Adding to basket
Candle fabrication is an important industry in almost two hundred communities in Guatemala. Candles are an essential light source, especially in rural areas where there is no electricity. They are also lit to accompany prayers.
Thirty-year-old Cruz works with her husband in their candle-making business. She also arranges thread for weaving traditional blouses/”huipiles”, takes custom orders and makes deliveries. She also earns extra income from raising chickens and pigs, a business she started three years ago. Her income helps support the education of her three children who range in age from six to eleven.
Cruz is proud to share that she is well-known in her community in the department/state of Quiche for providing excellent customer service. Her customer base is rapidly expanding! Cruz requests her first Kiva loan to buy paraffin, thread, and different colors/sizes of glass candle holders.
Cruz is the Secretary of the Friendship Bridge Trust Bank “Cruzche I”. There are six other Maya K’iche women in the group and several of them have the same businesses as Cruz. They meet monthly, make loan payments and then participate in an educational training, part of the “Microcredit Plus” program of loans, education and health care services. Topics for the training are drawn from four areas: health, family, women, business. Every other month, a traveling nurse who speaks their Maya K’iche language offers all kinds of exams, consults and family planning.
Thank you, Kiva lenders!
In this group: Marta Luisa , Magdalena , Gumersinda , Cruz Maribel , Maria Isabel , Maria Francisca , Cristina
