Caramelo 5 Group

María, 34, always helped her mother with the housework when she was a little girl. Her family is modest. Her parents enrolled her in school but she only attended preschool because she didn't like to study.

She learned to weave when she was 10 years old. Since she was 18 she has been working making traditional skirts and driving a tuc tuc mototaxi. She continued weaving. She helps support her family with her income. They have one child.

She found out about the loans for women offered by the Asociación Chajulense de Mujeres Unidas por la Vida and became interested in getting one.

She will receive her seventh loan this year. She used the first three loans to buy thread and expand her production of textiles. She and her husband invested the fourth loan in a mototaxi. She used her fifth and sixth loans to buy thread and expand her textile business.

This years she will invest in a purchase of 10 plots of land. She'll invest her loan and savings generated by her businesses.

María is the leader of the Caramelo 5 group, which is made up of five women, all of Ixil Maya ethnicity. The group will invest 80% in textiles and 20% in agriculture. Each group member has an average of two children and the average age of each member is 29; 20% are illiterate, 20% didn't finish primary school, 40% did finish primary school, and 20% attended school up to seventh grade.

In this group: María, María, María, Rosa Maricela, Rosa Susana

Translated from Spanish by Kiva volunteerCatharine Wall. View original language description.