Adding to basket
The Luz y Progreso communal bank meets every 15 days in the city of Portoviejo, which is the capital of Manabí and has been known for many years as the “City of the Royal Tamarind Trees.”
This is where we find Julia, who is 54 years old and has a common-law marriage from which she has seven children. All of her children are now adults and two of them live in her house, as well as a 6-year-old grandson who is like her son and is a student. Her husband is a fish merchant.
She works selling clothing from a catalog and says that she loves to sell. She also has a mini-grocery store where she sells rice, sugar, oil, detergent, etc. and works every day from 6am to 8pm, sometimes later. There, she also sells the clothing since the majority of her customers always buy in her store where she takes advantage of the opportunity to show her catalog products. Her products are delivered to her store.
She will use this loan to further stock her store by purchasing rice, sugar, oil, detergents, and cold cuts, as well as clothing since she already has several orders. She has been with the communal bank for 11 years and she likes it because the loans have helped her greatly. Her goals are to have a nice-looking house and to make a tank because there isn’t drinking water where she lives.
Translated from Spanish by Kiva volunteer anonymized. View original language description.
