of what we discussed:

* The importance of planning
* Steps for a feasibility study
* Analysis of expenses and income
* How to set prices & determine costs per unit.
* How to and why separate business expenses from personal expenses

Group leader Hazell at the board.

Iriz reading out-loud for us.

 Listening intently.

     

Martha at the board.

Susuma, Matagalpa

This post is written by Trent Shelton, PHPG's Program Coordinator in the Granada region.

Located just two kilometers southwest of Matagalpa is a humble community called Susuma. Getting to Susuma requires a one-hour hike from the center of Matagalpa which takes you past the cemetery and into the countryside. Last Sunday, Susuma became PHPG’s newest community, as one group of six clients was selected as loan recipients. Prior to the loan distribution, the PHPG team conducted interviews on 20 perspective borrowers and also held various meetings about the loan processes and rules.

Pastor Ana introduces PHPG

In the final meeting before loan selections, one loan group made an especially good impression on the PHPG team. All groups are required to fill out an official document to form the group, including a team name, who will be the group leader, etc. This group, called Dios Es Amor (God is Love), was very organized and democratic. A young woman, named Maria de Los Angeles, immediately took the initiative and made sure everything was completed fairly with a vote. From voting on the team name to making sure everyone knew each other’s addresses, she led the team perfectly. She was unanomously selected by her group peers to be the group leader.

All of the Dios Es Amor (God is Love) group members presented their businesses

This group’s organization and positive energy made Dios Es Amor an easy selection for Susuma's first loan group. We look forward to expanding our loan portfolio in Susuma in the future!

Intern #4!!

Hey guys!

I am so excited to be working for People Helping People Global this summer. Aside from a brief trip to Mexico to fulfill the quintessential college spring break experience, I have never traveled anywhere in Central America.  The chance to work and live in Nicaragua for two months will be a new and adventurous opportunity for me!

A little about me… I am currently a junior at Claremont McKenna College studying International Relations with a focus in third world economic development.  Coming originally from the east coast, I am absolutely loving the California lifestyle – it’s active, endlessly sunny, and teeming with cheery, happy people.  My interest in working for PHPG is directly related to my academic concentration and my future career aspirations, both of which are manifested in past travel and work experience.  I am fascinated by the so-called ‘culture of poverty’ that exists throughout the world and the seemingly unanswerable questions that often inhibit progress.  As a result, traveling  and experiencing new and diverse cultures has become one of my passions in life – and one of the ways in which I have attempted to gain insight into the mystery of perpetual poverty.

In addition to living and working in Fiji for a short period after 9^th grade, I recently returned from spending a semester abroad in Madagascar where I gained first-hand experience living with local Malagasy people, some of whom live day-to-day off of less than the equivalent of $2 dollars per day.  It was a crazy experience, to say the least, and one that taught me a lot about Malagasy culture, about personal relationships, and about life in general. In terms of development, my experiences have taught me that every situation in which poverty is a pertinent problem in any given community is caused by factors that are not consistent throughout the world: people are poor, become poor, and arise from poverty for different reasons. I have chosen to pursue this internship because I believe that grassroots microlending targeted at specific communities is the most efficient way of tackling the issue of poverty in the particular case of Nicaragua – and I would really like to be a part of that effort.

Thanks so much and I can’t wait for this summer – counting down the days!

All the best,
Emma

Stories From The Field: Living by the Land

Future loan recipient, Apolinar, and her two sons

With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it is easy to forget how wonderful simplicity can be. Meet Apolinar Sanchez and her two sons, Cristobal and Mario. For the Sanchez family, their livelihood depends on agriculture. All year round, year after year, the Sanchez clan plants, tends, and harvests crops in their family fields. They produce the staple crops of Nicaragua, such as beans and corn.

Behind them in this photo, you can see a pile of dried corn. Their task of the day is to manually husk and shuck six bags before sun down. This task may seem tedious to some but to the Sanchez family it is a job they take pride in, and they really enjoy doing it together.

Apolinar's family lives in a community called Piedras Coloradas. The center of their community has an elementary school and a church, but not a single market or stores. A stream runs behind the Sanchez home. This is their only source of water -- for drinking, for cooking, and for bathing. A bed with no mattress stands in the corner of their home. I did not ask where all seven of the family members sleep.

As I quickly tried to take all of this in, Apolinar's two grandchildren came running home from school and jumped onto her lap. A smile stretching from ear to ear appeared on her face, and she told me (in Spanish), "This land has been in my family for decades. Although we do not have much, we have our harvest and each other. What else could I ask for?"

Apolinar Sanchez is part of our first expansion group in Piedras Coloradas, Nicaragua (about 2 hours by bus from the nearest city, Matagalpa). Her lending group will begin receiving loans in March 2012. If you would like to help fund loans for this community, please visit our donation page and indicate in the special instructions "Donation to Piedras Coloradas."

