Johana del Carmen Moreno Perez

Johana with some of the products in her store

Johana has lived in El Sauce since she moved here with her parents at age 4. When her parents divorced, she spent some time living with her grandmother, but she moved back with her mother at age 10 to help take care of her mother’s new children.  In doing so, she developed a very close relationship with her mother that she maintained for the rest of her life. Johana completed her high school education in order to become a teacher.

When she and her husband first married, Johana was a teacher at a rural school, and the two started a small store together. The store quickly became successful, as it was the only one in the area. Johana and her husband had two children together; Gustavo Adolfo and Grace Maria, now aged 23 and 16 respectively.

In 2000, Johana separated from her husband, which was a difficult but necessary choice for her to make. Since her husband used to watch the store when she was teaching at the school, Johana was forced to make a decision between teaching and running the store.

Before making a decision, Johana sought advice from her mother, whose response was “what did I teach you?” All the women in Johana’s family have been businesswomen, and Johana’s mother had taught her the skills necessary to be successful in business.  Ultimately, Johana chose to run the store, which she has now been doing for 15 years.

Johana in front of her store today

Since she and her husband separated, Johana has been supporting her children and paying for their education on her own. This has been very difficult; she almost lost her business trying to pay for her son’s college education. Despite these hardships, Gustavo recently graduated with a degree in Finance, which was one of the proudest moments of Johana’s life. However, he is now struggling to find a job in his field.

Johana enjoys working hard to support herself and her children. In addition to running her store, she now sells fritanga (traditional, homemade Nicaraguan food) on weekend nights.  She claims that her U$200 loan from Enlace was like  “a blessing from God” because it came at a time when her family was really struggling. Johana is still grieving over the sudden loss of her mother last year, which has been a real challenge for her family.

With her loan, Johana was able to purchase more goods for her store, as well as meat and vegetables to make fritanga. She feels that this has helped her business grow, and she is glad she has been able to keep up with payments. She is grateful to Enlace for teaching her how to better manage her finances and save money more effectively. In the future, Johana would like to apply for another loan so that she can buy decorations and toys to sell for Purisima and Christmas in December. 

--Written by Jessica Kroenert and Cameron Houser