In Depth with ESPERA: Grupo Emprendedor La Epifanía, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
The seed contribution from Mary’s Pence into Epifanía’s community lending pool was $3,500 in September of 2012. Six and a half years later, the 26 members of Epifanía have distributed 156 loans amongst themselves with a cumulative total of $61,670.
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The 2019 Encuentro – We Gathered with Gratitude
If we used just one word to describe the experience, it would have to be gratitude. All throughout the days we spent together, women expressed gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the ESPERA program and the opportunity to meet one another, for the work of Mary’s Pence and the work of our ancestors.
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A Decade of Hope: Celebrating 10 Years of the ESPERA Program
From the beginning, we knew that unlike other micro-lending programs, we wanted to create a feminist model of community lending, which measures success by the effects the program has on women, their communities, their well-being and economic autonomy, not merely profits and repayment rates.
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ESPERA: The Reason I Support Mary’s Pence
I had the privilege of attending that first emotional health retreat in La Palma, El Salvador, in 2017 and meet the women who attended from all over Central America. I was so proud of Mary’s Pence as I heard one woman after another thank our organization for its caring accompaniment.
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Visiting ESPERA women in the remote village of Virignia, Guatemala
I applaud Gilda’s work and her commitment to traveling hours upon hours from Mexico to go to the communities that are the most out of the way and forgotten in Guatemala to encourage and work with the women on increasing their economic status.
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Salvadoran Women’s Will to Thrive
Ambrosia explained what they learned from this experience, “We have definitely learned to be more careful with the time we set for our loans, and at the same time we are grateful to have access to these funds.” The commitment they feel towards the community of women who participate in their local ESPERA community lending pool is very powerful and helps Ambrosia and her daughters not to give up.
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Emotional Health and Healing: a New Journey for the ESPERA Program
An increase in violent gang activity over the past several years, thanks in part to US deportation policy, has lead to an atmosphere of fear. These stressors, in addition to the hardship that rural women living in poverty inherently experience, have led many ESPERA women to experience anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress.
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Rescuing the Temazcal Tradition
The temazcal is a place for purification and rebirth; it is a point of connection between human beings and the transcendent—but also with the others. Songs and prayers may be part of the ritual which builds bonds of harmony and mutual support.
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Opening Our Wings to Fly: Strengthening Organizations for Sustainable Change
A strong organization will help amplify women’s voices, respond to community needs, and be a sustainable community resource. This structure is a key component of success for individual women in the ESPERA program. It’s what makes us confident that the social and economic empowerment ESPERA women experience will be long lasting. By investing in the capacity of our organizational partners we are investing in sustainable change.
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More Than Micro-Lending: Mental Health Support for ESPERA Women
Each woman was to set three goals that she wanted to be held accountable for: take a step toward self-care, improve family relationships, and expand available resources, which could improve their businesses.
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