48-year-old
Esperanza was born and raised in El Sauce with her 11 siblings. When she was
young, she would sell fruits and vegetables with her mother. However, when she
was 13 years old, Esperanza’s mother passed away, so she began to sell fruits
and vegetables on her own. For this reason, she only finished her education up
to her junior year of high school.
Esperanza now has two
children; her oldest son, Ghilbert is 25, and her daughter Arelys, is 23. Also
living with her is her sister’s son Pedro, who sometimes helps out with the
family business. One of Esperanza’s proudest moments was when her daughter
Arelys was able to graduate high school and continue her education in college,
something Esperanza herself was never able to do.
Today, Esperanza
still sells fruits and vegetables, and also will occasionally sell pastries
that she makes herself. She offers produce such as mamones, papaya, dragon fruit,
pineapple, avocado, chayollete (a type of squash), cabbage, beets, and
cucumbers. Some of the products she sells she is able to buy in El Sauce, but she
needs to travel the hour to León every week to buy most of her vegetables.
Every day, she is outside her home selling her fruits and vegetables; she also hires
someone to pedal a bike cart around El Sauce to sell more.
Esperanza’s
loan of U$200 allowed her to purchase a greater supply of vegetables, such as
carrots, squash, tomatoes, and yucca. She is especially grateful that Enlace’s
training taught her to save money, because 3 months ago she needed to spend her
savings on an emergency surgery. She hopes to apply for another loan from
Enlace in the future, but would like to save up more money before doing so.
--Written by Jessica Kroenert and Cameron Houser
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