2021 Scholarship Program Newsletter
Micro-Loans Make a Difference
By Laura Manship – Executive Director
Laura and Team visiting Alba’s Hen Project
In early December, I traveled to Honduras, to visit our project. Mostly, I wanted to get to know some of the women who are raising the hens — to lay the eggs — to provide to the children in our project.Our project covers 20 communities, and Gisela and Sandra found one woman, in each community, who had the desire to raise hens. However, in about half of the cases, the women needed some funds to help get the project started. We offered no-interest loans, of up to $250 per woman. The women will pay back the loans over the course of six months, through a reduction of the amount we pay them for the eggs we purchase for the children.
The loans allowed the women to puchase wire and wood (needed to build fenced cages for the hens); to purchase laying hens; and to purchase the feed for the hens. With these funds, the women were ready to start the project!
It was such a pleasure to see the joy on the women’s faces. They are so excited about becoming “Business Women.” Some of the women have experience raising hens and eggs; others are brand new at it. But, they are all excited…and all are including their daughters in the project.
In the photo above, our team is visiting Alba, and her new hen project (Alba is new to raising hens). In the photo below, you see the smiling faces of Carmen and her daughter (Carmen is more experienced with hens and eggs).
Carmen and her daughter
Meet the Smiling Faces of StS
On my trip to Honduras at the beginning of December, I was struck once again by the SMILES I encountered. I don’t just mean that the Hondurans are smiling at me. I mean folks are just generally friendly, to everyone they meet. Paul used to always say “Life is all about relationships.” I often did not understand what he meant. In my “super busy, get it all done now, life” I hardly could find time for relationships. And yet, in Honduras, it seems that people do realize the importance of relationships.
Why is this important? Because at the end of the day, when we reflect upon our lives, the thing that is going to stand out will be: what were your relationships like? Were you genuine? Did you give of your time? Did you take the time to really see people? Did you smile?
I love this line: “The one who dies with the most money is not the winner.” Well, then, who is the winner? In my humble opinion, it is the one who has made a difference in the world, through their relationships with others.
As we watch 2020 come to a close, maybe it is a good time to ask: Have we made a difference? Are we paying attention to our relationships? Is there more that we can do?
To celebrate the end of 2020, I thought it might be nice to show the SMILES of our Honduran staff. See photo above. These are the folks who actually do the work, to make Honduras a better place.
Laura Manship
Executive Director