"Local 'People' Helping Foreigners in Need"

Exciting news, everyone. People Helping People Global just got an article published in the Henrico Citizen. The article, entitled "Local 'People' Helping Foreigners in Need," was published in the Henrico, VA newspaper's August 19-September 1 edition. It outlines the general work and origin of the organization, in addition to focusing on the benefits of the new website and its ability to connect our donors with our loan recipients. The article may be posted in the online edition sometime in the next few days, but for now, I have scanned the print version and added it to our website. You can access the article here. Thank you all for your continued support, and just remember that you can help us get more articles like this one just by spreading the word about our organization.

Take care for now,

Alex

Micro-Lending Group Fights Poverty by Connecting Donors with Entrepreneurs Thousands of Miles Apart

Hey guys,

Below is a press release describing our new website features. Please let your friends know, and if you have any connections to media outlets, please forward them the information. Thanks much, and take care.

Alex

Micro-Lending Group Fights Poverty by Connecting Donors with Entrepreneurs Thousands of Miles Apart

Fairfax, VT, Tuesday, August 10, 2010 – People Helping People Global (PHPG) , a Vermont-based nonprofit, has just introduced a new website that will attempt to revolutionize philanthropy as we know it. This new website allows donors from all over the world to donate directly to entrepreneurs in Central America. “Instead of writing a check to a big nonprofit and hoping that your donor dollars make their way to the right place, we’ve set up a system that allows you to choose exactly where your hard-earned money is going,” said Alex Tuck, co-Founder and Executive Director of PHPG.

Informational meeting in Avelardo Enrique

The system is pretty simple.

A member of PHPG investigates which neighborhoods have the highest incidence of poverty while also having a high potential for success. “We like to work in neighborhoods where other nonprofits are also helping out. If education and infrastructure are being addressed by other organizations, then there’s less to distract us from business start-ups and job creation,” says Tuck.

PHPG then has meetings to inform the community about the micro-lending program and passes out applications to those who are interested.

All applications are reviewed, and each person that requests a loan is interviewed. The purpose of the interview is to meet the family, learn about their living situation, current income, educational background, and borrowing history. If the potential loan recipient falls under the lending guidelines of the organization, then he or she is added to the new website.

On the new website, donors may view pictures of the potential loan recipients and read their stories. If the donor would like to contribute to a particular entrepreneur, all he or she has to do is select the desired dollar amount and click donate. The system works just like any retail website. The donor just goes to his or her cart and checks out. After confirming the order, the donor is taken to the PayPal website where the donation is processed.

After PHPG receives the full donation amount, the organization disburses the money to the loan recipient. The loan recipient then pays back monthly payments on the loan over the agreed upon period. After the loan is repaid, the funds are used to facilitate new loans to other members of the community.

PHPG believes that they have a system that sets it apart from the organizations that currently exist in the micro-lending world. “Micro-lending started as a way for impoverished individuals to raise themselves out of poverty. Now, a lot of companies look at it as an easy way to make money. Unfortunately, it’s at the expense of the ultra-poor. Our goal at People Helping People Global is to put the philanthropy back into micro-finance,” said Tuck.

Another differentiating factor for PHPG is its size and intimacy. Isabel Gamm, co-Founder and Program Manager of PHPG, tells of her experience, “Community members trust our organization, because we interact with them regularly. In a community where we work, named Avelardo Enrique, we have meetings under the mango tree. During these meetings, we connect on a personal level. We talk about success stories and how to combat problems. We grumble over the heat. We discuss bookkeeping methods, where to buy the best nacatamales, and laugh as the falling mangos whiz by our faces. Our meetings are formal yet fun. That is what separates our organization other micro-lending groups.”

One of the biggest differences that PHPG has with other micro-lending groups is that it doesn’t charge interest. “We charge absolutely no interest on our loans, because we strongly believe that micro-loans requiring borrowers to pay high rates of interest often leave the borrower in more debt than when they began. Our goal is to raise communities out of poverty, not perpetuate the vicious cycle,” said Gamm.

The new website may be found at http://www.peoplehelpingpeopleglobal.org. There readers may learn more about the organization, try out the new donation system, and access the organization’s social media outlets.

About People Helping People Global

People Helping People Global is a project of Building New Hope, a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. It partners with locals in impoverished regions of the world to develop sustainable economic initiatives. It currently focuses on providing zero percent interest micro-loans to individuals living on less than two dollars per day.

Contact:

Alex Tuck

Executive Director

People Helping People Global

(804) 859-5597

alex@peoplehelpingpeopleglobal.org

www.peoplehelpingpeopleglobal.org

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