Mexican Grandparents in Guate: Check

It's been a long couple days but I'm still a little shocked that this is finally getting started! 

Lesson learned: it IS possible to make a one-hour connection at the San Salvador airport, you don't need to be cautious and take the one 4 hours later. Especially since the airport is not air conditioned and there is little food. What luck the Phillies were on (and beat the Mets)! I had a great 45min flight to Guatemala  with two men that work for the Guate government, one in economics and the other for an electric company. I got the first guy's card and we all had an awesome convo en route to Guate. 

My hotel, Dos Lunas, was a great place if you just need a good place for a stopover in the City, a little overpriced but great people and they take care of you well. And wouldn't you know, the first guest I see in the lobby goes to Vanderbilt. Even better - we had class together last semester! Amazing that three students in the same class ended up in Guate for the summer. And that I ran into her - I love how small this world is. Makes me believe that we really can impact each other and reminds me that my words and actions are always important.

This morning the shuttle picked me up at 6am with Marcia and Arturo, grandparents from Chihuahua, Mexico but have moved to Guatemala. They are so wonderfully kind- they even bought my breakfast! Naturally the bus is never direct - had to get a new bus and new people, drop things off with the driver's friends somewhere in the middle... 

I went and had lunch at the same place that Melissa, Andy, Hada and I finished our trip in March with and still have no idea what it's called. Had good food and was just reading when a middle-aged guy came in and we started chatting. He's Guatemalan but lives in NH with two girls in college. Had a good convo going, then he bought my lunch and coffees, and then he wanted to have a cigarette so we went to a great but very simple restaurant off the main street and right on the lake with an incredible view and had a beer. 

After all this free food and friends I ran into Marcia & Arturo again, looked at a few stalls and we had another soda together. Arturo gave me his card and I promised that when I got back and settled in the City I would call them and they want to have us over for dinner (Mario- free food!). Successful first day in Pana - we now have Mexican grandparents in the City!

The people you meet and the life stories you learn by talking to fellow travelers are so enriching and important to understanding not just the world but also yourself and where you fit. It is one of the things I love most about travel and have tried to open myself up to new people not only when traveling but also to remember to do it when I'm home. Sometimes we get so caught up in deadlines and meetings that we forget to let the person on the Starbucks deck that needs the outlet change seats with us, or to chat with the backpacker on the Metro who just wants to connect with someone in a new place. Because one day that will be you. Right now I'm just a traveler, but soon I will be doing much more and this ability to open up to others and let them teach me while I try to help them is going to be of the utmost importance, and possibly what I'm most nervous about - how personal our project is going to be when we are sitting in these families' homes day after day.

Entonces, classes start at 8am tomorrow for the rest of the week at Jabel Tinamit. Can't wait for how much improved my Spanish will be... Off to find dinner and sleep early, tengo sueño. 

You're doing what? Where?

"Donde pone el ojo, pone la bala" - as far as I can tell this means, more or less, "where I set my sight, I set my bullet". Or in other words, I will achieve my goal and I will do what I need to do to get there. Or maybe I'm just another gringa butchering the Spanish language. I'm going with the former...

As my interests have expanded from the practice of education to the broad scope of economic development and capabilities theory, my academic work has taken me on an unexpected journey. The fruit of these connections and experiences thus far is my summer internship in Las Conchas, Guatemala City, Guatemala. Here I have the great privilege of working with Mario, a dynamite MBA student, on housing microfinance (and hopefully spending time at the school..)

Las Conchas (LC) is a town of approximately 350 households, of which 200+ need a basic home. Makeshift metal structures are bad in any context, but particularly in a country prone to tremors and quakes. Average income is somewhere around minimum wage and many are regularly unemployed - construction workers constantly in limbo between projects. I'd put a map up with the community marked...but googlemaps hasn't quite made it there yet...

So what are we doing? And why us?

The latter question is fairly simple: We have a summer to dedicate, we've met the people involved from each organization & done the legwork, we don't cost too much, and Shalom doesn't have the staff to take on this additional project. And as Americans (and, bonus, Mario is Mexican, too) we are able to meet with the powers that be and navigate communication channels better than the LC community.

Task 1: needs assessment / community survey. We'll work with the LC leaders to identify those capable of taking on a new loan and also conduct a basic demographic survey of LC. This information will be valuable for targeting projects the leaders may initiate in the future.

Task 2: housing microfinance. Identifying those capable of loans will give us the pool of applicants we'll target for the government housing subsidy program through FOGUAVI. This program provides a home for approx Q27,000. FOGUAVI pays Q20,000 (75%) and the family the remaining 25%. Q7,000 works out to around $900. This, however, is still too large for these families through traditional mortgage programs. That's where Génesis, the microfinance bank (MFI), comes in. Génesis works with FOGUAVI, individuals and the construction company to ensure payments are given, responsible construction occurs, and enables community members to take out loans for approx 5 years at 24% interest rate (not that high for an MFI). Housing microfinance is a rapidly emerging market and Génesis has embraced it, growing to nearly 20% of its portfolio. Land ownership, home ownership and titling are of immense importance to communities trying to establish footholds in formal economies (see Hernando De Soto, Mystery of Capital). Without Génsis, these families couldn't afford the FOGUAVI program; without FOGUAVI new housing might remain out of reach for years.

Therefore, we will serve first in the capacity of designing and implementing the needs assessment and then as project managers, essentially, between all of the invested parties. As opposed to the 12 houses Shalom is able to fund and build each year in LC, we hope that our work will see 100-200 homes built in the next 18months. Lofty goals, but as they say.... donde pone el ojo, pone la bala.

Other Tasks: expanding traditional microcredit and small business loans; considering scalability and transfer of this model to other communities around Guatemala; improvement of existing Shalom programs; and investigating the possibility of using materials such as wood for construction instead of the traditional stone block.

Check back for updates on our project and travels. I'm sure there will be many adventures to share. The first being: Where will we live?!